Cunigunda was the daughter of Johann and Cunigunda Fröba (Froeba). She was born May 30, 1829, in Buchbach, Ludwigstadt, Ober-Franken, Germany. In the early 1850s, she came from Buchbach to Louisville, Ky., to live with her brothers on Madison Street. Their home was across the street from the home of Henry and Katrina Bloemer, the parents of Anna Katrina, who was destined to become Sister Augustine, the pioneer of the Mount Saint Joseph Ursuline Community. The Froeba and Bloemer families were members of St. Martin Church in Louisville. Cunigunda worked as a housekeeper at the Cathedral of the Assumption. Father Leander Streber, OFM, directed her to the Ursuline Convent of the Immaculate Conception in Louisville. She entered the novitiate on August 15, 1868. Several weeks later on September 3, Cunigunda received the Ursuline habit and was given the name Sister Johanna.
Sister Johanna made her profession of religious vows on September 8, 1870. Much of her time in the novitiate was spent in sewing and mending. On August 14, 1874, Sister Johanna left the Motherhouse in Louisville as one of the five pioneer Ursulines assigned to open a school at St. Joseph in western Daviess County. It was a project fostered by Father Paul Joseph Volk, the pastor of St. Alphonsus Church. Sister Johanna’s indomitable spirit contributed significantly to this pioneering effort that gave birth to Mount Saint Joseph Academy. Sister Johanna labored at the Mount for 35 years and was considered the guardian angel in charge of general maintenance. She also possessed an extensive knowledge of the medicinal value of roots, barks and leaves. She was able to concoct teas, ointments and all kinds of powders for most common ailments. Both Sisters and students placed their health needs in her care. Sister Johanna never returned to Louisville. Out of deep love for her native language, she spoke and wrote only in German, going about her duties of humble toil not teaching by words but showing by her example how to be truly noble and good. She corresponded through the years with her family members who were in the United States. In the summer of 1899, after a 50-year separation, Mary Barbara Froeba Kimley, her sister, of Galveston, Texas, visited Sister Johanna at Mount Saint Joseph Academy. Sister Johanna’s greeting was, “Gelopt Lei Jesus Christus!”
Sister Johanna’s health began to fail in early 1900. She was relieved of her duties, but continued to be of assistance when able. She was confined to bed for about five months, suffering patiently in the same silent endurance which had characterized her life. She peacefully passed into her eternal reward on April 6, 1909. She was the last to be buried in the cemetery on the north campus. In 1910, the cemetery was moved to “God’s Acre” on the hill to the east of the Academy where her remains rest in peace.