Queen of the Apostles (religious community)

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The Mission Congregation of the Sisters " Queen of Apostles " ( Societas Missionalis Sororum Reginae Apolostolorum , religious symbol : SRA ) is a Roman Catholic missionary society, which was founded in 1923 in Vienna.

The German Jesuit Father Antonius Maria Bodewig , who was active in India from 1872 to 1876 , wanted to found a missionary society , but could not get church approval.

Some brothers and sisters moved to Vienna in 1906 , where especially Brother Paul Sonntag promoted the new mission society and from 1909 published the mission magazine Licht und Liebe . He was supported by the then university professor Theodor Innitzer , with whose help the Society of Catholic Missions for India was founded in Vienna in 1916 . In 1923, Cardinal Friedrich Gustav Piffl approved the establishment of the new congregation , which from then on called itself Queen of the Apostles , in which the builder Franz Glaser sen. acquired villa. Theodor Innitzer became the first superior general and held this office until his appointment as Archbishop of Vienna .

In 1925 the division was split into a male and a female branch. In 1927 the first members of the Order were sent to India. On April 9, 1954, the male branch was dissolved.

The motherhouse of the female congregation was built in Vienna. In 1939 the first Indian sisters were accepted. In 1949 the missionary sisters received their papal approbation. Indian sisters have been active in Europe since 1965. On September 27, 2000, Sr. Callista Panachickel, the first Indian woman to be elected Superior General.

In addition to Austria, there are most branches in India, some in Germany and Italy , from 1983 also in the Philippines and since 1992 in Slovakia . The house in Belgium had to be closed in 2001. Over 800 sisters worldwide belong to this community.

Abroad, the congregation looks after social institutions and schools, in Europe the sisters mainly work in nursing and kindergartens.

literature

  • Light and love . Missionsverlag Vienna. (Journal published from 1909 to 1939.)
  • Antonia Ungermann: Queen of the Apostles . In: Josef Höfer , Karl Rahner (Ed.): Lexicon for Theology and Church . 2nd Edition. tape 6 . Herder, Freiburg im Breisgau 1961.
  • Callista Panachickel: The fruit of the wheat grain. Failure and rebirth of the vision of the missionary pioneer Antonius Maria Bodewig . Missionary Sisters "Queen of the Apostles", Vienna 2004
  • Maria Goretti: From the Glaser Villa to the International Mission Monastery. Missionary Sisters Queen of the Apostles, Grätzelzeitung Dornbach-Neuwaldegg, No. 10; Vienna, March 2007.

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