Mary Francis Aschmann

Mary Francis Aschmann PCC, born Alberta Aschmann , (born February 14, 1921 in St. Louis , Missouri , † February 11, 2006 in Roswell, New Mexico ), religious name Mary Francis of Our Lady , was an American Poor Clare , poet and Writer. She became known to a wide audience mainly through her works on the founding of the Poor Clares in America and later in Eindhoven in the Netherlands. She first published under the short version of her religious name Mary Francis , later also as Mother Mary Francis , and is therefore mostly known under it.

Life

Alberta Aschmann was born the daughter of German and Irish immigrants, John Aschmann and Anne Maher Aschmann. She attended the School of the Poor School Sisters of Notre Dame , which she joined as a candidate after graduating from high school in Ripa at the age of 16. Alberta Aschmann realized her calling to the contemplative life while studying at the University of Saint Louis , to which they had sent the School Sisters of Notre Dame . On July 7, 1942, she joined the Poor Clares in Chicago as a postulant , where she was accepted into the novitiate about a year later, on June 26, 1943 . For clothing she received the religious name Mary Francis from Our Lady .

With the permission of her superiors, Sr. Mary Francis wrote poetry and published a first volume of poetry in the novitiate, Whom I Have Loved . Some time after her solemn profession on July 26, 1947, Sr. Mary Francis was posted on November 7, 1948 with eight other sisters to Roswell , New Mexico , where they established a new convent . In order to raise funds for this very humble convent of Our Lady of Guadalupe , her abbess encouraged Sr. Mary Francis to take part in writing competitions. In this way, the book finally came in 1956 A right to be merry (German Edition: The right to be joyful ) whose proceeds were intended to pay for the repair of the roof. The book about monastic life in Roswell developed into a bestseller with several new editions and led to numerous vocations and foundations of monasteries.

In addition to her literary work, which also included a new translation of the works of Saints Clare and Coletta from Latin and French, Sr. Mary Francis worked in Roswell as organist, porter and administrator of the library and supplies of the monastery, and she also gave lessons in Latin and Gregorian chant . On May 19, 1964, the Roswell Convention elected her abbess .

The following year she was elected chairman of the Federation of Mary Immaculate, a newly formed monastic association of the Poor Clares in the United States, which led to extensive visitation trips that she had to undertake every three years to the eleven convents of the Federation. She provided this service for 16 years, and she was council sister of the same association for 13 more. In doing so, she participated in the laying down of new constitutions as a result of the changes after the Second Vatican Council , whereby she placed emphasis on maintaining traditional features of this life, such as getting up at midnight for prayer and the traditional habit of the Poor Clares with guimpe and triple knotted zingulum .

Start-ups

Since the callings of the poor Poor Clares were very numerous at that time, also because of the book A right to merry , the convent of our Lady of Guadalupe alone established new convents in Newport News, Alexandria, Los Altos Hills, Belleville as well as in Eindhoven in the Netherlands and most recently back in Chicago in 2000.

Tributes and death

In 2002, mother Mary Francis received the Pro fidelitate et virtute award for her life and work. In 2004 she celebrated the sixtieth anniversary of her solemn profession; in 2005, she resigned from the office of abbess after 41 years, receiving the honorary title of old abbess. Not long afterwards, on February 11, 2006, mother Mary Francis died at the age of 84 from complications from a serious fall from which she could not recover. She was solemnly buried in a pontifical request under the direction of Bishop Ricardo Ramirez CSB on February 14, 2006 in the cemetery of the Convent of Our Lady of Guadalupe, Roswell.

Works (selection)

• A right to be merry (1956)
• Walled in Light (1959), play about the life of St. Coleta
• Forth and Abroad: Still Merry on Land and by Sea (1997)
• Anima Christi: Soul of Christ (2001)
• But I Have Called You Friends: Reflections on the Art of Christian Friendship (2006)
• Counted As Mine: The Story Of Our Lady Of Guadalupe (2011)

Individual evidence

1. ↑ engl. Website with the biography of Mother Mary Francis'
2. ↑ engl. Explanation for the term Ripa, in 1894 the sisters purchased a 21-acre site near the Mississippi River, which they named Sancta Maria in Ripa (St. Mary on the Bank)
3. ↑ Photo of the mother house Sancta Maria in Ripa