Catherine Sisters
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The Congregation of the Sisters of St. Virgin and Martyr Katharina ( Latin : Congregatio Sanctae Catharinae ), abbreviation CSC , also known as the Katharinerinnen or Katharinnisters , is one of the oldest active women's orders in the Catholic Church , which has existed without interruption since it was founded in 1571. The order was founded by the blessed Regina Protmann (1552–1613) in Braunsberg .
history
From 1571, Regina Protmann lived with two companions in a spiritual community; the women worked in nursing . Regina Protmann drafted a rule of the order , and the women took the vow to live according to the evangelical councils . The sisters did not live in the enclosure . After the community was recognized by Bishop Martin Kromer of Warmia in 1583 as a congregation under episcopal law, Regina Protmann placed the religious community under the patronage of St. Catherine of Alexandria . The first religious church was the Katharinenkirche in Braunsberg. The repeatedly elected founder led the community as the superior general for over 40 years . In the leadership of her convents Braunsberg, Wormditt, Heilsberg and Rößel she showed herself resolutely, gave her fellow sisters spiritual instruction and was considered a “dear, faithful, spiritual mother”.
development
The main focus of work developed in the areas of care for the elderly and the sick, the care of orphans and the upbringing of young girls. The order developed rapidly. 1586 took place in Wormditt , 1587 in Heilsberg and 1593 a wide foundation in Rößel . In 1602 the Katharinerinnen-Order received the approbation from Pope Clement VIII . After this, schools in particular were founded where girls could learn to read, write, arithmetic and learn the catechism. Over time, the order ran hospitals, orphanages and old people's homes. The Katharinerinnen spread especially since the 19th century beyond the Warmia as teaching orders. You worked in Königsberg , Berlin and Lithuania . In 1866 some sisters went to Liverpool , in 1877 the Catharine Sisters took over the German school in Helsinki , in 1897 they were called by the Franciscans to Brazil , where they are most numerous today. In 1983 a mission station was opened in Togo .
Eviction and reconstruction
In 1933 the order had over 1000 members. Warmia remained the seat of the order until 1945. However, with the end of World War II , the sisters were expelled from their homeland. 102 sisters perished in the chaos of war. The nuns first settled in the Diocese of Osnabrück and moved to Frankfurt am Main in the 1950s . Other Katharinerinnen took over hospitals in Hamburg-Wilhelmsburg , Xanten , Daun and the Sankt-Gertrauden-Krankenhaus in Berlin, where they are only involved in its management.
Coat of arms
The coat of arms of the congregation consists of a crown , a sword and a broken wheel, the iconographic attributes of St. Catherine. The crown stands for the royal origin of Catherine (beginning of the 4th century AD), who was a daughter of King Kostos of Alexandria . The broken wheel and sword indicate the martyrdom and decapitation of St. Catherine.
organization
Some of the sisters stayed in East Prussia after the Second World War and founded the Polish Order Province in Heilsberg, Wormditt and Braunsberg. Smaller branches are located in Lithuania, Russia , Italy , Belarus and Togo. The seat of the Generalate has been in Grottaferrata near Rome since 1953 , the German provincial leadership , which is also responsible for Warmia, has been based in the Warmia House in Münster / Westphalia since 1949 . A bronze statue of the founder of the order, created by Werner-Jakob Korsmeier , was erected at the motherhouse .
Institutions in Germany
- Berlin: Sankt Gertrauden Hospital
- Daun: Maria Hilf Hospital, Medical Care Center (MVZ) Daun, Regina Protmann retirement home, Maria Hilf nursing schools
- Kelberg : Regina-Protmann-Stift
- Frankfurt am Main: Sankt Katharinen-Krankenhaus, Hospiz Sankt Katharina, Katharinen-Service
- Xanten: Sankt Josef Hospital, Xanten Service Clinic
In 2017 there were 81 sisters in the German province.
literature
- Relinde Meiwes: From East Prussia into the world. The story of the Warmia Sisters of St. Catherine (1772–1914) . Ferdinand Schöningh Verlag, Paderborn 2011, ISBN 978-3-506-77087-5 .
- Lexicon for Theology and Church, Volume 6, 2nd edition, Freiburg 1961, Herder Verlag, page 64, article "Katharinerinnen"
- Lexicon for Theology and Church, Volume 5, 3rd edition, Freiburg, 1993–2001, special edition 2009, ISBN 978-3-451-22100-2 , page 1335, article “Katharinerinnen”
Web links
- Order of the Katharinerinnen in East Prussia
- Important East Prussian women. Saints and Princesses (2) Regina Protmann - Foundress of the Order of Catherine (not accessible)
- Regina Protmann Foundation (not available)
- Catherine Sisters in Münster
Individual evidence
- ↑ Barbara Wolf-Dahm: Catherine Sisters. In: Biographisch-Bibliographisches Kirchenlexikon (BBKL). Volume 4, Bautz, Herzberg 1992, ISBN 3-88309-038-7 , Sp. 681-686.
- ↑ Sankt Gertrauden Hospital ( Memento from October 3, 2009 in the Internet Archive )
- ↑ Catherine sisters elect a new provincial superior. Sister M. Christina Clemens heads the German Province , June 6, 2017, accessed on July 10, 2020.