Fey, Clara

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FEY, CLARA

Foundress of the Sisters of the poor child jesus; b. Aachen, Germany, April 11, 1815; d. Simpelveld, Netherlands, May 8, 1894. In 1837 she and some other zealous women opened a school for poor children in Aachen. To perpetuate and extend the apostolic work, she founded her religious congregation (1844) and until her death served as its superior general, despite frail health and frequent illness. During the kulturkampf she and her community were obliged to flee to the Netherlands. She was noted for her industriousness combined with a deep interior life. The decree introducing her cause for beatification was issued in 1958.

Bibliography: o. pfÜlf, Mutter Clara Fey und ihre Stiftung (2d ed. Freiburg 1913). j. solzbacher, ed., Immer beim Herrn: Wandel in der Gegenwart Gottes nach Mutter Clara Fey (2d ed. Mödling 1958), tr. m. colman, Heaven on Earth (Westminster, Md. 1958).

[j. solzbacher]