Mother Petra was born on 14th June 1924, at Oelde in Germany and was baptized on 18th June 1924 at St. John the Baptist Church Oelde and was named Paula Katherine. The parents of Mother Petra were Bernard Moennigmann and Paula. Her family was rich. She was taught by her mother to offer little sacrifices and bear the inconveniences of life for the love of Jesus and for the souls in purgatory when she was small. Even as a child she had keen attention on those who suffer and she really felt sympathy for the sufferers.

Mother Petra was an extra ordinary woman with a firmness of character, with clearness of vision and strength of will power. Even though Mother Petra was not a trained nurse, she learned from practice the art of nursing and she had a special Charism in the healing apostolate. She found everywhere sickness and poverty and her heart went out in sympathy for the poor and the suffering. One could feel and notice something of Jesus in her. The same sympathy of Jesus, the same self donation and concern for others reflected in her entire life. One could rightly say that Jesus was walking anew the streets of the world in Sr. Petra. She was most devoted to the passion of Christ. It is evident in her writings of 'Excurses' to her daughters. She literary lived her name 'Sr. Petra of the Holy Cross' which she had taken on her final vows at Ursuline Congregation in Germany.

She had a great longing to be with the Eucharistic Lord and she participates in the Holy Mass and adore the Blessed Sacrament. She decided to reduce the sufferings of the Crucified Lord and console Him by her love, penance and suffering. The spiritual communion of Mother Petra with the Lord in the Holy Eucharist and her contemplation of the holy face of Jesus on the cross enabled her to see the disfigured face of Christ in the poor whom she served. Her trust in the providence of God was remarkable and unshakable. Her encounter with Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament instilled in her an ardent desire to sacrifice her life for the poor.

Physical ailments were constant companion of Mother Petra. In addition to the physical hardships, the extreme poverty and poor life style converted her life into a perpetual holocaust, a living sacrifice. Yet she rarely complained about her sufferings. She used to write letters to Jesus daily.

Another conspicuous feature of Mother Petra's life and activities was a profound trust in the providence of God. Like Abraham, the patriarch, she relied totally on the loving providence of the Heavenly Father. Many things appeared to her humanly impossible. Her problems of health threatened her cherished plans and goals. At times she was lost in darkness and gloom. Yet she cast herself in the guiding hands of God.

Mother Petra lived a life of poverty. Very often she walked barefoot on the rough and stony ground of Pattuvam. Bearing the scorching heat of the day, sweating profusely, drenched in the pouring rain she worked tirelessly, without complaint, with an air of joy, satisfaction and a thrill in undergoing hardships. She lived a very frugal and parsimonial life. She after having given up heroically all the comforts of a European life of affluence, she adopted rigorous poverty in order to enrich her fellow beings in India. By her frugality she could earn something as balance in order to be used for the poor. In this she almost reflected Jesus Christ, the Son of God “who though was rich made Himself poor in order to make us rich by his poverty”. She was also a peace – maker. Mother Petra had a special Charism to bring about peace and reconciliation. She herself was tolerant and generous that she would forgive any offence and welcome any offender.

In 2007, Rt. Rev. Dr. Varghese Chakkalackal, the then Bishop of the Diocese of Kannur, print and published the prayer for her Canonization. In 1994 the first Biography was written by Rev. Dr. Augustine Kolencherry SAC, “ Mother Petra, Lover of the poor” (Story of an Immolation). The petitions of those who prayed the Canonization Prayer were granted.

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