August 19, 1942 – August 25, 2026
Erika Fučik was born in Vienna on August 19, 1942, the second of five children of Franz Fučik and his wife Getrude, née Fiala. Her father was a metalworker; her mother was a housewife. On August 30, 1942, she was baptized at St Mary’s Church in the 17th district. At only five years old, she had to leave her home because her mother fell seriously ill. Her mother died on March 12, 1948, aged 28. Together with her sister, who was a year younger, she went to a boarding school.
From 1948 to 1952, she attended primary school at the children’s home run by the Sisters of the Poor Child Jesus in Maria Enzersdorf near Mödling. On May 18, 1950, she received her First Holy Communion there. She attended secondary school from 1952 to 1956 at the Borromean Sisters’ school in Biedermannsdorf, Lower Austria. She was confirmed on May 28, 1955 in St Stephen’s Cathedral by Cardinal Dr Theodor Innitzer. Upon completing her mandatory education, she moved to an apprenticeship hostel run by the Sisters of St. Joseph in Vienna. There she began her three-year apprenticeship as a ladies’ dressmaker. As early as October 19, 1959, she completed this vocational training by passing her journeyman’s examination at the Vienna Ladies’ Dressmakers’ Guild.
Even whilst she was an apprentice, she repeatedly felt the call to religious life. During those years, she got to know the Sisters of the Sorrowful Mother in the Hasnerstraße (1060 Vienna) and, by chance, was able to make contact with them. The date for her entry into the community was set for November 15, 1959. Having always had a keen interest in children, she began her training in September 1960 at the Training College for Nursery School Teachers and After-School Care Workers run by the Congregation of the Daughters of the Divine Saviour in the Kenyongasse (1070 Vienna), 7th district of Vienna. After three years of training, she completed this course on June 21, 1963. In the same year, on August 12, 1963, she took the habit and was given the religious name Maria Regina of the Bitter Passion. Already in her second year of novitiate, she took charge of a nursery group at the provincial house in Vienna-Simmering. She was permitted to take her first vows on August 12, 1965; she celebrated her perpetual profession on August 12, 1970, her 25th jubilee on September 15, 1990, her 50th jubilee on September 20, 2015, and her 60th jubilee on September 20, 2025.
From 1964 to 1992, she worked as an after-school care worker and nursery teacher, serving as head of the nursery for the last 19 of those years. Apart from a few brief interruptions, she always worked at the nursery in Vienna Simmering. From 1972 to 1984, she was also a member of the Board of Trustees of the Association of Church-run Nursery Schools and After-school Care Centers of the Archdiocese of Vienna. From 1972 to 2009, she was responsible for the upkeep of the nursery school and after-school care center in Simmering.
She developed a keen interest in music from an early age: she was allowed to learn to play the piano when she was just 9 years old. She learned to play the guitar, the flute, and the accordion while training to become a nursery school teacher. From 1967 to 1969, she attended courses in cantor and organ training at the Diocesan Commission for Church Music of the Archdiocese of Vienna. She completed the Theological Lay Course with the Missio canonica, and repeated it from 2009 to 2012 with a focus on post-conciliar theology.
As early as 1965, she was entrusted with minor administrative tasks. Within the religious community, she held a variety of offices for almost 50 years from 1969 onwards: Provincial Secretary, Provincial Treasurer, Provincial Councilor in Austria, Treasurer in Austria, Novice Director, ICD (International Community Development) in the USA, Director of Formation, General Councilor from 1997 to 2007, Regional Assistant and Regional Secretary in the Germany Region, Legal Representative in Austria, Regional Assistant in the Germany-Austria Region.
From 2004 to 2014, she was a member of the Ethics Advisory Board at Raiffeisen Kapitalanlage-Gesellschaft m.b.H. in Austria.
Sr. Regina undertook a wide range of training and further education: typewriting, shorthand, bookkeeping; adult education; retreat leader, spiritual director, administering Holy Communion; leading fasting groups, course and seminar leader.
Sr. Regina always put all her diverse skills and training at the service of the community, which was very important to her.
Sr. Regina also launched a wide range of initiatives across Austria in the field of nursery and after-school care. She was actively involved in INFAG (the Inter-Franciscan Working Group), established the SSM-lay movement in Austria and later in Germany, and provided the fundamental ideas for the development of the Franciscan Encounter Centre in Vienna Simmering.
In recent years, she worked primarily as a retreat leader, spiritual director, leader of Fasting groups, course and seminar leader, and in voluntary roles at the “Gesprächsinsel”, the German language learning café at the Kardinal-König-Haus, and at Solwodi.
Her love of music shaped her entire life. She loved to listen to classical concerts.
Sr. Regina was a humorous, cheerful, optimistic, enthusiastic and creative person. She was a good organizer, sociable and loved building bridges. She had an incredibly wide range of interests, took pleasure in learning and in encouraging others. She listened, was discreet, and shared her time, information, materials and so on. Perseverance, a willingness to serve and hospitality were important to her. She also spent many hours at the bedside of dying sisters. Sr. Regina loved to write down her thoughts, whether in the form of diaries or in small collections of prayers and sayings. The longing for a life lived to the fullest was a defining feature of her life. She had a special connection with Brazil, having been given a second chance at life there following a serious car accident. She also wanted Brazilian soil in her grave.
Sr. Regina cherished her few, very deep friendships for as long as she was able. Her final years were marked by severe dementia, which robbed her of her voice. Initially, she was cared for in her SSM community in Simmering for several years, and during her final months she received loving care from the Franciscan Sisters of Christian Charity (the Hartmann Sisters) until God took her into His care.
We held the funeral at Simmering Cemetery on September 25, followed by the Resurrection service at St. Laurenz parish church, as the chapel in Simmering was too small.
She summed up her life’s motto as follows: “Committed to the benevolent God of life, available to the sisters and brothers, close to the ONE world.” – May this benevolent God grant her an eternal home and reunite her with her mother, who passed away so early.
Submitted by Sr. Gudrun Schellner