Clara Fey (11 April 1815 – 8 May 1894) was a

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 ...

Roman Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics worldwide as of 2025. It is among the world's oldest and largest international institut ...

Nun A nun is a woman who vows to dedicate her life to religious service and contemplation, typically living under vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience in the enclosure of a monastery or convent.''The Oxford English Dictionary'', vol. X, page 5 ...

and the founder of the

Sisters of the Poor Child Jesus The Sisters of the Poor Child Jesus is a Roman Catholic religious congregation for women, founded at Aachen, Germany, in 1844 for the support and education of poor, orphan, and destitute children, especially girls. It was approved by Pope Pius IX i ...

. Her life was dedicated to providing aid to the poor, with particular emphasis on education, first in

Aachen Aachen is the List of cities in North Rhine-Westphalia by population, 13th-largest city in North Rhine-Westphalia and the List of cities in Germany by population, 27th-largest city of Germany, with around 261,000 inhabitants. Aachen is locat ...

and later in the

Netherlands , Terminology of the Low Countries, informally Holland, is a country in Northwestern Europe, with Caribbean Netherlands, overseas territories in the Caribbean. It is the largest of the four constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Nether ...

. A decree introducing her cause for

beatification Beatification (from Latin , "blessed" and , "to make") is a recognition accorded by the Catholic Church of a deceased person's entrance into Heaven and capacity to intercede on behalf of individuals who pray in their name. ''Beati'' is the p ...

was issued in 1958 by

Pope Pius XII Pope Pius XII (; born Eugenio Maria Giuseppe Giovanni Pacelli; 2 March 18769 October 1958) was the head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 2 March 1939 until his death on 9 October 1958. He is the most recent p ...

, at which time she became titled a

Servant of God Servant of God () is a title used in the Catholic Church to indicate that an individual is on the first step toward possible canonization as a saint. Terminology The expression ''Servant of God'' appears nine times in the Bible, the first five in ...

. In 1991, following confirmation of her

heroic virtue Heroic virtue is the translation of a phrase coined by Augustine of Hippo to describe the virtue of early Christian martyrs. The phrase is used by the Roman Catholic Church. The Greek pagan term hero described a person with possibly superhuman a ...

Pope John Paul II Pope John Paul II (born Karol Józef Wojtyła; 18 May 19202 April 2005) was head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 16 October 1978 until Death and funeral of Pope John Paul II, his death in 2005. In his you ...

, she was titled

Venerable ''The Venerable'' often shortened to Venerable is a style, title, or epithet used in some Christianity, Christian churches. The title is often accorded to holy persons for their spiritual perfection and wisdom. Catholic In the Catholic Churc ...

Pope Francis Pope Francis (born Jorge Mario Bergoglio; 17 December 1936 – 21 April 2025) was head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 13 March 2013 until Death and funeral of Pope Francis, his death in 2025. He was the fi ...

confirmed a miraculous healing attributed to her intercession on 4 May 2017. Her beatification was celebrated in Aachen on 5 May 2018.

Life

Clara Fey was born on 11 April 1815 in

, the fourth of five children of wealthy textile industrialist Louis and his wife Katherine. Louis was to die following a

stroke Stroke is a medical condition in which poor cerebral circulation, blood flow to a part of the brain causes cell death. There are two main types of stroke: brain ischemia, ischemic, due to lack of blood flow, and intracranial hemorrhage, hemor ...

in 1820, when Clara was aged five years. Fey studied under noted teacher

Luise Hensel Luise Hensel (30 March 1798 – 18 December 1876) was a German teacher and religious poet, who influenced the romantic style of her friend and fellow poet, Clemens Brentano. Life Luise Hensel was the sister of Wilhelm Hensel and the sister-in- ...

and became acquainted with

Pauline von Mallinckrodt Pauline von Mallinckrodt, SCC (3 June 1817 - 30 April 1881) was a German nobility, German noblewoman, Roman Catholic Church, Roman Catholic Nun, professed religious and the foundress of the Sisters of Christian Charity. Born into an aristocratic ...

and Franziska Schevier. In her childhood she observed the poor conditions in her town and was resolved to aid the poor in their suffering more so because of the importance her mother placed on helping those less fortunate than herself. To that end she would later set up a school with some likeminded friends in Aachen in 1837 in order to cater to the educational needs of poor children. Fey's brother Andreas would go on to become a priest, later serving as the vicar of the Saint Paul parish in Aachen. On 2 February 1844, Fey established the

in Aachen, as a means of leading children to

Jesus Christ Jesus (AD 30 or 33), also referred to as Jesus Christ, Jesus of Nazareth, and many Names and titles of Jesus in the New Testament, other names and titles, was a 1st-century Jewish preacher and religious leader. He is the Jesus in Chris ...

and educating children in a religious environment. Around 1835 she started to read the works of

Teresa of Ávila Teresa of Ávila (born Teresa Sánchez de Cepeda Dávila y Ahumada; 28March 15154or 15October 1582), also called Saint Teresa of Jesus, was a Carmelite nun and prominent Spanish mystic and religious reformer. Active during the Counter-Re ...

and professed a desire to become a

Carmelite The Order of the Brothers of the Blessed Virgin Mary of Mount Carmel (; abbreviated OCarm), known as the Carmelites or sometimes by synecdoche known simply as Carmel, is a mendicant order in the Catholic Church for both men and women. Histo ...

nun A nun is a woman who vows to dedicate her life to religious service and contemplation, typically living under vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience in the enclosure of a monastery or convent.''The Oxford English Dictionary'', vol. X, page 5 ...

