Franciscan Sisters of Ellwangen
The Anna Sisters - Franciscans of Ellwangen - are a Roman Catholic religious order under episcopal law. This was founded in 1921 in Ellwangen an der Jagst by Pastor Anton Eberhard, where the mother house of the order is still located today . The community is mainly engaged in the care of the sick and the elderly. In addition to the parent company in Ellwangen, there are other convents in Stuttgart .
history
The founding years
In the years after the First World War , there was a great lack of medical and pastoral care in the population of East Württemberg . To counter this, Pastor Anton Eberhard founded a Franciscan community in Ellwangen on August 28, 1921 under the name of the Association of St. Anna Sisters . This rapidly growing community set itself the goal of supporting the mothers in large families and helping women with the birth of their child. In addition, nursing and home care were named as work areas in the statutes. The training took place at the Landesfrauenklinik in Stuttgart and at Margaretenheim in Schwäbisch Gmünd . The first superior was Krescentia Harder (1893–1985) in 1924, but the actual management was in the hands of the director Anton Eberhard.
The community was active in different places from the beginning. The first maternity hospital was built as early as 1927. In 1931, the sisters took over an existing private women 's clinic in Stuttgart-Bad Cannstatt , from which the St. Anna Clinic emerged, which moved to the Merz Clinic in 1969. In 1933 they opened another women's clinic in Stuttgart. In addition, family care stations were operated in many communities, which in addition to nursing also operated sewing schools and kindergartens.
Time from 1950 to today
After large parts of the order buildings and the clinics were destroyed in the war, extensive reconstruction and restructuring measures were initially carried out. In 1955 the community adopted new statutes. The order was renamed to the Community of St. Anna Sisters , whereby the religious elements were deepened. The General Superior now shares the management equally with the Director. In 1977 the community was incorporated into the series of congregations under episcopal law.
The community had most sisters in the 1960s and 1970s with just under 250 sisters, since then their number has steadily decreased. In 1966 the community had 42 branches.
In 1996 the St. Anna sisters founded a branch in Stuttgart, the House of Silence .
In 2005, an in-patient hospice for terminally ill patients with six beds was opened in Ellwangen . The St. Anna Hospice accompanies seriously ill and dying people so that they can shape and live the remaining time in a dignified and self-determined manner.
As of January 1, 2007, the operation of the maternity clinic in Ellwangen, operated by the sisters, was transferred to the Virngrundklinik Ellwangen belonging to the district. With this, after 85 years, the service in the maternity clinic ended for the community of Anna sisters. The order intends to use the building of the now former clinic of the St. Anna Sisters for short-term care and support services.
See also
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b c Uwe Scharfenecker: Congregation of the St. Anna Sisters . In: Wolfgang Zimmermann and Nicole Priesching (Hrsg.): Württembergisches Klosterbuch . Ostfildern 2003, ISBN 3-7995-0220-3 , p. 574-577 .