Christ at Gethsemane is now on permanent display in the Adoration Room (i.e. the room with all the statues) in the Ohio Province Museum. It is a petit needlepoint tapestry created in the style known as Berlin Wool Work. Tapestries of this era were based on hand-painted charts and utilized very soft wool spun in Saxe-Gotha. This wool was then transported to Berlin, where it was dyed in vibrant, extensive color palettes.
This devotional art was created by Sister Mary Johanna Wenstrup, SNDdeN, and was gifted to the Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur by John Wenstrup and the Wenstrup Family Trust.
Catherine Wenstrup was born on February 12, 1847, in Cincinnati. Before entering religious life, Catherine Wenstrup stitched "Christ at Gethsemane," a piece believed to have taken up to five years to complete. At the age of 20, she entered the novitiate of the Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur on Sixth Street in Cincinnati, Ohio, leaving the tapestry with her family.
Sister Mary Johanna took her First Vows in July 1869 and served God as a Sister of Notre Dame de Namur until her death on March 7, 1913 at Notre Dame Convent in Dayton, Ohio. She is buried in Calvary Cemetery, Dayton, Ohio.
Sister Mary Johanna’s life as a Sister of Notre Dame de Namur took her to many places:
Sister Mary Johanna died 2 weeks before the terrible flood of 1913 that destroyed downtown Dayton.
She had two sisters who were also SNDdeNs:
… and four first cousins