Franziska Streitel

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Streitel memorial in Mellrichstadt

Franziska Streitel (born November 24, 1844 in Mellrichstadt ; † March 6, 1911 in Castel S. Elia near Rome ) was the founder of the Congregation of the Sisters of the Sorrowful Mother (SSM).

Life

Franziska Amalia Streitel was born on November 24, 1844 in Mellrichstadt ( Diocese of Würzburg ) as the daughter of the local district official. Even as a child she showed an extraordinary love for God and at the age of 17 entered the monastery of the Franciscan Sisters of Maria Stern in Augsburg, because her parents did not allow her to enter a contemplative order with a strict enclosure . Franziska Streitl had already attended school with the Franciscan Sisters of Maria Stern. She was given the name Sister Maria Angela to dress her up. After her profession and a few years as a teacher in the Order , Sister Maria Angela transferred to the Discalced Carmelite Monastery in Würzburg in January 1882 with the permission of her bishop . Due to "inspiration", however, she left the monastery in December of the same year and returned to her parents' house.

At the request of her confessor , she went to Rome in 1883 to start the Salvatorian Sisters at the suggestion of Father Johann Baptist Jordan and with two other candidates . Just twelve days after her arrival in Rome, Sr. Maria Angela took vows and took the name "Sister Maria Franziska of the Cross".

Since there were clear differences between her and Father Jordan in terms of the strictness of the sisters' conduct of life, Sr. Maria Franziska founded the Congregation of the Sisters of the Sorrowful Mother , which was approved in 1885 . The sisters of the newly founded congregation took care of poor children and nurses the sick. The congregation under Mother Franziska as Superior General expanded rapidly and in 1869 founded its first branch in Wichita (Kansas) in the United States .

On October 20, 1891, Franziska Streitel visited the grave of Blessed Stilla von Abenberg . At the beginning of February 1893 she founded the first religious establishment in Austria , and in April a kindergarten was opened in Kukus in Bohemia .

After Mother Franziska's ten-year term in office, differences arose within the order, and Mother Franziska was relieved of her office as Superior General. After her impeachment, Mother Franziska lived for another 16 years "as an exemplary subordinate and in deep humility" in Castel S. Elia near Rome, where she worked in the order in the care of children. Sr. Franziska died on March 6, 1911 in Castel S. Elia. During the funeral procession through the streets, many people kneeled down to receive the blessings of the “saints”, others touched their coffins in awe.

In March 1904 the Congregation was affiliated to the Third Order of St. Francis , and in March 1911, just two days before the death of Sr. Francis, the Congregation's constitutions were approved.

In 1920 the congregation bought the Marienburg monastery in Abenberg and the first sisters came from Vienna on August 17, 1920. The monastery in Abenberg is the first settlement of the sisters of the Sorrowful Mother in Bavaria . It is currently also the seat of the German regional leadership of the congregation.

The reputation of Sr. Francis' Holiness spread through the statements of many believers who ascribed answers to prayer for her intercession . The beatification process was initiated in 1937 and after an interruption by order of Pope John XXIII. Continued in 1963. At the first meeting in this process in April 1937, Sr. Franziska was bestowed the title " Servant of God ". The process is still ongoing. On March 27, 2010, Pope Benedict XVI. Streitel's heroic degree of virtue recognized.

On July 5, 2009, Bishop Friedhelm Hofmann established the parish community "Franziska Streitel" in the Rhön-Grabfeld district . The parishes Eußenhausen , Frickenhausen, Hendungen , Mellrichstadt , Mittelstreu and Oberstreu belong to the parish community .

literature

  • Max Schweser: Franziska Streitel in Mellrichstadt then and now. A memory book on the occasion of the 750th anniversary of the city uprising 1232/1233. (Ed .: Stadt Mellrichstadt, Ed .: Walter Graumann, Josef Kuhn), Richard Mack KG Verlag, Mellrichstadt 1983, p. 160 f.

Honors

  • Franziska-Streitel-Strasse in Abenberg

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Parish community “Franziska Streitel” established  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , Press Office of the Ordinariate Würzburg, July 2, 2009.@1@ 2Template: dead link / bwo.directserver.org  

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Streitel, Franziska
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Founder of the "Congregation of the Sisters of the Sorrowful Mother"
DATE OF BIRTH November 24, 1844
PLACE OF BIRTH Mellrichstadt
DATE OF DEATH March 6, 1911
Place of death Castel S. Elia, Rome