Congregation of the Franciscan Sisters of Salzkotten

Motherhouse from the front

The congregation of the Franciscan Sisters of Salzkotten is a Catholic women's order in Salzkotten . The order is internationally active in development aid, but it also maintains old people's homes in the area of the Paderborn Monastery . The abbreviation of the order is FCJM .

history

The Franziskanerinnen Salzkotten are a Roman Catholic women's order, whose roots go back to St. Francis and the founder of the order, Mother M. (Maria) Clara Pfänder . In Olpe in 1859/1860 she and two other women laid the foundation stone for a new Franciscan community . Their intention was to live a community life according to the evangelical counsels in poverty, obedience, and celibacy. This life should be carried by the spirit of love, prayer and penance. As witnesses of Christ's love, the sisters wanted to be open to any need. Orphans were accepted from the start . Young women came to share monastic life. On October 30, 1860, the Paderborn Bishop Konrad Martin approved the constitutions drawn up by Clara Pfänder and named the new religious community "Sisters of St. Francis, Daughters of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary".

In 1863 the motherhouse was relocated from Olpe to Salzkotten with the consent of the bishop. Ten sisters, who were appointed by the bishop , stayed in Olpe. The independent community of Olper Franciscan Sisters later developed from them .

Duties of the Order

The founder of the order, Mother M. Clara, was particularly concerned about two things: on the one hand, constant prayer for the Church and the world and, on the other hand, answering people's needs. The call for new tasks led to the establishment of numerous communities in Germany and abroad. Today, as then, the sisters dedicate themselves to charitable and pastoral tasks in the care of the sick and the elderly, the upbringing and training of children and young people, therapy and support for people with disabilities, as well as in social work and pastoral care. The tasks outside of Germany include upbringing and education for AIDS orphans in Malawi and for children of poor families in Romania , rehabilitation for people with disabilities in Indonesia , teaching in schools and health care for pregnant women in the Amazon .

Worldwide congregation

At the request of priests or other religious orders, sisters often took on new tasks abroad. Ten years after it was founded, nuns went to France to care for the wounded during the Franco-Prussian War . In 1872 sisters went to the United States to nurse , and in 1875 the first sisters from Salzkotten traveled to the Netherlands . Five Franciscan nuns from Salzkotten died on their crossing to the USA from the sinking of the " Deutschland ". The death of the sisters prompted Gerard Manley Hopkins to write the famous ode The Wreck of the Deutschland .

The worldwide congregation today includes five provinces: Germany and the missions in Malawi, East Africa and Romania, the United States of America , France, the Netherlands and Indonesia with East Timor . There is also a region in Brazil . The Generalate has been in Rome since 1967 .

Engagement in Malawi / East Africa

School in Malawi

Since 1984 German and since 2001 also Indonesian sisters of the congregation have been active in Madisi in Malawi. The main focus of her work today is the upbringing and education of AIDS orphans. The St. Francis School provides primary education through eighth grade. Around half of the children are AIDS orphans. Non-orphans are also accepted so that the orphans do not grow up in isolation. In 2009, donations were used to build another school building with additional classes. In a kindergarten, children are looked after in the mornings. Many children here are also AIDS orphans. In a school garden, the students grow vegetables, fruit and maize for school meals. In the Home Craft Center , the children learn sewing, cooking, gardening and housekeeping. Homework help and leisure activities are also offered here.

Engagement in Romania

Sisters of the Franciscan Sisters in Salzkotten have been building up social and pastoral work in the Banat since 1991 . Starting from the village of Caransebeş in the Banat area, German and Romanian sisters look after children from poor families as well as old and sick people together. In the St. Ursula Children's Center, 30 children from socially disadvantaged families are pedagogically cared for and supported. The children's center was rebuilt in 2009. Schoolchildren from poor families receive a warm lunch on all school days at two lunch tables in disadvantaged areas of Caransebes. Together with voluntary helpers, the Franziskanerinnen Salzkotten also offer help with school work for children from poor families.

Clara Pfänder Foundation

The Clara Pfänder Foundation of the Congregation of the Franciscan Sisters in Salzkotten supports development projects in places where the Franciscans live and work. The headquarters of the Clara Pfänder Foundation is the mother house of the Franciscan Sisters in Salzkotten.

Facilities of the Franciscan Sisters in Salzkotten in the Archdiocese of Paderborn

Two old people's homes are run by the Franziskanerinnen Salzkotten, namely the St. Franziskus retirement home in Marsberg-Beringhausen and the St. Clara retirement home at the motherhouse in Salzkotten. Religious sisters are still in charge of the nursing and pastoral care of the old people's homes.

The St. Josefs Hospital built by the sisters has been in Salzkotten for over 120 years. Today St. Vincenz-Krankenhaus GmbH is the sole shareholder. The shares of the Franziskanerinnen Salzkotten in the St.-Josefs-Krankenhaus gem. GmbH were transferred to St. Vincenz-Krankenhaus GmbH in September 2013.

literature

Sister M. Aristilde Flake: Light in the darkness. Meinwerk-Verlag, Salzkotten 1982.
Relinde Meiwes: "The Lord's Workers". Catholic women's congregations in the 19th century. Campus, Frankfurt am Main 2000, ISBN 3-593-36460-3 , pp. 106-109.
Sister M. Brunhilde Probst: The burning seal. Life picture of the mother Maria Clara Pfänder, founder of the Franciscan Sisters of Salzkotten . Salzkotten 1957.
Johannes Schäfers: The Franciscan Sisters of Salzkotten . Paderborn 1925.
Michael Klaus Wernicke: Failed rescue. Five Franciscan Sisters and the shipwreck of the “Deutschland” in 1875 . Edited by Ursula Feldkamp. Ernst Kabel Verlag, Hamburg 1995, ISBN 3-8225-0318-5 .

Web links

Footnotes

↑ Michael Klaus Wernicke: Failed rescue. Five Franciscan Sisters and the shipwreck of the “Deutschland” in 1875 . Edited by Ursula Feldkamp. Ernst Kabel Verlag, Hamburg 1995.
↑ Philip M. Martin: Mastery and mercy. A study of 2 religious poems: "The wreck of the Germany" by GM Hopkins and "Ash wednesday" by TS Eliot . Oxford University Press, Oxford 1957.

51.674112 8.610449Coordinates: 51 ° 40 ′ 26.8 " N , 8 ° 36 ′ 37.6" E

[1] Michael Klaus Wernicke: Failed rescue. Five Franciscan Sisters and the shipwreck of the “Deutschland” in 1875 . Edited by Ursula Feldkamp. Ernst Kabel Verlag, Hamburg 1995.

[2] Philip M. Martin: Mastery and mercy. A study of 2 religious poems: "The wreck of the Germany" by GM Hopkins and "Ash wednesday" by TS Eliot . Oxford University Press, Oxford 1957.