인창동성당 게시판
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12월15일 복녀 마리아 프란체스카 쉐르비에 |
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2006-12-19 ㅣ No.1960
축일:12월15일 복녀 마리아 프란시스 쉐르비에 Bl. Mary Frances Schervier, virgin, III Order (For the III Order) Beata Maria Francesca Schervier Fondatrice Bl.MARY FRANCES SCHERVIER
Beata Maria Francesca Schervier Fondatrice
MARY FRANCES SCHERVIER Their first community in the United States was founded 1858, and Mother Frances visited in 1863 to help her sisters nurse wounded Civil War soldiers. She visited the United States again in 1868, encouraging Philip Hoever in his establishment of the Brothers of the Poor of Saint Francis, and overseeing the foundation of several hospitals. Cured of asthma in 1870 by making a pilgrimage to the healing waters of Lourdes. When Mother Frances died there were 2,500 members of her community worldwide, and the numbers continue to grow as they operate hospitals and homes for the aged.
Readings
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- the woman and the vision -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- A friend of Frances shared with her a dream that she had in which God revealed that Frances was to found a religious congregation. Frances took this message seriously and founded the congregation in 1845. The congregation grew rapidly and, in 1858, the Sisters were requested to start a house in Cincinnati to serve the sick and poor in the German immigrant population. Six sisters left Aachen, Germany, for the long journey to Cincinnati. They opened their first hospital in four rooms of an old orphanage. The new foundation, St. Mary’s Hospital, was the beginning of the ministry of the Franciscan Sisters of the Poor in the United States. In carrying out the healing mission of Jesus, it was Frances Schervier’s vision to see Christ in the poor and to heal his wounds. Frances died December 14, 1876. More than 150 years later, the Franciscan Sisters of the Poor, an international/ multi-cultural religious congregation, continue this healing ministry in the U.S., Brazil, Italy and Senegal.
Catholic Home Study Service Sponsored by the Vincentian Community (Congregation of the Mission) and the Missouri Knights of Columbus. We offer free correspondence courses on the Catholic Faith, courses that are faithful to the magisterium. Reprinted with permission. A DUTIFUL DAUGHTER A typical young girl for her time, Frances played "dolls" with her classmates. Although her upbringing was strict, she held a deep and abiding love for her parents. Her schooling was that usually reserved for girls of the 1 9th century, but was somewhat unusual in that it was not conducted by nuns. Madame Nicolay's school taught refinement and womanly skills. Perhaps the greatest influence of the school was exerted by a woman convert, Louisa Hensel. She was the daughter of a Lutheran minister who had himself given Louisa a classic education. This young lay-woman awakened love of poetry and literature in her students. Of Louisa's students, 20 became nuns, four of these becoming foundresses of new religious orders. When Frances was 11, her mother was stricken with tuberculosis. Two years later she died. Frances wrote: "The good Lord called my mother to Himself when I was barely 13 years old. I cannot tell how hard it was to see her pass away. I thought I must die with her. But knowing that God demanded this great sacrifice and that He would give me grace and strength, I knelt down and with my whole will gave my dear mother to God." Within six months her two older sisters also succumbed to tuberculosis. Later, when Frances was 16 and in charge of the household, she began to seek out the company of other devout young women. She often had to "sneak" out to daily Mass for her father was not wholly in accord with her pious nature. However, he saw the good these young women were doing and soon allowed her to bring them into their home for meetings. Here they founded a soup kitchen. Soon it had grown in such proportions that it had to be transferred to an old Dominican priory. Frances was a master at collecting funds and one day was given a young pig. The donor could not deliver it to the butcher for her, so she removed her sash, tied it to the pig's back leg and dragged it the