First Communion Memories: Sister Maria Kellner, SSJ
I was born in Germany in 1931 and since my father was very much opposed to the Hitler regime he sent me and my next younger brother to England to a Catholic boarding school run by the Servite Sisters. When I went home in the summer, my parents wanted me to make my first Holy Communion so the family could celebrate with me. The young chaplain of the parish instructed me. Since it was an intimate family gathering, the School Sisters of Notre Dame, who had a convent in my hometown, Friedberg bei Augsburg, offered their lovely chapel for this wonderful event. My grandfather was the altar server. I sat in the front pew with my mother.
When the time for Holy Communion came my mother prayed various ejaculations for me which I repeated after her. She was overcome with emotion and spilled a few tears, so I followed suit! One of the Sisters asked me afterwards why I was crying to which I had no answer! The Sisters provided me with a beautiful picture of their chapel and a certificate of the date, August 24, 1938. I still have them. I believe that my first desire to become a religious came from the time of my stay with the Servites in Dorking, Surrey, England. It was reawakened after our immigration when I went to Nazareth College in Rochester, New York, run by the Sisters of Saint Joseph of Rochester.