Bernarda Butler

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Maria Bernarda

Maria Bernarda Bütler (real name Verena Bütler , born May 28, 1848 in Auw AG , Switzerland ; † May 19, 1924 in Cartagena , Colombia ) was a Swiss Catholic missionary and founder of the order . She founded the congregation of the « Franciscan Missionary Sisters of Maria Hilf » ( FMMH ). She is venerated as a saint in the Catholic Church. Their day of worship is May 19th.

Life

family

Maria Bernarda (Verena) Bütler was born on a Sunday as the fourth child of a farmer family with strong roots in Auw and the Freiämtern . The deeply religious parents Heinrich Bütler and Katharina Bütler also raised their eight children piously. The great-great-grandparents of Maria Bernarda, Jeremias Bütler and Elisabeth Hoffmann lived in Auw, the family's earlier ancestors are not known by name. AM Martina Bütler (1856–1890), the youngest of the three sisters of Maria Bernarda, also became a religious sister , she entered the Benedictine monastery Au in Trachslau near Einsiedeln .

Adolescence

Verena Bütler, 17 years old in Auw

Verena Bütler was a child like any other, and she keeps family memories. Since her first communion , however, she was particularly attached to her faith, and as a 15-year-old girl she expressed the desire to devote her life to God. Pope Benedict XVI praised her virtues “very early on in a deep love for the Lord” . a century and a half later, on the occasion of her canonization in front of St. Peter's Basilica in the Vatican . Verena was a happy girl, intelligent and sensitive to interpersonal relationships. Qualities which, with their firm bond with God and strong will, also shaped their path and life's work.

Monastery superior

At the age of 19, Verena Bütler left her home village of Auw and entered the Capuchin monastery “Maria Hilf” in Altstätten on November 12, 1867. Her parents accompanied her in a carriage to the monastery gate. Soon afterwards Verena was dressed as a novice , and she also took on her religious name "Maria Bernarda". Two years later she put a nun who vows from. At first she also worked as a teacher, after three years she became helper mother (assistant to the monastery superior ) and novice master (leader of the novices). Maria Bernarda was elected superior of the Maria Hilf monastery in 1880, then re-elected twice. Their reforms intensified monastic life and led to increased admissions to the monastery. Their motto, which can also be read above the Maria Bernarda altar in the Auwer parish church of St. Nicholas, was: "The Gospel is my guiding star". Her desire to face ever greater challenges in the service of God and the Church inspired her to a new vocation after eight years of successful monastery management: to work as a missionary on a wide continent . The Bishop of St. Gallen wanted to keep it in his diocese , but in the end Mother Maria Bernarda received the requested permission and the papal indult to found a missionary branch monastery of the Altstättner Maria-Hilf-Kloster in South American Ecuador .

Founder of the order

Mother Maria Bernarda Bütler and her six Franciscan sisters, among them Maria Charitas Brader , who was beatified in 2003 , left their home monastery in Altstätten in 1888 . They drove through Europe and across the Atlantic Ocean to their first mission station in Chone . New language, far from home, unusual climate and communication problems made her work, which required a lot of perseverance and courage, especially in the areas of youth education, family care, nursing and the promotion of evangelization . She met the problems and setbacks with Christian patience, willingness to make sacrifices and charity. With her strong willpower and her organizational talent, Maria Bernarda succeeded in 1892 in founding a new congregation from a branch monastery , which was named « Franciscan Missionary Sisters of Maria Hilf » (FMMH) in 1938 by Pope Pius XI. was officially recognized. Mother Maria Bernarda, superior of her congregation, founded several branch monasteries and schools in Ecuador (St. Anna, Canoa) and in Colombia (Tucuerres), where Christian life flourished.

When the property and institutions of the Catholic Church in Ecuador were nationalized in 1895 , the women religious fled to Cartagena , a port city on the Caribbean coast of neighboring Colombia. There they founded other schools, hospitals and homes, later also in Brazil, where mother Maria Bernarda founded another branch monastery. She also founded a religious branch in Gaissau ( Vorarlberg / Austria ) on the Swiss border . She tirelessly visited her fellow sisters in the mission stations. The charismatic founder of the order died at the age of 76 in Cartagena, where she had worked for almost 30 years. A commemorative mass was held in the Cathedral of Cartagena on the day she died, during which the pastor said: "This morning a saint died in our city, the honorable Mother Bernarda".

Beatification by Pope John Paul II in Rome (1995)
Pope Benedict XVI at the canonization (2008)

"Mother Bernarda remains a shining example of a biblical woman: strong, clever, mystical, spiritual master and outstanding missionary," says the short biography of St. Maria Bernarda Bütler published by the Vatican on the occasion of the canonization.

Beatification and Canonization

On October 29, 1995, Mother Maria Bernarda Bütler was beatified by Pope John Paul II in St. Peter's Basilica after a process that lasted almost 50 years and began in 1948 . During the beatification ceremony, Rosmarie Wicki-Bütler and Burkard Bütler, great-niece and great-nephew of the saint, represented the Bütler family from Auw.

Her canonization took place on October 12, 2008 by Pope Benedict XVI. in front of St. Peter's Basilica in the Vatican . She is the first Swiss personality since 1947 and the first ever Swiss woman to be canonized. Before her, this honor was only bestowed on St. Wiborada of St. Gallen in 1047. The Swiss Capuchin and religious historian Beda Mayer initiated the process of beatification for Maria Bernarda Bütler in the 1930s; among other things, he presented a “Sr. Bernarda Bütler Archive ”. A 2007 Vatican decree confirmed that a doctor in Cartagena, Colombia, was cured of a lung disease on her advocacy. Thus the miracle necessary for canonization was fulfilled.

