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

Born : 3 January 1819 at Aachen, Germany

Died : 14 December 1876 at Aachen Germany of natural causes

Beatified : 1974 by Pope Paul VI at Rome, Italy

Canonized : pending

Beata Maria Francesca Schervier Fondatrice

14 dicembre 

Aachen, Germania, 3 gennaio 1819 - Aachen, Germania, 14 dicembre 1876

 

Nacque ad Aquisgrana in Germania, il 3 gennaio 1819, era figlioccia dell’imperatore Francesco II, quindi di condizione nobile. A 13 anni rimase orfana della madre Eloisa Migeon; da signorina prese a dedicarsi al soccorso dei poveri, insegnando loro il catechismo; man mano che proseguiva in questa meritoria opera, in un ambiente spesso indifferente, a volta ostile, Francesca Schervier non si risparmiava alcuna fatica, senza cedere a nessun timore, trovò aiuto nella sua impresa apostolica e assistenziale, nel vicario della sua parrocchia padre Istas.

Dopo aver fatto un ritiro a Liegi in Belgio, il 3 ottobre 1845, con cinque compagne formò ad Aquisgrana, un gruppo assistenziale, che subito ebbe l’occasione di rendersi utile, perché un’epidemia di colera e di vaiolo, infuriò nella città.

Si rese necessario dare una forma canonica alla nascente istituzione, per questo scrisse una regola che si affiliava alla spiritualità francescana, sotto la protezione di s. Francesco con lo scopo primario della carità, povertà e opere di pietà verso i poveri.

La nuova Congregazione, a cui diede il nome di ‘Suore dei poveri di s. Francesco’, fu approvata da papa s. Pio X nel 1908; intanto il 12 ottobre 1850, Maria Francesca e le sue consorelle, emettevano i voti religiosi; l’Istituzione ebbe subito una rapida diffusione, già nel 1858 era stata fondata una casa nello Stato dell’Ohio U.S.A., nel mentre altri campi di assistenza videro impegnate le suore; durante le guerre del 1864, 1866 e 1870 si dedicarono all’assistenza sanitaria dei militari negli ospedali e poi al recupero della gioventù traviata.

Madre Maria Francesca Schervier morì il 14 dicembre 1876 ad Aquisgrana, a circa 58 anni; la sua reputazione e fama di santa vita, spinse il clero della città ad avviare la causa per la sua beatificazione il 28 febbraio 1928.

Negli anni 1970 la Congregazione contava 121 Case in Germania e Stati Uniti con circa 1700 suore; madre Schervier è stata beatificata il 28 aprile 1974 da papa Paolo VI.

Autore: Antonio Borrelli

_______________________

Aggiunto il 28-Dec-2002

Letto da 1707 persone

 

MARY FRANCES SCHERVIER

 

Memorial

15 December

Profile

Daughter of Johann Heinrich Schervier, a wealthy needle-factory owner and vice-mayor of Aachen, and Maria Louise Migeon; god-daughter of Emporer Francis I of Austria. She ran her father’s household at age 16 after the death of her mother and two older sisters to tuberculosis, and had a reputation for generosity to the poor. In 1844 she became a Secular Franciscan, and in 1845 she and four companions established a religious community devoted to caring for the poor. This group, Sisters of the Poor of Saint Francis, was approved by their bishop on 2 July 1851.

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.

Born

3 January 1819 at Aachen, Germany

Died

14 December 1876 at Aachen Germany of natural causes

Beatified

1974 by Pope Paul VI at Rome, Italy

Canonized

pending

Readings

"You are my friends if you do what I command you.... I am giving you these commands so that you may love one another." (John 15:14,17) If we do this faithfully and zealously, we will experience the truth of the words of our father Saint Francis who says that love lightens all difficulties and sweetens all bitterness. We will likewise partake of the blessing which Saint Francis promised to all his children, both present and future, after having admonished them to love one another even as he had loved them and continues to love them.

-Mother Mary France, 1868, writing to her sisters

Frances Schervier

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

the woman and the vision

"What you have done to the least of my brothers and sisters, that you have done to me."

 

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

 Frances Schervier was born in Aachen, Germany, on January 3, 1819. Her father was a wealthy factory owner. Frances was only thirteen when her mother died, and she had to take over the management of the family home. So strongly was she drawn to help the poor, that she used her position as head of the household to purchase food and clothing for them. Frances, an affluent and educated lay woman, came to maturity at the beginning of the industrial revolution.

A person of deep prayer, she was aware of the misery around her, especially among the poor: "It seemed to me that I . . . should dedicate myself entirely to the Lord through active works of charity. A fire of holy love for my neighbor burned within me. I felt a great desire to seek out and love the Lord in the poor, the sick, and the unfortunate. I believed that I saw the Lord Himself in the poor and the sick, and was overjoyed at being able to serve and care for him." Frances, with the help of Father Josef Istas, set up a soup kitchen for the poor. She begged to obtain food, undertook night watch with the ill, cleaned their houses, and comforted the dying.

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

Frances Schervier 1819-1876

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.

 

 

The wounded soldiers of the Civil War were astounded by the gentle nurses who attended them at the very front. These nurses were Franciscan Sisters of the Poor, founded by Mother Frances Schervier of Aachen, Germany. Frances, born of an affluent family (her god-father was Emperor Francis I of Austria), at an early age exhibited an unusual love of the poor. Before she received her first Holy Communion at the age of 11 she wrote: "In school I heard how our dear Savior had loved the poor and became poor and despised for us. I conceived a special affection for the needy . . . The sight of my Savior hanging naked on the Cross touched my heart. I conceived the thought of clothing Him in His poor."

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.

Sisters of the Poor of St. Francis

Catholic Encyclopedia on CD-ROM

Contains 11,632 articles. Browse off-line, ad-free, printer-friendly.

Get it here for only $33 plus FREE shipping worldwide

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.