Franciscan Sisters
As a Franciscan different are religious orders and congregations designated for women who comprise the members of the Third Order of St. Francis emerged. These are also called Terziarinnen or "regulated third order". The majority of the Franciscan Sisters live after the Vita activa with an apostolate in the field of care for the needy, the weak, the sick and the elderly as well as the upbringing and education also the preaching of the Gospel.
Historical development
The oldest communities have their historical origins in the spiritual poverty movement of the 13th century. This poverty movement also included a strong women's movement. The emerging women's communities showed independent spiritual impulses and religious traits, but were unable to assert themselves against the church authorities with their own religious rules (the only exception at this time were the Poor Clares ).
Mainly out of fear of heresies and religious enthusiasm , the ecclesiastical integration of the emerging communities was an important concern of the papal curia. The usual realization of this goal consisted in obliging the new women's communities to adopt already existing religious rules or to subordinate them to established male religious communities. In addition to the Dominicans, the Franciscans were the main choices. Most of the small communities that became Franciscan Sisters in this way in the 13th and 14th centuries, most of which were individual foundations without branches, died out in the Thirty Years' War , were banned during the secularization or abolished during the French occupation. The remaining communities such as the Dillinger Franciscan Sisters and the Star Women or Star Sisters in Augsburg are rare exceptions.
After the end of the Kulturkampf, the 19th century saw strong growth in new socially and charitable women's communities who were often attracted to the ideals of St. Francis and based their statutes on the Franciscan rule of third orders. For the first time, a new type of religious came into being: While religious sisters lived a primarily contemplative life in the area of their closed monasteries , the new religious women strive out into the world to alleviate the misery and needs of people with social commitment.
In contrast to the 13th century, the ecclesiastical integration of these new communities was less often shaped by interventions by the ecclesiastical authorities, and the orientation towards Franciscan rule was more voluntary. Many communities were initially founded on the initiative of a parish priest and individual young women who felt addressed by the need of the people, and then quickly grew in membership, so that new branches in a wide area were possible.
One reason for being able to make one's own decisions was a change in canon law : the new communities were not classified as orders , but as congregations or societies of apostolic life (cf. religious order ), which have greater legal freedom. Most of the communities were initially subordinate to a bishop, some later changed their status to a congregation under papal law when the branches established crossed the diocesan borders or even included missions abroad.
Franciscan Sisters are today in a multitude of different congregations, each with their own history and community rule. The size of the communities varies considerably. According to the information in the Annuario Pontificio of 1992 (with figures from 1990), the Missionary Franciscan Sisters of Mary formed the largest Franciscan women's congregation worldwide with 8474 members.
List of Franciscan women's communities
It is hardly possible to compile a complete list of all the branches of the various Franciscan women's congregations. In contrast to monastic orders, the sisters mostly live in small shared apartments, often in rented houses or apartments near their place of work. These convents often only exist for a few years or decades as long as the local sisters are active. However, the motherhouse and, depending on the area of responsibility, also individual convents are occasionally located in old monasteries that were expropriated during the secularization and later made available to the newly emerging women's orders.
The congregations in the table are arranged alphabetically by motherhouse. In the Motherhouse / Provincial Office column there is e.g. T. unlinked location information. Then there is usually a further entry in at least one further section in which the respective other location (or the other locations) are linked.