The canonization ceremony was attended by tens of thousands of people, including a group of pilgrims from Switzerland, especially from Freiamt , the region of origin of Maria Bernarda Bütler. Rosmarie Wicki-Bütler and Irene Bütler represented the family of the saints at the celebration, of which several members live in Freiamt in Aargau and its surroundings.

The day of remembrance of St. Maria Bernarda Bütler in the Catholic Church was set on May 19 during the canonization .

Shortly after the canonization in the Vatican, after-celebrations in honor of the new saint were held in Auw, Altstätten, Cartagena and Bogotá .

Adoration of saints

Place of birth Auw

Maria Bernarda Altar

After her beatification, a memorial in honor of the most famous Freiämtler citizen was set up on the southern inner wall of the late baroque parish church of St. Nicholas in Auw. In a small niche near the right side altar of the church, a painting with her portrait was placed over a small marble console table, which, with the colored stucco marble frame supporting the tympanum, has classical stylistic elements. The picture is a copy of the oil painting that is in the Bernardaheim (European Provincial House) of the Missionary Franciscan Sisters in Frastanz . On the occasion of the Auwer post-canonization ceremony, a bone relic of St. Maria Bernarda was transferred to the parish church and walled in a marble cassette with a window. The new saint altar was inaugurated by Basel Bishop Kurt Koch . Above the wall altar there is a picture with the motto of Mother Maria Bernarda: "The Gospel is my guiding star". Next to the altar are candle offerings and a memorial book for entries and adoration of pilgrims . Not far from the Maria Bernarda altar is the baptismal font where the Auwer saint was baptized in the name Verena on the day of her birth. (see → Parish Church of St. Nicholas )

  • Altar of St. Maria Bernarda Bütler

  • Maria Bernarda altar on the south wall of the church

  • Parish church of St Nicholas in the municipality of Auw

  • Baptismal font near the new saint altar

Maria Bernarda's birthplace

The house in which Maria Bernarda Bütler was born is at Bachweg 4 in Auw. At that time, three other related families lived there in addition to their parents and siblings. Rosmarie Wicki-Bütler (* 1931), granddaughter of Josef Bütler, who grew up with her as Maria Bernarda's cousin, now lives in this house, which is also where she was born. She and her son recently erected a memorial in the saint's former living room. The furniture in this room comes from Maria Bernarda's youth, but we no longer know whether she used it back then. In the memorial room there is a large-format picture of the saint as well as photos of the beatification and canonization ceremony as well as memorial objects. A memorial plaque was dedicated on the outside wall of the house after the beatification in 1995.

  • Rosmarie Wicki-Bütler with the image of the saint

  • Maria Bernarda's room in the house where she was born

  • Memorial plaque in front of the Maria Bernarda room

  • Birthplace of the saint in Auw, Canton Aargau

Maria-Bernarda-Heim on Maria-Bernarda-Strasse

The community's retirement home in Auw was named after Maria Bernarda Bütler, and is also looked after by Franciscan Sisters. There is also a large picture of the saint in the chapel of the home. The Auw parish named after her, which is not far from the Bachweg and on which the Maria-Bernarda-Heim is located.

  • Maria-Bernarda-Strasse near the birthplace

  • Maria-Bernarda-Heim with a view of the parish church

Maria Hilf monastery in Altstätten and Bernardaheim in Frastanz

At her first place of work, in the Altstätten monastery “Maria Hilf” and in Bernardaheim, the European provincial house of the congregation founded by Maria Bernarda, in Frastanz , Vorarlberg / Austria, several personal items of Mother Maria Bernarda Bütler are also kept, such as her reliquary cross and pectoral cross , her personal Bible, manuscripts, letters from South America to her home monastery, as well as some original photos:

  • Personal Bible

  • Your handwriting

  • Pectoral cross and cloth

  • Your home certificate from Auw

literature

Web links

Commons : Maria Bernarda Bütler  - Collection of images, videos and audio files
Commons : Parish Church St. Nikolaus (Auw)  - Album with pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Sermon by Pope Benedict XVI. at the canonization of St. Mary Bernarda , St. Peter's Square, Vatican, October 12, 2008.
  2. ^ Biography of Maria Bernarda (Verena) Bütler on the website of the Vatican.
  3. ↑ Chronology , maria-bernarda.ch, accessed on November 18, 2017
  4. ↑ Article: Capuchins prepared canonization of Bernarda Bütler from October 9, 2008 on medals, accessed online on October 10, 2008
  5. ^ Rinaldo Cornacchini: Pilgrim's report on the celebrations of the canonization on the website of the parish Auw
  6. ^ Post-celebration in Auw on October 19, 2008.
  7. ^ Post-celebration in Altstätten ( Memento from August 13, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) (PDF; 41 kB) on November 9, 2008
  8. ↑ Address to the celebration of the canonization of Maria Bernarda Bütler in Cartagena / Colombia by Sibylle Hardegger, diocese regional representative diocese of Basel ( Memento of 7 July 2012 in the web archive archive.today )
  9. ^ Post-celebration in Bogota , at the world headquarters of the Congregation on November 13, 2008
  10. ↑ Photos of personal items in the Maria Hilf monastery in Altstätten and in the Bernardaheim, website kath.ch
personal data
SURNAME Butler, Bernarda
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Bütler, Maria Bernarda (full name); Butler, Verena
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Swiss Catholic missionary and founder of the order
DATE OF BIRTH May 28, 1848
PLACE OF BIRTH Auw AG , Switzerland
DATE OF DEATH May 19, 1924
Place of death Cartagena , Colombia