her translation of The Story of a Soul by Saint Thérèse of Lisieux—the first in the German language—followed by Magd des Herrn [Handmaid of the Lord], a book of Marian reflections. Some works, namely those of a more explicitly mystical character, were not released until Pope John Paul II organized a Vatican symposium on von Speyr's work in 1985, almost twenty years after her death. Von Speyr and von Balthasar also collaborated closely in the founding of the Johannesgemeinschaft (Community of Saint John), a Catholic institute of consecrated laypeople established in 1945. After a long discernment, von Balthasar would eventually leave the Society of Jesus to found this community, since his superiors did not believe it would be compatible with Jesuit life. He saw it as a "personal, special, and non-delegable task." Von Speyr referred to the Johannesgemeinschaft metaphorically as a “Child” she shared with the priest—an analogy that has drawn some criticism but been defended by others. Von Speyr served as the superior of the women's branch of the community until her death. Von Balthasar, for his part, has stated that his own theological work is inseparable from von Speyr's. “The greater part of so much of what I have written is a translation of what is present in a more immediate, less technical fashion in the powerful work of Adrienne von Speyr.” Later years and death Von Speyr gave up her medical practice in 1954 due to deteriorating health. She suffered from diabetes, heart disease, and severe arthritis, which caused her intense pain and greatly weakened her. According to von Balthasar, “no physician could understand how she could still be alive.” During this period, she prayed, knitted, visited with her grandchildren, wrote letters, read novels, and continued guiding the women in the Johannesgemeinschaft. Members of her family claim that she did not make her illnesses known. In 1964, von Speyr went blind, and her health slipped into sharp decline. Von Balthasar, who was often present through this time, recounts: “The last months in bed were a continuous, merciless torture, which she bore with great equanimity, always concerned about the others and constantly apologetic about causing me so much trouble.” On September 17, 1967, the feast of Saint Hildegard of Bingen, von Speyr died in her home in Basel. One of her last phrases was “Que c’est beau de mourir”—“How beautiful it is to die”—and her dying words were