“Do what you need to do, ask for help and trust God and yourself.”
Sister Mary Boniface Kriener
Sister Mary Boniface Kriener grew up on a farm in northeastern Iowa, one of 11 children, four boys and seven girls. Tragedy came early and often. Her oldest brother died of leukemia at the age of nine, two other boys died in infancy and a younger sister was killed in a car accident just weeks before her wedding. Like many German families, they didn’t talk about their sorrow, but as Sister Mary Boniface stated, “We knew what death was like.”
Sister Mary Boniface loved growing up on a farm. Despite the fact that the family did not have electricity or indoor plumbing, and there were many chores, she felt free. “We kids could run wherever we wanted.” Some of her favorite things to do were to lie down under a tree and look at the sky, or gaze down on the scene below their hilltop farm, imagining the larger world. Those were contemplative moments for her before she could even understand what contemplation was.
In the girls’ bedroom growing up, there was a trunk containing their mother’s keepsakes, which they were forbidden to open (but sometimes they did). This was the trunk their mother had taken when she traveled 200 miles as a teenager in the 1920s to a Catholic girls’ high school (St. Angela’s) that had just opened in Carroll, Iowa, by the Franciscan Sisters of Perpetual Adoration. It became for Sister Mary Boniface and her sisters a source of mystery and longing for freedom and adventure. This was already a theme in her family, since two of her mother’s sisters and her grandfather’s sister had already left farm life to enter FSPA. This great aunt, Sister Thaddea, was one of the first FSPA missionaries to the Bad River Band of the Lake Superior Chippewa in northern Wisconsin.
So, it was probably not unusual for Sister Mary Boniface to decide, like her mother had, to attend St. Angela’s, where she lived for four years of high school, coming home in the summers. After high school graduation, she entered St. Rose Convent. “It just felt natural. I was familiar with the community and I had a love for the Blessed Sacrament. Perpetual Adoration would give me the time for prayer and contemplation, for which I longed. Community life was not new, since I had lived as a boarder at St. Angela’s and was used to dorm life and rules and regulations. And I got to attend college, which was important to me.”
After novitiate, she was assigned to study to be an x-ray technologist. Immediately after the training, before she even received the scores from her national accreditation exam, she was told to pack up and move to Idaho Falls, Idaho, where FSPA had a hospital. “It was a big treat for me to go to Idaho! The surroundings were gorgeous! The culture was different, with most people being Mormon, but I had no problem with that. What was a challenge was that I was sent, not just as an x-ray technologist, but as a supervisor! I had no experience doing supervision. But, since it was a small hospital, they needed a sister as a supervisor. The administrator in charge of the hospital said to me, ‘I don’t know anything about x-ray, so you have to make the decisions or find someone to help you.’” And that’s what she did. She wasn’t afraid to ask for help, and gradually she began to trust in herself, in decisions and in her ability to focus.
Sister Mary Boniface teaching an x-ray tech student at Sacred Heart Hospital, Idaho Falls, Idaho.
Eventually, students attended the University of Idaho in Pocatello to study in this field.
After three years there, Sister Mary Boniface was sent to back to Carroll, Iowa, spent ten years there, which she also enjoyed, and then was again assigned to Idaho Falls, where she spent the next thirty-five or so years, until she moved back to La Crosse. In the later years, the other sisters had gradually left, until it was just Sister Mary Boniface and an older Sister Mechtilde Curti, both pictured below. They decided to stay together in Idaho Falls until they both retired. Those years were some of the best of her life. They did some volunteer ministry. Then they would often go out exploring and enjoying the beautiful surroundings. “We were only 100 miles from Yellowstone and 100 miles from Jackson Hole and the Tetons. I would drive and Sister Mechtilde would read the map. Sister was always game to do whatever. She was very flexible and enjoyed it as much as I did. We would keep a picnic basket ready with all the essentials, so we could just pick up and go. We’d often sit by a lake and take in the beauty of nature.”
When asked what wisdom she’d like to share, Sister Mary Boniface said, “I’ve enjoyed wherever I have been. Just do what you need to do and ask for help when you need it. Also, I do often call on my mother and the saints. And then trust yourself.”
About Wells of Wisdom
Communities of Catholic Sisters realize what a wealth of wisdom there is among us; it is too rich to be ignored. So in “Wells of Wisdom," author Sister Karen Lueck features a Franciscan Sister of Perpetual Adoration in her golden years who is willing to share some of her wisdom with a world desperately in need of it.
Read more from our Wells of Wisdom collection:
Wells of Wisdom with Sister Marcella: Peace is receiving each moment ...
Wells of Wisdom with Sister Luanne: "Recognize the call from God..."
Wells of Wisdom: What is, is, and it's good, featuring Sister Maria Friedman
Wells of Wisdom: Everybody needs to pitch in, featuring Sister Marcella Marie Dreikosen
Wells of Wisdom: When you pray to God ... miracles will happen, featuring Sister Malinda Gerke
Wells of Wisdom: Allow the answers within you to emerge, featuring Sister Marlou Ricke