Maidservants of Mary of the Immaculate Conception

Maidservants of Mary of the Immaculate Conception ( Latin Ancillae Mariae , abbreviation AM ) is the religious community of the "Sisters of Mary Maids of the Immaculate Conception". It is a congregation under papal law and emerged in 1850 from a welfare institution founded by Edmund Bojanowski (1814–1871).

story

The social and charitable religious order was founded on May 3rd, 1850 in Gostyń near Posen and had turned to nursing and youth welfare in particular. The nucleus were the child carers and nurses who lived in religious communities and who looked after orphaned children during a cholera epidemic . On December 27, 1866, the religious community received episcopal approval and on March 24, 1931, papal approval .

Life form

The nuns form a community of life and prayer, whose task it is to alleviate hardship and to feel responsible towards “the service of Mary”, as the founder wished. According to his will, the motto "Ecce, Ancilla Domini" (see, I am the handmaid of the Lord ( Luke 1.38 EU )) was chosen, thus underlining that Mary, the "handmaid of the Lord", is the model of the nuns .

Admission and training

Physical and mental health and a willingness to serve selflessly are a prerequisite for acceptance into the congregation. After the candidacy, postulate and novitiate (approx. 3 years), the vows of celibate chastity , voluntarily chosen poverty and obedience are taken for 2 years, then for 3 years and then for 1 year. After these 6 years of temporary profession , the perpetual profession takes place. The professional training can be completed before entry or it takes place in the religious community.

The Order in Poland

On September 27, 1857 Bojanowski was able to open another house in the village of Jaszkow near Śrem and set up a novitiate. The community then spread to Poland and Upper Silesia , and in 1866 a first branch was established in Silesia , creating the German branch of the community. The Silesian congregation with three provinces has about 850 sisters, the generalate of the order is in Wroclaw .

The order in Germany

In 1917 the first house of the sisters was built in the Archdiocese of Berlin , in Berlin the sisters still maintain a senior citizens' home and work as community officers. The Convention in Berlin is, with 2008 levels, from 16 sisters. The German-speaking women religious were expelled from Silesia in 1945/46 and founded a German religious province near Potsdam . The sisters came to the Diocese of Passau after they were expelled from Breslau. You have a convent in Ruhstorf and work there in nursing. In 1952 the West German Province was established in Cologne and since 1992 the East German and West German provinces with headquarters in Cologne have been united. Today the Order of the Maidservants of Mary consists of four independent congregations that are united in a federation. In addition to Berlin, there is the province of Cologne, whose provincial office is in Cologne-Junkersdorf , and other convents are in Rheine and Bad Kreuznach .

The order in other countries

The sisters work in France , the Czech Republic , Slovakia , Belarus , Ukraine , Italy , Canada and Cameroon . They work in kindergartens and homes, in pastoral care, community nursing, in hospitals, old people's homes and take on church work that the current circumstances require.