Mother Basilea, born Klara Schlink (October 21, 1904 in
Darmstadt
Darmstadt () is a city in the States of Germany, state of Hesse in Germany, located in the southern part of the Frankfurt Rhine Main Area, Rhine-Main-Area (Frankfurt Metropolitan Region). Darmstadt has around 160,000 inhabitants, making it the ...
,
Germany
Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...
– March 21, 2001 in Darmstadt) was a Lutheran
German
German(s) may refer to:
* Germany, the country of the Germans and German things
**Germania (Roman era)
* Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language
** For citizenship in Germany, see also Ge ...
religious leader and writer. She was leader of the
Evangelical Sisterhood of Mary, which she cofounded, from 1947 to 2001.
Life
Basilea Schlink was a sister of
Edmund Schlink, a professor in theology. Her father Wilhelm Schlink was a professor of mechanics. After finishing high school in
Braunschweig
Braunschweig () or Brunswick ( ; from Low German , local dialect: ) is a List of cities and towns in Germany, city in Lower Saxony, Germany, north of the Harz Mountains at the farthest navigable point of the river Oker, which connects it to the ...
and Darmstadt, she was educated (from 1923) at the Fröbelseminar in
Kassel
Kassel (; in Germany, spelled Cassel until 1926) is a city on the Fulda River in North Hesse, northern Hesse, in Central Germany (geography), central Germany. It is the administrative seat of the Regierungsbezirk Kassel (region), Kassel and the d ...
, and from 1924 at the Inner missions girls' school in Berlin. In 1929 she became a teacher at the Mission House Malche in Bad Freienwalde (Oder) in German, psychology and church history. After matriculation in 1930 she studied psychology, art history and philosophy in Berlin and Hamburg. This study was completed by a religious-psychologic thesis for her doctorate in psychology about “Consciousness of Sin in adolescent girls and its significance for their battle of faith.”
Schlink was president of the Women's Division of the German Student Christian Movement from 1933 to 1935, and twice interviewed by the
Gestapo
The (, ), Syllabic abbreviation, abbreviated Gestapo (), was the official secret police of Nazi Germany and in German-occupied Europe.
The force was created by Hermann Göring in 1933 by combining the various political police agencies of F ...
for her defense of Jews.
Ten years later Schlink was living in a badly bombed Germany with few resources, but it was important for her to repent for Germany's cruel treatment of other nations during the war, especially the Jews. She felt the temptation to marry as other young women did. Instead she gave her mission the first priority, and so she became a Sister of Mary.
On March 30, 1947, she and Erika Madauss founded The Evangelical Sisterhood of Mary in Darmstadt. In 1948 both the founders and the first seven sisters became nuns. From then on, Dr. Klara Schlink called herself Mutter Basilea and Erika Madaus called herself Mutter Martyria. Today, The Evangelical Sisterhood of Mary has 11 subdivisions all over the world, with in total 209 sisters, and about 130 of these are situated in Darmstadt.
Books
* Bride of Jesus Christ
* My All for Him
* Fragrance of a Life for God
* Israel, My Chosen People
* Patmos - When the Heavens Opened
* Repentance - The Joy-Filled Life
* You Will Never Be the Same
* Father of comfort (Daily Reflections on the God Who Cares)
* The Hidden Treasure in Suffering (1983 first German edition, 1992 British edition by Kanaan Publications)
* The Eve of Persecution
* Those Who Love Him (1969 Zondervan Publishing House, Grand Rapids MI) (LCCN 69-11639)
References
External links
International websiteof Evangelical Sisterhood of Mary
of Evangelische Marienschwesternschaft
US Websiteof Evangelical Sisterhood of Mary
{{DEFAULTSORT:Schlink, Basilea
1904 births
2001 deaths
20th-century German Lutheran nuns