Kreitz, Eugenia

Donor

born: 01.04.1854 in St. Petersburg

died: 08.09.1925 in Boppard

Kreitz was the youngest of four daughters of the watch manufacturer Hubertus Kreitz. She received her education through private tuition and in 1869/70 at the convent school of the Franciscan nuns on the Rhine island of Nonnenwerth near Remagen. Her father is said to have left each of his four daughters one million marks when he died.

Kreitz saw her life's work as continuing her father's pious work. She supported the bitterly poor Biebrich Catholic community in many ways. For example, she furnished St. Mary's Church, which was consecrated in 1876, with confessionals, statues of saints, communion vessels and vestments. In 1894, she made a special contribution by founding the Marienhaus, which she left to the order of the "Poor Handmaids of Jesus Christ" (Dernbach Sisters). In this way, she ensured social care for the sick, elderly and orphans in Biebrich, regardless of denomination. She also supported the motherhouse in Dernbach, branches in Schierstein and Usingen and other institutions.

Kreitz's greatest work, however, was the foundation and construction of the Herz-Jesu-Kirche and the rectory and sexton's house in Mosbach, as well as the endowment of the parish priest. In 1909, she also bequeathed her villa to the parish, in which a retirement and nursing home was established.

She spent the last years of her life in Boppard. In accordance with her wishes, she was buried in the cemetery in Kamp. A memorial plaque in the vestibule of the Herz-Jesu-Kirche commemorates Kreitz. Kreitzstraße in Biebrich was named after her in 1911.