Hildegard Goss-Mayr, an Austrian whose peacemaking efforts have inspired Nobel Peace Prize winners and ordinary citizens worldwide, has been selected to receive the Pacem in Terris Peace and Freedom Award, which is chosen by a coalition of Quad-City religious groups.

Presented by Bishop Martin Amos of the Davenport Diocese and the Pacem in Terris Coalition of the Quad-Cities, the award honors Pope John XXIII and commemorates his 1963 encyclical letter, Pacem in Terris, which means "peace on earth."

Goss-Mayr, 79, is the 39th recipient of the award, to be presented Sept. 20 during a 3 p.m. ceremony in Christ the King Chapel at St. Ambrose University, Davenport.

Previous recipients include Martin Luther King Jr. in 1965, Dorothy Day in 1972, Mother Teresa in 1976, Archbishop Desmond Tutu in 1987, Eileen Egan in 1989, Cesar Chavez in 1992, Lech Walesa in 2001 and Msgr. Marvin Mottet in 2008.

Goss-Mayr and her husband, who died in 1991, worked as a team in peacekeeping efforts around the world: Europe, Latin America, South America, Spain, the Philippines and Africa, among other places.

Her roots in nonviolence run deep. Born in Vienna in 1930, Goss-Mayr was inspired by her father, a peace activist persecuted by the Gestapo for his efforts.

The Pacem in Terris Coalition includes the Diocese of Davenport,

St. Ambrose University, Augustana College, Churches United of the Quad-City Area, the Congregation of the Humility of Mary, The Catholic Messenger, Pax Christi Quad-Cities and Bridges of Faith.

"Hildegard has lived out the principles of the encyclical, Pacem in Terris. In fact, she says that she was inspired by the encyclical to devote her life to peacemaking and nonviolence," said Dan Ebener, the Davenport Diocese's stewardship director and the coalition member who nominated her for the award, in a news release.

While hers is not a household name, coalition member Rev. Ron Quay, executive director of Churches United of the Quad-City Area, said in a news release that he is impressed by what he has learned about Goss-Mayr. "Her resume, her life story is one that has been in some of the major peace engagements in the world."

The Pacem in Terris Coalition includes the Diocese of Davenport, St. Ambrose University, Augustana College, Churches United of the Quad-City Area, the Congregation of the Humility of Mary, The Catholic Messenger, Pax Christi Quad-Cities and Bridges of Faith.

Goss-Mayr is acquainted with several past recipients, including Mairead Corrigan Maguire, who wrote the foreword in Richard Deats' new book about Goss-Mayr titled, "Marked for Life."

"I had the pleasure of meeting Hildegard and Jean (Goss, her husband) in 1988 when they visited Northern Ireland which was in the midst of violent ethnic/political conflict," Nobel Peace Prize winner Maguire wrote. "It was a dangerous time to come but they did so with great enthusiasm and generosity of spirit…. They brought us hope and planted many seeds of nonviolence and peace."