LOWELL, MI (01-19-2018) Spending her entire religious life making people feel at home, Sister Zita Senzig, FSE, 90, entered her eternal home today with her Community around her. Sister Zita had gradually weakened and was prepared for God to call her to new life with the Holy Trinity. She told her Sisters that she was looking forward to seeing her friends and family once again in the heavenly household.
Sister Zita entered religious life as a Franciscan Sister of Perpetual Adoration in 1949 and professed perpetual vows in 1958. In 1973 she became one of the founding members of the Franciscan Sisters of the Eucharist. She was trained as a homemaker and a nursing assistant, studying home economics at Viterbo College and receiving a Certificate as a Nursing Assistant from Clatsop Community College, Astoria, Oregon. Sister Zita was known by many as an expert in home cooking and was at home in the kitchen preparing meals with enthusiasm. She had a gift of conversation and a ready laugh both of which were appreciated by the elderly persons she visited on a regular basis as part of her mission to others. As a Eucharistic Minister, Sister brought the Blessed Sacrament to those who were unable to attend Mass. This special ministry of visiting and praying with others was warmly and joyfully received by lonely parishioners who became her friends.
As a dedicated religious woman, Sister Zita served in La Crosse and Big River, Wisconsin; Roselle and West Bend, Iowa; Blackfoot, Idaho; Duluth, Minnesota; Juneau, Alaska; Shaw Island, Washington; Assisi, Italy; and Lowell, Michigan. In her 27 years in Assisi, Sister Zita became endeared to the people of the area as she faithfully visited and cared for elderly persons who were home-bound. She expanded her home cooking skills to include Italian fare as prepared by the local neighbors. Always a hard worker, a trait she attributed to her family’s working together on their Wisconsin farm, she gave herself and her talents generously to the Community and all she served.
Sister Zita was born on July 10, 1927 in Lyndon Station, Wisconsin, and was named Eleanor Josephine by her parents, Frank and Mary Josephine Senzig. Her seven siblings, Francis, Walter, James, Joseph, Donald, and Margaret Senzig and Dorothy Senzig Trader have predeceased her.
Sister Zita is survived by her Community, the Franciscan Sisters of the Eucharist who will miss her cheerful and heart-felt contribution to community life, the Franciscan Brothers of the Eucharist, the Franciscan Apprentices, her sister-in-law Adoree (Donald) Senzig, many nieces, nephews and friends around the world.
A time of visitation will be at the Franciscan Sisters’ Annunciation Chapel, 11650 Downes St., Lowell, Michigan, on Tuesday, January 23 from 6:30-7:30 p.m. concluding with the rosary and benediction at 7:30 p.m. Additional time of visitation will begin at 9:00 a.m. on Wednesday, January 24 at the Annunciation Chapel followed by the Mass of Christian Burial at 10:00 a.m. Burial will be in the Franciscan Sisters’ Cemetery after the Mass.
The funeral arrangements are under the direction of Sister Patricia Glass, FSE, Funeral Director and Roth-Gerst Funeral Home, Lowell.
For more about Sister Zita, see Sister Zita, Featured Sister.