A to G
| official name of the congregation | other common names | Motherhouse / Provincial Office | More branches | founding year | Seal | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Poor Sisters of Saint Francis | Shear Sisters, Aachen Franciscan Sisters | Aachen | Germany, Belgium, USA, Italy | 1845 | SPSF | |
| Hospital Sisters of St. Elisabeth of Aachen | Elisabethinnen | Aachen | Germany, Austria, Luxembourg, Czech Republic, Canada | 1622 | EYELET | |
| Congregation of the Sisters of the Sorrowful Mother | Abenberger sisters | Abenberg or Rome (Generalate) | Austria, Germany, USA, Brazil, Italy | 1883 | SSM | |
| Franciscan Sisters of Penance | Franciscan Sisters of Aiterhofen | Aiterhofen | Germany, Brazil, Bolivia | 1840 | OSF | |
| Congregation of the School Sisters of the 3rd Order of St. Francis | Franciscan Sisters of Amstetten | Amstetten | Austria | 1823 | ||
| Sisters of Mercy of the 3rd Order of St. Francis | Franciscan Sisters of Arnstorf | Arnstorf | Germany | |||
| Franciscan Sisters of Au am Inn | Au am Inn | Germany, Brazil | 1854 | |||
| Franciscan Sisters of Maria Stern | Star women, star sisters | augsburg | Germany, Brazil, Congo, Mozambique | 1258 | OSF | |
| Sisters of Divine Providence | Baldegger sisters, formerly service and teaching sisters at Sankt Jost zu Baldegg | Baldegg (Switzerland) | Switzerland, Tanzania, Ethiopia, Papua New Guinea | 1830 | OSF | |
| Franciscan Sisters of the Immaculate Conception | Franciscan Sisters of Bonlanden | Bonlanden | Württemberg, Brazil, Paraguay | 1855 | OSF | |
| Soeurs Franciscaines de la Croix du Liban | Notre-Dame du Puits | Bkennaya | Lebanon | 1950 | ||
| Franciscan Missionary Sisters of Maria Hilf | Bogotá (Colombia) | Latin America, Africa, Switzerland, Austria | 1892 | |||
| Franciscan Sisters of the Sacred Heart of Jesus | Recollections | Bonn | Belgium, Germany | 1623 | ||
| Immaculate Sisters of the Seraph Apostolate | Brandenburg in Swabia | Southern Germany | 1933 | |||
| Tertiary Sisters of Bressanone | School Sisters of the 3rd Order of St. Francis Seraphicus | Brixen | South Tyrol, Austria, Cameroon, Bolivia | 1700 | ||
| Dillinger Franciscan Sisters | Dillingen on the Danube | Germany, Brazil, USA, India | 1241 | OSF | ||
| Servants of the holy childhood of Jesus | Franciscan nuns in Oberzell | Zell near Würzburg | Germany, South Africa | 1901 | OSF | |
| Franciscan Sisters of the Holy Family Jesus, Mary and Joseph | Franciscan Sisters of Dubuque | Dubuque |
USA , Honduras founded in Herford in 1864 , expelled from the Kulturkampf in 1875 , since then in the USA |
1864 | OSF | |
| Sisterhood of the 3rd Order of St. Francis in Ecksberg | Ecksberger sisters | Ecksberg near Mühldorf am Inn | Southern Germany | 1871/1938 | ||
| Franciscan Sisters of Erlenbad | Congregation of the School Sisters of St. Francis, School Sisters of St. Francis | Erlenbad ( Obersasbach ) / Milwaukee (Wisconsin) | USA, Germany, Switzerland, Honduras, South America, India | 1859 or 1873 | SSSF | |
| Sisters of Mercy of St. Elisabeth | Eat -Bredeney | North Rhine-Westphalia | 13th century / 1843 | |||
| Franciscan Sisters of Family Care | Servants of seraphic love | Food -bedrade | Bielefeld, Gladbeck, Harsewinkel, Schleiden, Paderborn | 1919 | ||
| Franciscan Sisters of the Holy Family | Eupener Franciscan Sisters | Eupen , Mayen | Aachen, Cologne, Hennef, Belgium, Netherlands, Republic of the Congo | 1857 | OSF | |
| Franciscan Missionary Sisters of Maria Hilf | Frastanz (Austria) | Austria, Switzerland, Ecuador, Colombia, Brazil | 1888 | FMMH | ||
| Merciful Sisters of the Holy Cross | Sisters of the Cross of Gemünden | Gemünden am Main / Ingenbohl (Switzerland) | 1844 | SCSC | ||
| Franciscan Sisters of the Divine Heart of Jesus | Franciscan Sisters of Gengenbach | Gengenbach | Southern Germany, Switzerland, Chile, Peru | 1866 | OSF | |
| Nazareth Sisters of St. Francis | Congregation of the Nazareth Sisters of St. Franziskus eV | Goppeln (near Dresden) | Saxony | 1923 | ||
| Franciscan Sisters of the Immaculate Conception | Graz school sisters (not to be confused with the Bonlanden sisters of the same name) | Generalate in Graz (Austria), motherhouse in Algersdorf | Austria, Slovenia, Montenegro, Brazil, South Africa, France | 1843 |