. In 1841, however, her spiritual advisor Wilhelm Sartorius motivated her to instead read the works of

Francis de Sales Francis de Sales, Congregation of the Oratory, C.O., Order of Minims, O.M. (; ; 21 August 156728 December 1622) was a Savoyard state, Savoyard Catholic prelate who served as Bishop of Geneva and is a saint of the Catholic Church. He became n ...

for greater theological inspiration. Fey made her vows as a nun in 1850. Her order received diocesan approval on 28 January 1848 from the

Archbishop of Cologne The Archbishop of Cologne governs the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Cologne in western North Rhine-Westphalia. Historically, the archbishop was ''ex officio'' one of the prince-electors of the Holy Roman Empire and ruled the Electorate of Cologne ...

and a papal decree of praise from

Pope Pius IX Pope Pius IX (; born Giovanni Maria Battista Pietro Pellegrino Isidoro Mastai-Ferretti; 13 May 1792 – 7 February 1878) was head of the Catholic Church from 1846 to 1878. His reign of nearly 32 years is the longest verified of any pope in hist ...

on 11 July 1862, with full papal approval for the order issued by

Pope Leo XIII Pope Leo XIII (; born Gioacchino Vincenzo Raffaele Luigi Pecci; 2March 181020July 1903) was head of the Catholic Church from 20 February 1878 until his death in July 1903. He had the fourth-longest reign of any pope, behind those of Peter the Ap ...

on 15 June 1888. The Rule of her order would be based on the teachings of

Augustine of Hippo Augustine of Hippo ( , ; ; 13 November 354 – 28 August 430) was a theologian and philosopher of Berber origin and the bishop of Hippo Regius in Numidia, Roman North Africa. His writings deeply influenced the development of Western philosop ...

. Fey served as the order's first superior general from its founding until her death despite her frail health and frequent bouts of illness. In 1875, the

Kulturkampf In the history of Germany, the ''Kulturkampf'' (Cultural Struggle) was the seven-year political conflict (1871–1878) between the Catholic Church in Germany led by Pope Pius IX and the Kingdom of Prussia led by chancellor Otto von Bismarck. Th ...

forced her and the order to relocate to the

where she remained until her death in May 1894. After her death a devotional cult began at the site of her grave in Simpelveld.

Beatification

The beatification process opened in

Roermond Roermond (; or ) is a city, municipality, and diocese in the Limburg (Netherlands), Limburg province of the Netherlands. Roermond is a historically important town on the lower Roer on the east bank of the river Meuse. It received City rights i ...

in an informative process that lasted from 1916 until its closure in 1924 while a second inquest was held from 1923 until 1924. Fey's spiritual writings were approved by theologians on 18 June 1930 and 10 December 1943. One final process – the apostolic one – was held from 1963 until being closed in 1967. The formal introduction to the cause came on 11 August 1958 under

and she became titled as a

. Officials from the cause compiled and submitted the

Positio A ''positio'' (short for the Latin ''positio super virtutibus'': "position on the virtues") is a document or collection of documents used in the process by which a Catholic person is declared Venerable, the second of four steps on the path to can ...

dossier in 1983 to the

Congregation for the Causes of Saints In the Catholic Church, the Dicastery for the Causes of Saints, previously named the Congregation for the Causes of Saints (), is the dicastery of the Roman Curia that oversees the complex process that leads to the canonization of saints, passi ...

. Theologians investigated and approved it on 29 May 1990 as did the C.C.S. officials on 26 February 1991. The late religious was named as

on 14 May 1991 after

confirmed that she had lived a model life of

authorized the promulgation of a decree on 4 May 2017 approving a miracle attributed to her intercession; this allowed for her to be beatified in Aachen on 5 May 2018. The current

postulator A postulator is the person who guides a cause for beatification or canonization through the judicial processes required by the Catholic Church. The qualifications, role and function of the postulator are spelled out in the ''Norms to be Observed i ...

for this cause is Andrea Ambrosi.

References

External links

Hagiography Circle

Saints SQPN

Pilgrimage to Clara Fey in Simpelveld
{{DEFAULTSORT:Fey, Clara 1815 births 1894 deaths 19th-century German Roman Catholic nuns 19th-century venerated Christians Beatifications by Pope Francis German expatriates in the Netherlands People from Aachen Venerated Catholics by Pope John Paul II German beatified people