Sister Adelaide Feldbauer, 1895-1996
Born May 13, 1895, St. Mary’s, Pennsylvania
Entered St. Walburg Monastery, June 21, 1916
First Profession April 1, 1918
Died November 29, 1996
Sr. Adelaide was the sixth of nine children. Her family operated a fruit farm but also grew vegetables and raised chickens to support the large family. Through the influence of Fr. Suitbert Rickert, OSB, a native of Covington, Sr. Adelaide decided to come to St. Walburg Monastery in 1916. In 1993 she became one of the few members of the community to reach 75 years of vowed life.
Sr. Adele was sent to Holy Cross Church in Latonia as sacristan the early 1920′ s and served there until her retirement in 1987. Her duties as sacristan occupied her day–from opening the church doors in the morning to locking them at night, seven days a week. She was sacristan par excellence–training hundreds of acolytes, preparing for liturgies, sewing, cleaning , performing numberless tasks. In 1983 Sr. Adelaide received the Benemerenti Medal by Pope John Paul II for meritorious service to the Church.M
In her retirement years at the monastery infirmary Sr. Adelaide delighted in seeing those priests or altar boys whom she had trained. She received many cards on every occasion from those who remembered her. Birthdays were a great occasion for her–each one a bit more celebrative than the last. When she died in November, 1996, she had reached the age of 101, the oldest member of St. Walburg Monastery in the community’s history.