Marie Margaret Bogenschitz was born on October 4, 1914, the eldest of twin girls born to Andrew and Theresa (Kloppenburg) Bogenschutz in Springfield, Missouri. There were four other children in the family, two boys and two girls. 

From an early age, Marie set her sights on the direction that would become God’s purpose in her life. “At the age of six I said, ‘I want to be a sister when I get big. ’ At the age of twelve, I said, I will be a sister someday.’ At the age of eighteen, I said, ‘I will be a sister, but not yet.'’ Marie enjoyed dating, dancing, sports and movies, but mass, communion, and novenas meant much to her as well.

When she was 22, Marie attended a day of recollection at a Dominican convent, and there, during a period of adoration before the Blessed Sacrament, that she became convinced that God was calling her to religious life. She was inspired to look for a leaflet she had seen when she was five years old, and she found it among of her sister Louise’s things. Finding this leaflet, which pictured angels and sisters in adoration before the Blessed Sacrament, she then wrote to Clyde. Soon she was packing her trunk. Many years later she learned that this leaflet was actually a sample certificate of enrollment in the Association of Perpetual Adoration.

The Eucharist was Marie’s consuming love and the source of her strength, a strength that was tested in many ways during the 58 years of her monastic life. For Marie the apostolate of the printed word, in the Correspondence Department and for Spirit & Life, was an extension of the Eucharist, and she worked in the order departments, packing room, and the addressograph. She also worked in the altar bread departments in Mundelein and Clyde.

Being for others was important to Marie, whether that was everyone of my brothers and sisters ‘out there’ in love and service by identifying with Jesus in His love and concern for them. The ‘death-resurrection’ experience of Perpetual Vows has indeed been a ‘freedom for love,’ and intimacy with God and my beloved Community.”

As much as she loved others, Sr. Marie also long cherished a desire to live in solitude within community, and was able to do so for two wonderful months a few years before her death. The community at Clyde walked with her during the days of her final illness. Her heart gave out in the early morning houses, on February 26, 1998. The Mass of Christian Burial was celebrated in the Clyde Monastery Chapel on February 28, 1998, with many of sister’s relatives in attendance. Burial in Mt. Calvary Cemetery followed.

In 1994, Marie wrote: “On my deathbed I would wish that the sisters present would remind me of what I envisioned some years ago and practiced frequently since then...At Mass, at the words of the consecration ‘and ready to greet him when he comes again,’ it struck me that ‘when he comes again’ will be the moment of death. I want to say when I see my Jesus, ‘ My Jesus, mercy’ because I do not know what divine justice is. I have only experienced divine mercy up to this point. Then I want to embrace him with all the passionate love of my whole being. Hopefully, I’ll hear him say, ‘Thou woman of desire, Come!”