H to M
| official name of the congregation | other common names | Motherhouse / Provincial Office | More branches | founding year | Seal |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Merciful Sisters of the Holy Cross | Franciscan Sisters of Gnadensee, Sisters of the Cross of Hegne | Hegne / Ingenbohl (Switzerland) | 1856 | SCSC | |
| Sisters of penance and Christian love | Heiligenbronn sisters | Heiligenbronn (Württemberg) | Diocese of Rottenburg-Stuttgart | 1857 | |
| Sisters of St. Paul | Paul sisters | Herxheim near Landau / Pfalz | Diocese of Speyer, Diocese of Passau, Diocese of Bethlehem in South Africa | 1896 | |
| Merciful Sisters of the Holy Cross | Ingenbohl sisters, cross sisters | Ingenbohl (Switzerland) | Switzerland | 1856 | SCSC |
| Franciscan Tertiary Sisters of St. John | Gnadenthal sisters | Ingolstadt | Southern Germany | 1276 | |
| Third Order Nurses | innsbruck | ||||
| Franciscan Sisters of the Crescentia Monastery | Kreszentia Sisters of Kaufbeuren | Kaufbeuren | Germany, Croatia, Bosnia | 1315 | |
| Franciscan Sisters | Kleve | 4 houses in the diocese of Münster | 1923 | ||
| Francis Sisters | Krefeld | several houses in North Rhine-Westphalia | 1919 | ||
| Sisters of the Third Order | Kronburg (Austria) | 1867 | |||
| Solanus Sisters | Landshut | Germany, China, South Africa | 1926 | ||
| Sisters of the Immaculate Conception | Leitershofen | ||||
| Franciscan Sisters of Linz | Linz (Austria) | ||||
| Franciscan Sisters of Penance and Christian Love | Lüdinghauser / Nonnenwerther Franciscan Sisters | Heythuysen (Netherlands) / Lüdinghausen and Nonnenwerth near Remagen | Germany, Netherlands, Italy, Poland, Belarus, Indonesia, East Timor, Philippines, USA, Tanzania, Mexico, Guatemala, Brazil | 1835 | OSF |
| Sisters of Saint Elizabeth | Elisabethinnen | Luxembourg City | Luxembourg, Germany | ||
| Franciscan Sisters of Mercy | Luxembourg Franciscan Sisters | Luxembourg City | Luxembourg, Germany, Belgium, France, Italy, Taiwan | 1848 | |
| Poor Franciscan Sisters of the Holy Family | Mallersdorfer Sisters | Mallersdorf-Pfaffenberg | Germany, Romania, South Africa | 1855 | OSF |
| Sisters of the Holy Cross | Teaching Sisters of the Holy Cross, Menzing Sisters | Menzingen (Switzerland) | Switzerland, Germany | 1844 | |
| Franciscan Sisters of Mindelheim | Mindelheim | Germany | 1456 | ||
| Nurses from the Regulated Third Order of St. Francis | Mauritz Franciscan Sisters, Franciscan Sisters of Münster-St. Mauritz | St. Mauritz ( Münster -St. Mauritz) | Germany, USA, Netherlands, Poland, Haiti, Tanzania, Japan, India | 1844 | OSF |
| Missionary Sisters of Münster (Bäckergasse) | Muenster | 1910 | |||
| Congregation of the School Sisters of St. Francis | School Sisters, Franciscan Sisters of Christ the King | Mostar (Bosnia) | Croatia, Bosnia, Slovenia, Germany | 1869 | |
| Kreszentia sisters | Munich | 1860 | |||
| Blue Sisters of St. Elisabeth | Munich | just a convention | 1901/1951 | ||
| Sisterhood of Sick Care of the Third Order | Munich | Southern Germany | 1902 |
N to Z
| official name of the congregation | other common names | Motherhouse / Provincial Office | More branches | founding year | Seal |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Franciscan Missionaries of Mary | Neuss | Germany | FMM | ||
| Franciscan Sisters of Renewal | new York | United States | 1988 | ||
| Franciscan Sisters of Penance and Christian Love | Nonnenwerther / Lüdinghauser Franciscan Sisters | Heythuysen (Netherlands) / Nonnenwerth near Remagen and Lüdinghausen | Germany, Netherlands, Italy, Poland, Belarus, Indonesia, East Timor, Philippines, USA, Tanzania, Mexico, Guatemala, Brazil | 1835 | OSF |
| Sisters of the Divine Redeemer | Niederbronn sisters | Oberbronn (Alsace) | Germany, Angola, Argentina, France, Cameroon, India, Netherlands, Austria, Portugal | 1849 | |
| Franciscan Sisters of Perpetual Adoration at Olpe | Olper Franciscan Sisters | Olpe | Germany, North America, Philippines, Brazil | 1860 | OSF |
| Franciscan Missionaries of Our Lady | Franciscan Sisters of Calais | Paris | France, Germany, Madagascar, Portugal | 1854 | |
