Maria Innocentia Hummel | |
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Sister Maria Innocentia Hummel OSF, 1934
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Born |
Berta Hummel May 21, 1909 Massing, Germany |
Died | November 6, 1946 Bad Saulgau, Germany |
(aged 37)
Nationality | German |
Education | Academy of Applied Arts in Munich |
Known for | Painting |
Sister Maria Innocentia Hummel, O.S.F., (21 May 1909 - 6 November 1946) was a famous German Franciscan Sister and artist. She is noted for the artwork which became the popular Hummel figurines.
Born in Massing in Bavaria, Germany, as Berta Hummel, one of the six children of Adolf and Victoria Hummel, she was raised in a warm, loving and strongly devout family, living above her father's dry goods store. As a child Berta showed creative talent, and developed a reputation in the village as the local artist. She was a cheerful, active girl, who loved the outdoors and winter sports. Her father encouraged her artistic talents and, at age 12, enrolled her in a boarding school of the Sisters of Loreto in Simbach am Inn, about 30 kilometres away. Hummel continued to grow in her abilities, and after graduation in 1927 she enrolled in the prestigious Academy of Applied Arts in Munich, where her talent and skills developed.
Hummel was a devout Catholic and instead of the standard student housing, she chose to live in a Catholic residence run by Religious Sisters. While living there, she made friends with two members of the Congregation of the Franciscan Sisters of Siessen (Sießen) in Bad Saulgau who were also studying at the Academy. The religious congregation focuses on teaching, and gives great emphasis to the role of art in education. After Berta graduated in 1931 with top honors, she chose to follow a religious calling that she had felt for some time and applied to enter that congregation, and was admitted in April 1931 as a postulant. Berta made one final visit to her family home in late May, spending two weeks with them. On 22 August, she was admitted as a novice and received the religious habit of the congregation and the religious name of Sister Maria Innocentia.