Maria von Trapp - Ladies in History

Maria von trapp was more than just a singing woman who married and become the mother of 7 kids, as you have seen in "The Sound of Music". In January of 1905, Maria was born into a sad situation. Her mother was her father's second wife, after his first wife died not long before. The life that Maria had as a child was rather confusing as she lived with her uncle (who became her guardian after her father died when she was 3)..so she never really had a family life. 

In her teen years, Maria had a sense of adventure. She loved climbing the mountains near her dear home in Austria. After many days of summer freedom, she felt God telling her to do something more with her time. At this time, Maria didn't fully understand who God is, but she did know that He was Mighty and wonderful. I think that came from the many hours spent in nature.. So, she jumped on a bus and headed to the nearest Abbey. She was very sporadic. ;) 

Maria found life at the Abbey odd. She couldn't understand why you had to have so much silence and prayer. She tried very hard to fit into the life at the Abbey and to become a nun... but it just didn't work with her attitude. Thankfully, she was allowed to be a teacher for some of the young children near the Abbey. She greatly enjoyed this! After a few months, Maria was called by one of the mother nuns. She was going to go be a governess for 7 motherless children. The thought of leaving the place where she felt called was very hard... Maria actually became mad at God! 

 She did enjoy being a governess for the children though...and after a while Captain Von Trapp asked her to marry him. Georg had fallen in love with the woman who had captured his children's hearts. Maria found this very strange and went back to the Abbey in utter anger. A nun was not to marry. That was simple to her, but one of her mentors at the Abbey told her that she thought that God wanted her to marry the Captain and mother his children. Because Maria had much respect for the mother nun, she went back to Georg and accepted his proposal. Maria told herself that she was really marrying the children because she loved them. But after a while, she did indeed find herself in love with the man she married. ;) 

As you know in the movie, Maria Von Trapp and her family left Austria because of Hitler demanding that they would change their political views. Georg was a strong Christian and would not turn his back on his Lord...so they left Austria. As they traveled around, they started singing as a family to earn some money. They became widely known and even traveled as far as America! After a while though, they became sick of travel and settled down in Vermont. (Sadly, Georg died right before this in 1947 due to lung cancer..) They started a lodge which is still in use today. ( there were MANY funny stories about the lodge and the starting of the gift shop, etc, but it would take too long to tell ;)).

 In the end of the book, "The real Maria" (written by her), she tells of how she had a very happy life..she married a wonderful man and had an amazing family. She felt blessed beyond words! And the best part about the whole book for me was in the end when Maria tells of how her daughters prayed and prayed that she would see the difference between Catholicism and Christianity. 

 After her daughters brought her to hear a sermon about the difference, Maria walked out a different woman. She felt very confused and after talking with her dear girls, they explained that they had felt the same. They then continued to tell of how Christ died for your sins without any strings attached. Maria was amazed.  She wrote that she felt that she now had a relationship with Him and not a guilty feeling about following the catholic laws and such. Maria loved the Lord!

 Maria died in 1987 after a heart failure at the age of 82...she never remarried after Georg died 40 years beforehand. She lived a happy life with her family and her new home in the mountains of Vermont. 

Did you know any of these random facts?

Have you watched "The Sound of Music"?

What was your favorite picture?