| Ramersdorf Franciscan Sisters | Ramersdorf-Perlach | 1623 | |||
| Poor Franciscan Sisters on Reutberg | Reutberg near Sachsenkam | Germany | 1618 | ||
| Sisters of Christian Mercy | Franciscans of Reute | Tail | Germany, Indonesia, Brazil | 1403/1853 | OSF |
| Franciscan Sisters of the Poor Clare Monastery of St. Anna, Riedenburg | Riedenburg (Lower Bavaria) | 1860 | |||
| School Sisters of the 3rd Order of St. Francis | Hallein school sisters | Salzburg (Austria) | Austria, Bolivia, Argentina, USA | 1723/1823 | HSF |
| Congregation of the Franciscan Sisters of Salzkotten | Franciscanae Cordis Jesu et Mariae | Salzkotten | Germany, Romania, Malawi | 1860 | FCJM |
| Congregation of the Servants of Divine Providence | Franciscan Sisters of Schönbrunn | Schönbrunn (Röhrmoos) | Germany | 1911 | |
| Franciscan Sisters of Eternal Adoration | Schwäbisch Gmünd | Germany | 1902 | ||
| Franciscan Sisters of St. Joseph | Joseph Sisters | Schweich near Trier, Valkenburg (NL) | Germany, Netherlands, Italy, Angola, Honduras, Brazil | 1867 | FSJ |
| Franciscan Sisters of Sießen | Sießen Franciscan Sisters | They eat | Baden-Württemberg, Brazil, South Africa | 1854 | OSF |
| Sisterhood of Seraphic Love Work | Solothurn (Switzerland) | 1924 | |||
| Franciscan Sisters of St. Martyr Georg | Thuin Franciscan Sisters | Thuine | Northern Germany, Netherlands, Japan, USA, Indonesia, Tanzania, Brazil, Papua New Guinea | 1869 | FMA |
| St. Joseph Congregation Ursberg | Franciscan Sisters of Ursberg, Congregatio Sancti Josephi | Ursberg | Germany, Romania | 1897 | CSJ |
| Congregation of the Sisters of St. Francis of Fourteen Saints | Vierzehnheiligen near Bad Staffelstein | Germany, Peru, India | 1890 | ||
| Poor School Sisters of the 3rd Order of St. Francis Seraphicus | School sisters, Franciscans of Vöcklabruck | Vöcklabruck (Austria) | Austria, Germany, USA, Kazakhstan | 1861 | |
| Franciscan Sisters of the Most Blessed Virgin Mary of the Angels | Waldbreitbach Franciscan Sisters | Waldbreitbach | Germany, USA, Netherlands, Brazil | 1863 | FBMVA |
| Franciscan Sisters of Christian Love | Hartmann sisters | Vienna | Austria, Italy, Argentina, Paraguay | 1857 | SFCC |
| Franciscan School Sisters | Vienna | 1845 | |||
| Daughters of Christian Love | Vienna | 1848 | |||
| Missionaries of Mary | Vienna | ||||
| Servants of the holy childhood of Jesus of the Third Order of St. Francis | Oberzell Franciscan Sisters, Zeller Sisters | Zell am Main near Würzburg | Germany, South Africa | 1855 | |
| Congregation of the Franciscan Sisters of Maria Stern | Wurzburg | Germany | |||
| Sisters of Our Lady | Zug (Switzerland) | 1933 |
literature
- Herbert Grundmann : Religious Movements in the Middle Ages. Studies on the historical connections between heresy, the mendicant orders and the religious women's movement in the 12th and 13th centuries and on the historical basis of German mysticism (historical studies; vol. 267). 4th edition. Wissenschaftliche Buchgesellschaft, Darmstadt 1977 (unchanged reprint from EA Berlin 1935; plus habilitation thesis, University of Leipzig 1933; contains the article below)
- Herbert Grundmann: New contributions to the history of religious movements in the Middle Ages . In: Archiv für Kulturgeschichte , Vol. 37 (1955), pp. 129-182, ISSN 0003-9233
- Ecclesia Catholica (Ed.): Annuario Pontificio . Libreria Editrice Vaticana, Rome ISBN 88-209-7678-1 (annually published register and statistics on the Roman Catholic world church)
- Lothar Hardick OFM: The renewed rule of the Regulated Third Order of St. Francis. In: Science and Wisdom. Bd. 51, 1988, pp. 160-184, now also in: Dieter Berg (Ed.): Spiritualität und Geschichte. Ceremony for Lothar Hardick OFM on his 80th birthday. , Werl 1993, ISBN 3-87163-195-7 , pp. 227-248.
Web links
- Directory of Franciscan Sisters in German-speaking countries on medals online
- http://www.orden.de/index.php?rubrik=3&seite=t1s&e2id=73 (general statistics of women's orders in Germany)
Individual evidence
- ↑ http://www.notredamedupuits.org/
- ↑ Our History - Franciscan Sisters . In: Franciscan Sisters . ( franziskanerinnen-muenster.de [accessed on April 5, 2017]).
- ^ Archbishopric Berlin: Franciscan Sisters of Münster-Mauritz. Retrieved April 5, 2017 .