Karolina Gerhardinger

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Tomb of Maria Theresia Gerhardinger in the church of the monastery and institute church St. Jakob am Anger , Munich

Karolina Gerhardinger (born June 20, 1797 in Regensburg - Stadtamhof ; † May 9, 1879 in Munich ), religious name Maria Theresa of Jesus , was a religious sister and founder of the Congregation of the Poor School Sisters of Our Lady . She was beatified in Rome on November 17, 1985 .

As superior of the order she founded, she was and is called Mother Theresa .

Life

Founding monastery in Neunburg vorm Wald

Karolina Gerhardinger was the only child of shipmaster Willibald Gerhardinger and his wife Franziska, who owned the property in the narrow street Am Gries in Stadtamhof near Regensburg (Bavaria). Her youth fell at a time which, as a result of secularization, was hostile to the beliefs that had been valid until then.

At the suggestion of the cathedral priest and later bishop of Regensburg, Georg Michael Wittmann (1760-1833), Karolina Gerhardinger was trained as a teacher after the school and monastery of the Sisters of Notre Dame in Stadtamhof were closed in 1809 at the age of only twelve and already worked at 15 Years in this profession. In her job she soon realized that the school education, especially for girls from poorer sections of the population, was completely inadequate.

When she was about 18, Karolina Gerhardinger asked Wittmann for guidance on how to live in a monastery. As a 25-year-old she finally decided to live as a religious woman and justified this act of devotion with the word: "Wisdom reckons, love loves!"

According to Pastor Wittmann's plan, she should not join an existing religious community , but instead found a monastery for the upbringing and teaching of young women based on the example of the Augustinians .

Since Stadtamhof's magistrate was against founding a monastery for financial reasons, Karolina Gerhardinger moved with two companions to Neunburg vorm Wald (Bavaria) on October 24, 1833 , to lead a monastic life there. Franz Sebastian Job , kuk Hofkaplan in Vienna , provided the financial means . After initial difficulties, King Ludwig I of Bavaria (1786–1868) gave the sovereign approval of the monastic institute in March 1834.

On November 16, 1835 Karolina Gerhardinger put in the St. Gallus chapel in Regensburg , the temporary profession from. She took the religious name Maria Theresa of Jesus and became superior of the newly founded Institute Mother Theresa . As in Stadtamhof, the school she ran in Neunburg vorm Wald soon became a model school. Sr. Maria Theresia was pioneering in the field of education and teaching through her holistic approach. Model curricula included modern object classes, home economics and business subjects, foreign languages, arts education, and gymnastics.

Mother Maria Theresa soon realized that the small and remote monastery in Neunburg vorm Wald could not serve as the mother house for her growing community in the long term . The former monastery of the Poor Clares on the Anger in the Bavarian capital of Munich better suited their ideas for the training of the young sisters. In 1843 King Ludwig I left this monastery building to her - subject to state ownership and the obligation of the institute to assume the costs of the renovation. In the same year she founded the forerunner of the Specialized Academy for Social Pedagogy of the Poor School Sisters of Our Lady .

The new congregation was able to expand rapidly in many countries. In 1847, Mother Theresia accompanied five sisters to the United States and covered almost 2,600 miles under the toughest travel conditions - sometimes in an ox cart. During her one-year stay, she prepared seven schools to be founded.

Pope Pius IX (1792–1878) confirmed in 1865 the statutes of the Poor School Sisters of Our Lady , in which Mother Theresa was given the central leadership of her community, which until then had been reserved for male superiors. Until her death on May 9, 1879, she exercised the office of General Superior with foresight and wisdom.

Almost 82 years old, she died in the Munich motherhouse and was buried in the monastery crypt. Today it rests in the burial chapel of the new St. Jakobskirche in Munich. Her motto is chiseled on her grave slab: All works of God take place slowly and painfully, but then they stand the more firmly and bloom the more gloriously .

Act

Bridge figure on the Korbinian Bridge in Freising

The congregation founded by Mother Maria Theresa works in the field of upbringing and education of young people. Today around 5,000 school nurses work in kindergartens, children's and youth homes, after-school care centers and day care centers, general and vocational schools such as elementary schools, secondary schools, high schools, technical academies and colleges in more than 30 countries around the world.

At the end of Mother Theresia Gerhardinger's life there were already 166 branches in Europe and 125 in North America with a total of around 3,000 school sisters. During the time of National Socialism almost all schools of the poor school sisters in Germany were closed. At that time, many candidates emigrated to North and South America and other European countries.

On November 17, 1985, Pope John Paul II beatified Maria Theresa von Jesu Gerhardinger . The suggestion for this came from the Catholic Women's Association in 1925 , and the actual beatification process began in 1928. More than 2000 Bavarian pilgrims, most of them from the Regensburg and Munich area, traveled to Rome for the festivities. The Archbishop of Munich and Freising, Cardinal Friedrich Wetter , and the Bishop of Regensburg, Manfred Müller , also took part. Maria Theresia Gerhardinger's feast day is May 9th .

In autumn 1998, following a decision by the Bavarian State Government, her bust was erected in the Walhalla near Regensburg, the hall of fame for outstanding personalities from the German-speaking world. This is intended to honor her achievements as a "pioneer in women's education in Bavaria" . A bridge figure stands in her honor on the Korbinian Bridge in Freising.

literature

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d e f g h i j Joachim Schäfer: Maria Theresia von Jesus Gerhardinger. In: Ecumenical Lexicon of Saints. 2003, accessed on July 14, 2018 (See German National Library for detailed bibliographic data.).
  2. ↑ Niedermünster - That's us - founder of the order. Maria Theresa of Jesus Gerhardinger. Girls' secondary school in Niedermünster, accessed on July 14, 2018 .
  3. ↑ a b c d Maria Theresia von Jesu Gerhardinger. A blessed woman of the 19th century. Archdiocese of Munich and Freising, accessed on July 14, 2018 .
  4. ↑ a b c d e f biography of Theresia von Jesu Gerhardinger. Poor School Sisters of Our Lady, accessed July 14, 2018 .
  5. ^ History. Theresia-Gerhardinger-Haus, Neunburg vorm Wald, accessed on July 14, 2018 .
  6. ↑ a b c Maria Liobgid Ziegler:  Gerhardinger, Karolina Elisabeth Franziska. In: New German Biography (NDB). Volume 6, Duncker & Humblot, Berlin 1964, ISBN 3-428-00187-7 , p. 281 f. ( Digitized version ).

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personal data
SURNAME Gerhardinger, Karolina
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Maria Theresa of Jesus (religious name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Sister and founder of the congregation of the "Poor School Sisters of Our Lady"
DATE OF BIRTH June 20, 1797
PLACE OF BIRTH Regensburg -Stadtamhof
DATE OF DEATH May 9, 1879
Place of death Munich