entire length of the town! Her early dream of becoming a Trappistine nun was continually thwarted by the needs of her father and her younger sister and brother. At the age of 26, her father was suddenly stricken and died. She again wrote in her journal saying: "The condolence without affliction was general, for father was a righteous man and benevolent of heart . . . the good Lord disposed all for the best." A TIME FOR REAPING During the years she had conducted the soup kitchen and run the household for her family, Frances had been accepted as a Tertiary of St. Francis. She loved the ideal of complete poverty and combined with it an ardent desire for a contemplative life. Her most trusted friend in the Tertiaries came to her soon after her father's death and stated: "I am commanded by our Lord to tell you something. The Lord wishes you to leave your family and together with those whom He will point out to you, save souls and heal His wounds." Somehow, the suddenness of this announcement frightened Frances. She was overwhelmed. How could she assume this heavy burden? Needless to say, Frances regained her courage, and her love for the poor superseded her fear. A congregation was formed and authorized. The work spread rapidly throughout Austria and within 15 years, to America. Mother Frances and three other Sisters arrived in Cincinnati in 1858 and founded a hospital. From there they nursed the young soldiers on the battlefields of the Civil War. Her ideal was difficult to maintain for, besides the active sisters who ministered to the poor and the sick, Frances wanted "recluses" who lived and prayed within the confines of each institution for those who ministered, those ministered to and most particularly for those who did not know that they needed ministering to! The Sisters looked after all who needed them. The first ones, besides the poor taken into their homes, were repentant fallen women who needed a place of refuge. As a successful beggar for Christ, Frances helped other orders to get started too. The help she gave the founder of the Brothers of the Poor of St. Francis was time-consuming and so generous that these Brothers consider her co-foundress with Brother Philip Hoever. She also assisted the Sisters of St. Francis of the Holy Family and the Franciscan Sisters of the Sacred Heart. Perhaps the order which was dearest to her heart (besides her own) was the Franciscan Sisters of Perpetual Adoration. Since she had for the most part been unsuccessful in combining the "recluses" with her active sisters, here was an entire Franciscan community to pray for the workers and works of all the rest! THE WORK CONTINUES Mother Frances made two prolonged journeys to America but she always returned to her native Austria to further the congregation as a whole. While here she oversaw openings of hospitals in Brooklyn, Covington, KY; Columbus and Cincinnati, OH, Jersey City and Newark, NJ and in Ft. Wayne, IN. Since her time the number has more than tripled. All this journeying and work took its toll. Frances was stricken with asthma from exhaustion. The community prayed and a trip to Lourdes arranged. She was carried to the Grotto the first day to drink the waters, but the next day she was so much better that she was able to walk. One of the very rare photos of her shows her wandering among the pilgrims, talking and smiling! She continued to work in Austria and accepted the Superiorship again in 1875. But she was unwell and after undergoing surgery in 1876, she died. During this last illness Frances never once expressed a wish of any kind. Her serenity and peace, though remarkable, were what might have been expected of her. She asked no questions and gave no orders; she had relinquished her community, the dearest thing in her life, into the hands of her Lord and Savior. She confided to Bishop Laurent when he visited her, " . . . I used to fear death, but now I am perfectly resigned. If I have to go to purgatory, I shall not mind it; I have deserved it." The cause of Mother Frances' beatification was completed in 1974 when Pope Paul VI declared her blessed. Many Sisters from both sides of the Atlantic were there and made a pilgrimage from Aachen to Rome to Assisi, venerating the foundress and the original founder, St. Francis of Assisi.
