Cemetery of the Apostolic Sisters and the infamous Sister Mourir

The nunnery is hidden at the back of the park, towards the Scheldt, and exudes an atmosphere of complete tranquility.

The cemetery's location near the Scheldt River is no coincidence. In religious symbolism, the river often represents the crossing to the afterlife.

The cemetery is a "hortus conclusus" (a closed walled garden) to draw a clear boundary between the busy school life (the boarding school) and the eternal rest of the monastic community.

What immediately strikes you is the uniformity . The sisters didn't opt for individual mausoleums. Instead, you see rows of identical, simple crosses or small headstones. This symbolizes their vow of poverty and the idea that everyone is equal before God. Often, only the name of the nun (for example , Sister Maria-Jozef ), the date of birth, and the date of death are inscribed.

In 1948 , a private cemetery was established in the castle park on the banks of the Scheldt, where nuns are still buried . The reverend mothers are buried in the crypt beneath the small chapel at the rear.

Cecile Bombeke (better known by her monastic name, Sister Godfrida ) is also buried on the grounds, but her grave is shrouded in silence and anonymity. She died in 2019 at the age of 86. Author Tom De Smet called her "Sour Mourir" in his book, for this reason: almost no one in Flanders knows the story of the Wetteren nun Cecile Bombeke, alias Sister Godfrieda, who killed at least three elderly people in the 1970s.

On February 3, 1958, 24-year-old Cecile Bombeke, a farmer's daughter from Wichel, stood with a single suitcase at the entrance to the monastery of the Holy Apostles of St. Joseph in Wetteren. Her sister Julia, three years older than her, wasted away by bone cancer , had given her the monastic name Godfrieda on her deathbed. This means "living under divine protection."

The newly ordained nun begins working as a midwife. One of the first children she delivers from Wetteren is Peter De Winter. It's an immediately difficult birth. The baby is breech. Godfrieda stays calm and saves his life . This marks the beginning of a lifelong friendship with Peter's mother, Elza. She regularly visits the nun at the convent with her children. "I really looked up to Godfrieda," Peter De Winter reflects in 2023. "After all, she had saved my life. But she was also a warm, helpful woman."

Mother Superior Pauline is also delighted with her new arrival. She puts her to work as a nurse at the nearby nursing home. It's run by the Public Social Welfare Center (OCMW), but was founded and is still operated by the convent. Godfrieda ends up in the geriatric ward, also known as "the Chronic," where the nursing home's sickest and most needy residents live. It's hard work. Many of the elderly can barely move. They sometimes suffer excruciating pain. Euthanasia is not yet a legal requirement in Belgian law, and palliative care is unknown.

Godfrieda—dutiful and devout—doesn't complain. She cares for "her" people at the Chronic to the best of her ability. The Mother Superior is extremely pleased and, in 1967—at the age of 34—appoints Godfrieda as head nurse of the ward . In this capacity, she now leads a small team of geriatric nurses. She is the only nun at the Chronic: all other staff members are lay people.

Severe headache

In 1970, Godfrieda began suffering from severe headaches. The local doctors couldn't find the cause . They prescribed her painkillers, which Godfrieda needed increasingly to continue working. The situation became increasingly unbearable, but Mother Superior didn't want to lose one of her best employees and insisted she remain active as head nurse. Well-behaved and timid as she was, Godfrieda didn't dare refuse. So she continued working.

According to family members, the nun often sat with her head in her hands, wailing during that period. "It was touching. How many times did we tell her it wasn't human anymore?"

Godfrieda eventually ended up with Ghent neurologist Jules Govaert. On February 21, 1974, the nun underwent surgery. Govaert then informed her that he had removed a malignant brain tumor. A large dent in her skull would remind her of that procedure for the rest of her life.

But the headaches don't go away. Govaert prescribes her the morphine derivative Dolantine Special: a highly addictive and powerful sedative that she can only take in limited doses. Godfrieda returns to the Chronic. She can barely function. She needs more Dolantine. She steals medication, forges prescriptions , and even gets the elderly nursing home doctor to provide her with blank notes.

Drinking and lesbian relationship

The brain surgery appears to have profoundly changed the nun . She starts drinking, goes to restaurants, cafes, and sex shops with her fellow sister Mathieu—with whom she shares a room on the top floor of the nursing home—buys provocative clothing, and makes sexual advances toward the female staff. Several witnesses later claim she has a lesbian relationship with Mathieu .

