"If it does you good, then come!"
(St. Francis of Assisi)
The beginnings of our congregation in Germany
The beginnings at
St Joseph's House in Perlach
The beginnings of the congregation date back to 1890 in Munich-Perlach.
There was great need, and the poor and sick were not covered by the state's social welfare system as they are today. Poor sick people could afford neither a doctor nor a nurse, neither hospitalisation nor medication.
Father Dr. Peter Natili
In Munich, the Italian Father Dr Peter Natili from the Hieronymite order founds the Association for Outpatient Nursing Care of St Joseph together with a number of nurses. The nurses formed a community early on and moved into a flat together. In 1892, the women joined the Third Order of St Francis for worldly people and soon adopted a modest habit. They lived according to a religious rule that Natili had written.
In 1899 and 1900, Natili had to answer to the Munich district court for sexual abuse in four cases. Although the court believed the witnesses, no convictions were handed down. However, Natili was deported to his native Italy in 1900.
This also leaves its mark on the still young community. The remaining sisters continue to care for the sick and maintain their religious life.
1913
From 1913 they called themselves the Sisters of St Francis (the "Association of the Sisters of St Francis" was founded) and since 1921 the community has been affiliated to the Franciscan Order.
The sisters also came to Vierzehnheiligen in 1913.
The habit
In 1916, the Sisters of St Francis introduced the new habit (centre), which was replaced by the current form in 1970 (right).
On the left, the costume of the Sisters of St Joseph.
Manor "Frankenthal"
In Vierzehnheiligen, they acquired the "Frankenthal" manor with its almost 60 hectares of land. The land was blessed with more stones than bread. The loss-making business led to frequent changes of ownership at the "Frankenthal" farm until the sisters acquired it from the Storath family in 1913. They gave the estate the name "Antoniusheim".
Antoniusheim
The building was located on the site of today's diocesan house. The purchase of the farm connects the sisters with the history of Vierzehnheiligen.
Solanushaus, Landshut
In 1913, the same year that the Guthof in Vierzehnheiligen was acquired, the sisters' headquarters were moved from Munich-Perlach to the Solanushaus in Landshut.
Father Jacob Schauermann
Under the Franciscan and later spiritual director of the sisters, Fr Jacob Schauermann, the congregation flourished. New branches were opened and many like-minded young women asked to join. The small community's desire for ecclesiastical recognition grew more and more. Fr Jacob Schauermann single-mindedly pursued this goal for the sisters.
Church approval
The way the sisters lived and worked soon convinced the diocesan leadership in Bamberg. In 1921, they received ecclesiastical recognition and in the same year, Archbishop Dr Jacobus von Hauck declared the sisters' community a diocesan congregation. At the same time, the new episcopal congregation was affiliated to the Franciscan Order.
Archbishop Jacobus von Hauck
From this point onwards, the sisters were under the leadership and jurisdiction of the Archbishop of Bamberg. The recognition of the community by the Archdiocese of Bamberg as a diocesan congregation meant that the seat of the leadership and the novitiate were moved to Vierzehnheiligen.
Division
This led to a division of the sisterhood. The sisters remaining in Landshut, together with Fr Jakob Schauermann, founded the Congregation of the Solanus Sisters with the following founding charism: "Serving in the following of our Lord Jesus Christ, in simplicity, joy and love, for the peace and salvation of people, in their external and internal needs, missionary at home and abroad, following the example of our Holy Father Francis". This young congregation was recognised by the bishop as a diocesan congregation of the Archdiocese of Munich/Freising in November 1926.
The Congregation of the Sisters of St Francis gradually expanded its activities.
Today
The main tasks of the congregation, which today has nine convents in Germany, four in Peru (since 1934) and three in India (since 2002), are caring for the sick and elderly in outpatient clinics and the order's own houses, education, training, pastoral work and social work.
The constitutions, which were renewed in 2015, conclude with the words:
We bring the Good News of Jesus Christ to life under the demands of the present by serving the Incarnation in love.
Our constitutions help us to follow Jesus Christ in the Franciscan spirit in our personal vocation as Franciscan Sisters of Vierzehnheiligen. "For he has sent you into all the world to bear witness to his voice through word and deed." (aus dem Brief des Hl. Franziskus an die Brüder des gesamten Ordens 9)
