Pascalina, Sister (1894–1983)

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Pascalina, Sister (1894–1983)

German nun who was a powerful confidante of Pope Pius XII. Name variations: Josefine Lehnert; La Popessa. Born on August 25, 1894, in Ebersberg, Bavaria, Germany; died of a brain hemorrhage in 1983 in Vienna, Austria; seventh of twelve children of farmers George and Maria Lehnert.

Joined the Teaching Sisters of the Holy Cross (a Catholic convent) at age 15 (1910); took her final vows at age 19 and adopted the name Sister Pascalina (1914); met Eugenio Pacelli, the future Pope Pius XII (1917); moved to Munich to head Pacelli's household (1917); moved to Berlin with Pacelli (1925); moved to the Vatican and worked in the press relations office (1930); transferred to the secretariat of the Vatican (1932); traveled with Pacelli to the U.S. (1936); served Pacelli during his term as Pope Pius XII (1939–58); exiled to Switzerland (1958); built retirement home in Italy (1960s).

Sister Pascalina, who would be instrumental to Eugenio Pacelli during a rise through the ranks of Catholic diplomacy that culminated in his becoming Pope Pius XII, was born into a poor German family of farmers in 1894. Josefine Lehnert, as she was christened, was a carefree child until the age of seven, when she took her first communion and became very serious in her

commitment to her faith. Because of her authoritarian nature, religious devotion, and self-discipline, her siblings gave her the nickname "Mother Superior." By the time Josefine was 15, her devotion to God led her to leave home and join a convent, against her parents' wishes. In 1914, when she was 19, she took her final vows of poverty, chastity and humility and adopted the name Sister Pascalina, taken from the word "Paschal," which is synonymous with Easter.

Part of Pascalina's duties as a young nun at the convent included caring for traveling or ill clergy members. In 1917, she cared for a middle-aged archbishop named Eugenio Pacelli, completely devoting herself to nursing him back to health. While the powerful Vatican diplomat never thanked Pascalina for her work, he requested her transfer from the convent to his residence in Munich, to act as his head of staff. Pascalina moved to Munich in 1917, residing there with Pacelli through the years of World War I. In 1925, Pacelli brought Pascalina with him when he was transferred to Berlin, where he served as the first Apostolic Nuncio to the German Reich. During the same year, Mussolini was declared dictator of Italy, and Pacelli was called upon to negotiate between the Vatican and the dictator. His efforts resulted in the 1929 Lateran Treaty, and earned him an appointment in Rome as a cardinal. Two months later, in February 1930, Pacelli was made Vatican secretary of state, a post second only to the pope.

Although Pascalina's relationship to Pacelli was one of chaste service and godly devotion, she was left behind in Berlin due partly to the rumors that had developed about them. It was a painful separation for Pascalina. However, an American priest who had befriended her, Monsignor Francis Spellman (later the archbishop of the diocese of New York), facilitated her move to Italy and eventually made her his assistant in the Vatican office of press relations. It was not long before Pope Pius XI himself recognized Pascalina's abilities, and assigned her to work with Pacelli once again.

Pascalina served as a caregiver and confidante to Pacelli, who came to rely heavily on her advice. Even while rumors about their relationship continued to spread, she accompanied him on his first trip to the United States in 1936, which was also the first in history by any Vatican secretary of state. The trip, during the early unrest that would erupt into World War II, was meant to nurture already strong diplomatic relations between the Vatican and President Franklin Roosevelt's administration. Three years later, in 1939, Pius XI died suddenly of a heart attack, and Pacelli was elected to replace him as Pope Pius XII.

Pascalina defied the misogynistic atmosphere of the Vatican by remaining close to the pope during his reign. This lasted through World War II (his behavior during the war was increasingly criticized throughout the end of the 20th century, particularly as efforts towards his canonization were made by the Vatican) and into the 1950s. Pius XII was strongly conservative in both religion and politics, on several occasions threatening communists with excommunication. Pascalina held more influence over him than anyone else in the Vatican, earning her the irreverent nickname "La Popessa." She was also referred to as his "Guardian Angel," for she stood between the pope and those who wanted an audience with him. While the cardinals of the Vatican were jealous of her influence and power, even her enemies admitted that had Pascalina been a man, she would have been Pius XII's successor.

Instead, however, after his death on October 9, 1958, Pascalina was forced out of the Vatican, and went into exile in Switzerland. She came out of exile in the early 1960s to discuss with Pope John XXIII the harm that she predicted the reforms of the Second Vatican Council would visit upon Catholicism, disagreeing with what she viewed as a relaxation of the authority of the Holy See. In her later years, Pascalina secured funding from an old friend of Pius' to build Casa Pastor Angelicus, a retirement home for herself and other retired nuns, on a hill overlooking Rome. She died of a brain hemorrhage in Vienna in 1983.