Godfrieda is treating her patients increasingly roughly . Some staff members at the Chronic suspect she does this deliberately: if her patients complain of pain, she can have the doctor prescribe extra painkillers. They whisper that she then uses these painkillers for herself.

Three times, the staff caught Godfrieda pressing hard on an elderly person's chest, forcing them to drink water. This could cause the airways to fill with water, resulting in drowning.

Jewelry, securities, and cash disappear . When a man dies, his daughter asks where the savings bonds in the nightstand have gone. "Your brother took them," says Godfrieda. When the deceased's son asks the same question a few hours later, the answer is, "Your sister took them." The brother and sister won't speak to each other for years.

On July 29, 1977, 81-year-old Leon Matthys complained about his indigestion after breakfast. Godfrieda gave him an injection. He died that afternoon.

The staff can no longer ignore the high death toll. In 1977, 21 people had already died in the Chronic Care Unit . The annual average for the unit is thirteen.

Several elderly care workers approach OCMW chairman Romain Verschooris. He sends them away one by one. They are told they are "crazy women" who are "conspiring against Sister Godfrieda." Shortly afterward, on August 14, 1977, 79-year-old Irma De Backer dies. She had been sleeping poorly for several nights. That afternoon, Godfrieda gives her an injection. By the evening, the elderly woman is dead.

Drug addiction clinic

Staff members Anna Van den Bogaerd, Wivine Lison, and Lucienne Rasschaert break into Godfrieda's room and find a box full of medication. They take it to Verschooris. When Godfrieda discovers this, she smashes her room to pieces. Even Verschooris is now clear: the situation is untenable. He sends the nun to a rehab clinic . The trio of elderly care workers is told to keep quiet about the matter. No one benefits from a scandal, and what has happened cannot be undone.

Peace returns to Wetteren. Until six months later, the staff receives a Christmas card: "See you soon." Signed by Godfrieda. She fully intends to return to her former position.

Desperate, Van den Bogaerd and her two colleagues approach the young general practitioner Jean-Paul De Corte. He has a reputation for holding his tongue for nothing and no one. They tell him about the murders, the thefts, and Godfrieda's addiction.

Three insulin murders known

De Corte is clear: if their allegations are true, he will support them. He contacts a government official who inspects pharmacies in the region, who discovers irregularities. On February 10, 1978, Godfrieda is arrested, initially on suspicion of forgery. But she soon confesses to three murders involving insulin injections: those of De Backer, Matthys, and 87-year-old Maria Vanderginst.

Wetteren is in turmoil. At a hastily convened Public Centre for Social Welfare (OCMW) council meeting, the secretary shouts: "What the hell just announced this?"

Outside Wetteren, the news caused little stir. The – primarily Catholic – press paid little attention to it. Meanwhile, the three whistleblowers are being threatened. They are considered defilers who have tarnished the good name of the municipality and the monastery.

The trio feels completely cornered. They do what they've done before: knock on Jean-Paul De Corte's door. He decides to hold a press conference . On February 21st, the four of them sit in the Gildenhuis in Wetteren and tell the whole story. They conclude: there may have been more than three deaths. "Twenty," De Corte thinks.

Investigating judge Leo Tas compiles a list of seventeen deaths for which he suspects Godfrieda. But Tas has no hard evidence.

Meanwhile, the nun denies that she deliberately killed Matthys, Vanderginst, and De Backer. She simply wanted to calm them down, is her new version. And she had nothing to do with any of the other deaths.

In 1980 – Godfrieda had already been in pre-trial detention in Ghent for almost three years, where she was frequently visited by Mathieu – the experts concluded that the nun was of no mental capacity .

Godfrieda was interned in an institution in Melle. In 1990, she proved to be no longer a threat to society: her addiction was gone, and her headaches were under control. She returned to the convent in Wetteren. But her mind was shrouded in mystery. She became demented and died quietly in 2019. Her family was not informed; only three people were present in the convent cemetery: the priest, the dean, and the undertaker. Sister Mathieu had died four years earlier.

Her crimes formed the basis for a film starring Anita Ekberg , and her photo appeared in renowned foreign magazines such as 'Paris Match' and 'Time Magazine'.

Willem Vandenameele