Biography

Her life in the Netherlands

The future foundress was born on March 21, 1927, in Oud-Valkenburg, the Netherlands, the daughter of Maria Elisabeth (née Janssen) and Lodewijk Linssen. Josephina Theresia Linssen, her birth name, was baptized the very next day.

A consistent Christian attitude and disposition of the family left an indelible mark on Josephina for all time.

A key experience at the age of twelve pointed the way for her entire life: "During the consecration at a Holy Mass, she was granted a glimpse into the vitality of the priesthood and the Holy Eucharist and their unity of essence," as the writer Alfred Müller-Felsenburg put it. She also consciously experienced what it means to be a member of the Catholic Church.

From the age of 16, she was repeatedly steered toward a foundation, without knowing what it was she was supposed to found. At the same age, a desire awoke in her to commit her life to the needs of this world.

At the age of nineteen, she consciously consecrated her life to the sanctification of priests and for the salvation of humanity (August 15, 1946).

She renewed this promise, which she had made in Maastricht before the image of the Mother of God, "Stella Maris", several times. Her desire to enter Carmel was denied her for health reasons. God led her another way.

The 24-year-old first took the vows of the three evangelical counsels before a provincial of the Carmelites on a life-threatening sickbed. She took the name of Sister Marie Thérèse de Jesu.

When she recovered, she renewed her vows a year later in a Carmelite convent close to her and from then on lived in secret as a "Carmelite in the world" - until her first foundation, the "Unio of Atoning Love" on September 1, 1977.

She completed a comprehensive training as a trade teacher in 1948 with honors and a diploma. Afterwards she founded and directed state-approved renowned private schools in Valkenburg and in Amsterdam (1948-1964). Despite successful pedagogical work, she was forced to give up her activity due to illness.
 

Her new life in Germany

In 1965, following an inner call, Sister Marie Therese went to Germany with her mother. There, her foster brother, Father Wim Robben, worked as a clergyman. Josephina's parents had taken him into their family after his mother had been killed by the Nazis.

Father Karl-Heinz Haus, the longtime spiritual director and later Superior General of Communio in Christo, sees God's signature precisely in the turning of Sister - later Mother - Marie Therese to Germany and especially to Mechernich/Eifel, "namely, to send hope for all precisely where the need and helplessness are greatest.       

What had long been in the offing, namely to understand one's own illnesses as a mission from God and to follow Jesus in word and deed of charity, Sister Marie Therese realized in logical perseverance with her given strength of feeling for others and with humorous composure.

Alfred Müller-Felsenburg: "Her existence, offered to God as a sacrifice of life, she steadfastly used, without regard for herself, for the sick, the dying, the poor, the abandoned, the helpless, drug addicts, children, youths, those who had become criminals, prostitutes, and so on."

Since this required institutions, from 1977 to 1981 she created spiritual communities under the name of Unio and a comprehensive social work, always striving to do so within the interior of the Catholic Church.

A desire had grown among the members of her communities to address her affectionately as "Mother." Mother Marie Therese linked her efforts with the avowed intention of putting the decisions of Vatican Council II into practice: "I strive for the unity of the Church through the realization of the Council's decisions."

Müller-Felsenburg: "Her many publications (26 books), which can be regarded as the sum of her experiences and theological insights, also served this goal of realizing Vatican II. On the basis of her inner vision and her initiatives, the whole work grew, which, however, was challenged by implacable opponents who did not tire of slandering, persecuting, deceiving, and even physically injuring Mother Marie Therese and her collaborators. They did not succeed in silencing her."

She put into practice the order to found a congregation under the name Communio in Christo. The local bishop of Aachen, Dr. Klaus Hemmerle, who was responsible for her and was a friend of hers, forbade her to carry out this foundation within the Eucharistic celebration. Mother Marie Therese obediently refrained from doing so, but founded outside the Holy Mass before the exposed Eucharist according to her decision of conscience. This happened on December 8, 1984, in the Founding Chapel of the Motherhouse of Communio in Christo. The Foundress was painfully aware of this dichotomy, but felt compelled to found it by the mandate of the Holy Spirit. At the same time, she founded her first convent in Mechernich and installed there a community in which priests, sisters, religious and lay people are in spiritual communion and live according to a rule established by Mother Marie Therese.

Contemplation and unceasingly practiced charity form a close bond there, in the immediate vicinity of the hospice and long-term care. A connection that enables us to follow the word of Jesus in a very concrete way.

 

Foundation of the Ordo Communionis in Christo

Mother Marie Therese herself said at the foundation on December 8, 1984: "My foundation has as its only goal to be on the way as a people of God, and according to the decrees of the Second Vatican Council, to acquire the certain place within the Church in the lived proclamation, in harmony with the tradition, the doctrine and the Council decisions. For me there is no separation from the Church, but with this foundation the Spirit gives the testimony of his life and work. The fidelity with which I hold to the Church will be for you the new perspective: love for all, living as Jesus lived, realizing together as one people of God His Kingdom here. May today uncover his love and mine, so that you too may walk together with us, but then always in communion with the Church."

Mother Marie Therese herself said at the founding on December 8, 1984, "My foundation has as its only goal to walk as one people of God, and according to the decrees of Vatican Council II, in lived proclamation, in harmony with tradition, doctrine and the Council decisions, to acquire the definite place within the Church. For me there is no separation from the Church, but with this foundation the Spirit gives the testimony of his life and work. The fidelity with which I hold to the Church will be for you the new perspective: love for all, living as Jesus lived, realizing together as one people of God His Kingdom here. May today uncover his love and mine, so that you too may walk together with us, but then always in communion with the Church."

Mother Marie Therese appointed Father Karl-Heinz Haus Superior General of her foundation for life. She herself directed Communio in Christo and its institutions until her death on April 11, 1994. Now two non-profit registered associations exist, namely Sozialwerk Communio in Christo e.V. as the sponsor of the institutions and works, and Communio in Christo e.V. as the publisher of writings and promoter of activities in the spirit of Mother Marie Therese.

Communio in Christo has repeatedly received the Pope's blessing, and numerous bishops, priests, religious and lay people throughout the world have become sympathizers and members. Notwithstanding the formal recognition still pending at the time, the Bishop of Aachen, Dr. Heinrich Mussinghoff, had expressly commended the works of Communio in Christo with a decretum laudis.

Mother Marie Therese died after excruciating pain and immoderate physical and mental suffering. "She never saw her hardships, afflictions and visitations as a punishment," wrote the author Alfred Müller-Felsenburg, who for his part became a member of the Communio in Christo shortly before his death in the hospice "Stella Maris" through the vow of charity. According to the author, not only those who were close to her expressed this to him: "She experienced the loneliness of Christ and experienced the brokenness of this world. But she endured everything in following Jesus for the sake of love. She was no longer able to celebrate the tenth anniversary of her foundation (December 8, 1994). The houses in which the sick, the elderly and the dying have found and will continue to find refuge are irrefutable evidence of her work. She never turned away anyone who needed help. To all, she was a true mother."