Ona Galdikaitė

Ona Galdikaitė also known as Sesuo Marija Augustina (Sister Mary Augustina) (17 September 1898 – 1990) was a Lithuanian poet, nun, and dissident. She was the founder of the Franciscan Congregation of the Divine Heart of Jesus.

Early life and education Ona Galdikaitė was born on 17 September 1898 in village, near Mosėdis, in the Skuodas district of Lithuania. She was the daughter of Feliksas Galdikas, and Fortunata Karevičiūtė, a niece of Archbishop Pranciškus Karevičius, and sister of the painter, Adomas Galdikas. She studied at the in Kaunas and after completing her prep school education in 1919 continued her studies in Germany. She attended the University of Münster beginning in 1920, studying pedagogy, philosophy and theology until 1921.

The following year, she joined the of the Secular Franciscan Order and took the name Sesuo Marija Augustina (Sister Mary Augustina). Her uncle, on a trip back from Rome, came to the monastery and put forth arguments to establish an order in Lithuania. The monastery sent the Mother Superior Chryzolą and Sister Adelheit, who had been a missionary in Africa, with Sister Mary Augustina as translator in 1924 to investigate whether establishing an order was feasible. They determined that due to the war, there were no funds and little opportunity and returned to Germany, where Sister Mary Augustina returned to school, graduating from the University of Münster and furthering her studies in Cologne. ecclesiastical vestments, and by 1932 had completed a 2-story wooden monastery. In 1933, they bought a second structure in Kaunas, had it consecrated by Archbishop Karevičius and established a Montessori boarding school. Six sisters remained at the farm and twelve sisters ran the boarding school.

Sister Mary Augustina died on 9 February 1990 at the home in Kaunas. In 1998, the order which she founded had 40 permanent members, 4 laity, and 1 novitiate. A prayerbook printed in 1998 contains many of her poems and hymns.