Brother Marian (Johann) Felder was born in 1934 in Schüpfheim, Switzerland, the third youngest of nine children in a farming family. Having lost his hearing in early childhood, he attended the school for the deaf in Hohenrain from the age of seven. There, he received a sound education and learned to lip-read High German. After training as a tailor in Lucerne, he worked in Schüpfheim and Rapperswil before entering Engelberg Abbey, where he made his profession as Brother Marian in 1959.
Despite his deafness, Brother Marian grew ever more devoted to the Divine Office, although his greatest spiritual support remained the Rosary, which he had prayed since childhood. As a tailor, he served his many confreres with exceptional precision. After retiring from this work at the age of 65, he cared for animals and plants and gathered medicinal herbs for the sisters of Maria Rickenbach. A cheerful, sociable and observant man, he cherished friendships, Marian pilgrimages and encounters with people from many backgrounds.
In 2025, Brother Marian moved to Erlenhaus nursing home, where he received loving care and enjoyed being taken for walks in his wheelchair, always greeting others with a friendly smile and wave. In the early morning of Monday, 19 October 2026, the Lord called him home. We give thanks for his faithful life of prayer, his quiet dedication and his joyful spirit, and commend him to God’s eternal peace.