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ELIZABETH EPPINGER, MOTHER ALPHONSE MARIE FOUNDRESS OF THE CONGREGATION OF THE SISTERS OF THE DIVINE REDEEMER (1814-1867)
She lived during the period after the French Revolution and the Napoleonic Wars, in times of political unrest, industrialization, and immense impoverishment.
Elizabeth Eppinger was born on September 9, 1914, in Bad Niederbronn, a village in Alsace, East France. She was baptized in the parish church on September 10, 1814. Her father, Johann Georg Eppinger, was born in 1790 and her mother, Barbara Vogt Eppinger, was born in 1791. Elizabeth was the first born of their eleven children. She grew up in simple and humble circumstances of a farming community.
Elizabeth began her schooling at the age of nine because at that time, education was not compulsory. When she was ten years old, she received her first religious instruction from her pastor, Father David Reichard, who also became her spiritual director. She made her First Holy Communion in 1828 in the church of Reichshofen and was Confirmed on May 10th, of the same year.
The desire for religious life in which she could contribute “to the glory of God and the salvation of souls” was growing in her. When Elizabeth was 16 years old, she wanted to enter the Sisters of the Good Shepherd Community but her parents did not permit this because she was needed at home.