A Congregation, founded by the Venerable Mother Frances Schervier at Aachen in the year 1845, whose members observe the Rule of the Third Order of St. Francis, as given by Leo X for Tertiaries living in community, and Constitutions adapted to their special work, care of the sick poor, dependent upon charity. Foundation Frances Schervier, born in Aachen, 3 January, 1819, was the child of John Henry Caspar Schervier, proprietor of a needle manufactory and associate magistrate of the city, and Maria Louisa Migeon, descendant of a wealthy French family. Frances's education was thorough, and it was always her desire to serve the sick and poor. She began by giving them food and clothing, labouring for them, and visiting them in their homes and hospitals. In 1840 she joined a charitable society, in order to exercise this charity more actively. In 1844 she and four other young ladies (Catherine Daverkosen, Gertrude Frank, Joanna Bruchhans, and Catherine Lassen) became members of the Third Order of St. Francis. The following year, with the permission of a priest, they went to live together in a small house beyond St. James's Gate, and Frances was chosen superior of the community. The life of the sisters was conventual, and the time spent in religious exercises, household duties, and caring for the sick poor. In 1848 the community numbered thirteen members. Development In the latter part of 1848 a mild form of cholera broke out in Aachen, followed by an epidemic of small pox, and an infirmary was opened in an old Dominican building, the property of the city. The Sisters offered their services as nurses and they were authorized to take up their abode in the building (1849). New members were admitted in 1849, when they were called to take charge of an infirmary for cholera patients in Burtscheid. In 1850 they established a hospital for incurables in the old Dominican building, and the home nursing and charity kitchens in different parishes were entrusted to them. In 1850 the "Constitutions" were compiled and submitted to the Archbishop of Cologne. They were approved, and on 12 August, 1851, Mother Frances and her twenty-three associates were invested with the habit of St. Francis. On 13 June, 1850, they took charge of a hospital in Juelich (later abandoned). In 1851 a foundation was established at Bonn and also at Aachen for the care of the female prisoners in the House of Detention. When the home of the Poor Clares, before their suppression in 1803, was offered for sale in the summer of 1852, Mother Frances purchased the spacious building for a convent — the first mother-house. The congregation grew steadily and rapidly. In 1852 two houses were founded in Cologne, and a hospital was opened at Burtscheid. Foundations were established in Ratingen, Mayence, Coblenz (1854); Kaiserswerth, Crefeld, Euskirchen (1855); Eschweiler (1858); Stolberg and Erfurt (1863), etc. The number of institutions in Europe at time of present writing (1911) is about 49. Congregation in America The year 1858 marks an important epoch in the development of the congregation, namely: the transplanting of the congregation to America. Mrs. Sarah Peter, a convert of Cincinnati, O., received a commission from the archbishop in that city to bring German Sisters to America to care for the destitute poor of German nationality, and Irish Sisters for the Irish poor. While in Rome in 1857 she submitted the plan to the Holy Father, who advised her to apply for German Sisters to some Austrian bishop. Cardinal Von Geissel, the Archbishop of Cologne, earnestly recommended the Congregation of Mother Frances for the purpose. In Ireland she succeeded in obtaining the Sisters of Mercy. Mother Frances resolved to found a house in Cincinnati, and on 24 August, 1858, the six sisters chosen by her set sail for America. Upon their arrival in Cincinnati, the Sisters of the Good Shepherd kindly gave them hospitality. Soon they received the offer of the gratuitous use of a vacated orphanage for their patients. The following year three more sisters arrived from Europe, and in March they purchased several lots at the corner of Linn and Betts Streets (the present site of St. Mary's Hospital), and began constructing a hospital. More sisters soon arrived from the mother-house, and in 1860 they were able to establish a branch-house in Covington, Ky. In the spring of 1861 Mrs. Peter offered her residence to the sisters for a novitiate, and home for the Clarisses or recluses, a contemplative branch of the congregation, for whose coming she had long been negotiating with Mother Frances. In October, 1861, three recluses came to America, and from their arrival up to the present time perpetual adoration of the Most Blessed Sacrament has been carried on without interruption in this novitiate convent of St. Clara. Mrs. Peter reserved for herself the use of several rooms, wherein she lived a life of retirement until her death in Feb., 1877. The congregation owed much of its rapid progress in the New World to the influence of this noble lady. Hospitals have been founded in the following cities of the United States: Cincinnati (1858); Covington, Ky. (1860); Columbus, O. (1862); Hoboken, N. J. (1863); Jersey City, N. J. (1864); Brooklyn, N. Y. (1864); 5th St., N. Y. City (1865); Quincy, Ill. (1866); Newark, N. J. (1867); Dayton, O. (1878); N. Y. City (1882); Kansas City, Kan. (1887); Fairmount, Cin., 0. (1888); Columbus, O. (1891); 142nd St., N. Y. City (1906). In 1896 the novitiate was removed to Hartwell, O., where the congregation possesses a large convent, church, and grounds, the centre of activity of the Province in America.
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