Obituaries Australia

Paula van Baer, n.d.

Paula van Baer, the second child of Lou and Essie van Baer, was born on 26 January 1926 and died suddenly on 2 July 1913. She attended St Anthony’s Primary School in Glenhuntly from 1931 to 1935, spent the next four years as a boarder at Notre Dame de Sion in Box Hill, and from 1939 to 1944 was a pupil at Presentation Convent Windsor with her sister Marie, who died in 2005. Paula studied Arts at the University of Melbourne, majoring in French and German, with Dutch as a sub-major. After graduating in 1947 she worked in the Modern Languages Department of the University of Melbourne.

In 1952 Paula entered the Poor Clares, and was given the name of Agnes. She was joined two years later by her sister Diana, who died in 2010. Paula was one of the first two Australians to join the five Irish sisters who had come from Galway to establish a contemplative community in Sydney. This community moved in 1968 from Bronte Road in Waverley to Campbelltown NSW.

From 1968 to 1971 Agnes lived in Rome in a strictly enclosed convent where sisters from various Poor Clare convents had gathered to work on the revision of the Poor Clare constitution. In Rome she became fluent in Italian. Those who had come from overseas were allowed to take holidays away from the convent and in 1968 she was able to spend time with her sisters Marie and Wendy in London and to travel to Ireland with them, visiting the Poor Clares in Galway and relatives of some of the nuns who had come to Sydney. The following year she and Wendy spent time on the Continent and visited the Poor Clares in Louvain.

Agnes was elected Abbess in 1971 for a term of three years and spent most of her religious life in teaching and formation work. She also looked after the library, ensuring that the best books and reading material in scripture, liturgy, theology, the arts and Franciscan studies were available to the community.

In 1981 she enrolled in a Master of Arts at St Bonaventure University in New York State, on her way there visiting Louise and her husband in Vancouver and then taking the train across Canada through the Rockies. During her stay in the US she visited relatives of one of the Irish nuns in Chicago, and had a week in New York with a friend from University days.

On his tour of inspection of Poor Clare monasteries in the United States and Canada in 1987, Fr Dario Pili OFM enlisted Agnes as interpreter.

In 1997 Agnes attended a conference in Canterbury, Kent, met Wendy in London, and together they visited friends in Paris, relatives in Holland and Germany, and spent time in Florence, Assisi and Rome.

In England Agnes worked with Franciscan scholars on an edition of Clare of Assisi’s early documents. She was often called upon to translate articles written by Poor Clares, Franciscan Friars and others into English, or from English into other languages.

In 2004 Agnes celebrated her golden jubilee of profession. She had the most amazing memory, took a keen interest in the arts, literature, family and relatives, current affairs and Test cricket. She excelled at sewing and produced some beautiful embroidery. She was a prolific letter-writer, keeping in regular contact with the many friends made in Australia and overseas, people who remained friends for life.

In November 2012 Agnes, on holidays in Melbourne, was able to attend the centenary celebrations at Presentation College with Louise and Wendy.