Sister Anne was born to Elizabeth Schandl and Alajos Lehner in Romand, a village of German-Hungarian speaking inhabitants in the North-Western part of Hungary on January 14, 1924. Her mother died in 1927, leaving Anne (3), her older sister Elizabeth (6), and little sister Agnes (1) half-orphaned. Her father remarried and with his new wife he had two sons Otto and László. Life with her step-mother was not a happy one; her father had to be “the parent” for young Anne.
They were a practicing Catholic family. There was a prayerful atmosphere in the house. From early on little Anne learned from her grandfather how to pray the rosary. Her great uncle, one of her aunts, and some cousins were religious and/or priests.
Anne was in high school when she first felt a call from God. After graduation in 1939 she started college to become a teacher. Her last college year was marked by the air raids of World War II; nevertheless, her class was still able to pass their state exams and so she earned her degree. While in college she participated in a three day Social Work course held by Sr. Natalie Palagyi, SSS. Anne came to love that ministry and had very positive experiences at her first visit with the SSS. “Here Sisters know how to love.” These experiences, as well as the community’s ministry were the reasons why she entered the Society of the Sisters of Social Service right after college graduation in 1944. She was given her religious name Engelberta in honor of her uncle Engelbert, the Benedictine abbot.
She started novitiate in Szegvár (the Great Plains in Hungary) in July, but by the end of September 1944 the entire novitiate had to flee from the approaching Russian frontlines and a long, tortuous travel started with several stops until they could settle in her own village Románd. Eventually the Russian front line had reached them there as well and moved on westwards – by God’s grace the novices were unharmed, although some of them had to escape from critical situations. These experiences brought a significant grace for Anne by strengthening her in a profound conviction: “I shall never distrust God’s providence!”
When the war ended, she continued her novitiate in Budapest and was sent to study social work at the school of social work of the SSS.
After her first vows in 1947 she was given various assignments. In 1949 the Communists took over power in the country and religious life had to go underground.
In 1952 Sr. Anne was asked to join Sr Margaret Slachta, the foundress of the SSS, who for political reason had had to flee Hungary earlier. This meant crossing the border to Austria illegally, which has turned into a very traumatic experience. On December 8, 1952 while three of them were trying to cross over to Austria the border guards had spotted them and shot Sister Monika and arrested Sr. Andrea, Anne’s travel companions. She alone managed to cross the border and get to Vienna. After several months living in anxiety in the Russian controlled part of Vienna Srs. Margaret and Anne could finally leave for the US; they arrived on May 5th 1953.
After having mastered English she was assigned to work at the Catholic Charities in Lackawanna. In 1958 she was sent to Syracuse, N.Y. where the SSS were asked to staff the House of Providence – a residential place for children from difficult family backgrounds. At the General Chapter of 1963 Sr. Anne was elected to be on the general council.
In 1970 the SSS withdrew from the House of Providence, but Sr Anne stayed in Syracuse and became vicar for Religious in the Diocese. During this time she had the opportunity to study first at Le Moyne College, and later at St. John’s University in Collegeville, MN, a Benedictine University. She took systematic theology and earned a masters’ degree.
At the chapter of 1975 Sr. Anne was elected general moderator of the SSS. She left Syracuse and moved to Buffalo. The task was to implement the renewal called for by the Vatican Council and the chapter and to write the renewed Constitutions for the SSS. This was an enormous task; she faced the great difficulty of not knowing the situation in which sisters were living underground in Europe and having very scarce financial resources; but there was the grace of having a good team of SSS working with her and the fact that she knew personally most of the founding Sisters. Sr. Anne served another term as general moderator up to the chapter 1985.
The Chapter of 1991 reelected her again as general moderator. It was a time filled with new challenges after the political changes in the Eastern-European countries. Without having any models how to rebuild religious life after 40 + years of suppression she tried to support the European Districts (in Hungary, Romania and Slovakia) in many ways as they began to develop their structures, organize community life and ministries in harmony with the SSS charism and with the renewal the post-Vatican Church.
In 1997 Sr Anne was re-elected for a second term, during which the Generalate was transferred back to Budapest.
In 2003 her service in leadership ministry ended. Nevertheless she continued to serve the community in any way she was asked to do it as long as she was able to do so. She was asked to help sisters by giving them workshops and retreats: she travelled three more times to Cuba, and several times to Hungary and Slovakia as well. After her term was over Sr. Anne moved back to Buffalo and started to translate Sister Margaret’s writings. She also wrote the history of our U.S. district, sharing what fidelity to our charism has required of us.
In 2015 Sr. Anne was invited by Sister Rochelle Mitchell, then General Director of the Californian SSS, to retire among them. There she continued working on translation until almost the very end.
She died on November 19th, 2020.
She tried to live her motto through each and every event, whether joyful or painful, and also by accepting the limitations that came with her advanced age:
Glory to the Father, and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit. To view Sisters mass live December 1st, 2020 , 10:30 am please visit https://prometheus.live/event/funeral-mass-for-sr-anne-e-lehner-sss/
COMPARTA UN OBITUARIO
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