Sisters of St Francis of the Martyr St George

The Congregation of the Franciscan Sisters of St.. Martyr George to Thuine is a Catholic religious order founded in 1869, who lives according to the rules of St. Francis. The Community General Motherhouse is in Thuine in southern Emsland. The sisters wear a black habit and just such a veil. As a Franciscan they are recognizable by the white cincture with three nodes.

The Thuiner Franciscan operate mainly in the education and social services. They run schools, boarding schools, hospitals, aged care and disability homes. The Operating in ten countries, Order counts over 1300 members.

History

1857 asked the then minister at the Thuiner St. George's Church, Gerhard Dall to the posting of Sisters of the Congregation of the Holy Cross in Strasbourg to work in his community. You should be particularly active in nursing. In May of the same year were two sisters, including the future foundress Sister Mary Anselma Bopp, at their service in Thuine. For nursing soon came the concern for orphaned children whose parents had died of typhoid fever was still frequent. Pastor Dall was 1860 St. George's cloister on the spot with a chapel and gave it to the more numerous Kreuzschwestern a convent and orphanage. Prompted by their Superior General in 1869, immediately return to Strasbourg, Sister Mary Anselma and her fellow activists finally decided to stay still in Thuine. In this decision, the nuns were supported by the Osnabrück Bishop Johannes Heinrich Beckmann. On November 25, 1869, the independent Congregation of the Franciscan Sisters Thuiner was founded in St. George's pen and appointed Maria Anselma Bopp by Bishop Beckmann to the first Superior General. The sisters of the new congregation took the Rule of the Third Order of St.. Francis on. The Order spread in the early years, especially in the Diocese of Osnabrück, and had in 1887, when the founder of Maria Anselma Bopp died, 146 members in eleven offices.

Through a confrontation of the Prussian state and the Catholic Church in 1875, the so-called May Laws were enacted, according to which all religious or orden similar congregations were banned, apart from those who devoted themselves to nursing. The Franciscan sisters were by M. Anselma Bopp († 1887) on May 2, 1878 their religious community, in contrast to the refusal of Barromä - sisters, ready to take that took place outside the monastery their habit in activities and therefore could the orphanage St. Johann assume in Osnabrück with 50 children.

The Thuiner Franciscan Sisters in 1909 officially recognized by the Roman Congregation for Religious and received in 1920 the papal confirmation of their rules.

Already in 1875 the first settlement was founded in the Netherlands in 1920 or 1923, settled Thuiner Franciscans in Japan and the U.S.. 1932 Dutch sisters went to Indonesia. After the Second World War in 1960, a subsidiary in Tanzania and established in 1972, the first in Brazil.

2004, there was an internal conflict in the mother house Thuine. A large number of sisters demanded influenced by a charismatic cult- like movement, the so-called Christ Community, special rights for themselves. This was rejected by the General Government and the Roman Congregation for Religious. Then have resigned in the following year 70 sisters from the Congregation.

Organization

The Thuiner Franciscans are a religious community of pontifical right. It is headed by a Superior General, who choose the sisters every six years new. The Superior General is supported by the Vicar-General and five other sisters Council. Since the 1950s, the congregation consists of the Generalatsbereich in Thuine and several Provinces. Currently (2010) these are:

• The German province ( based in Schwagstorf in Fuerstenau )
• The Dutch province
• The Japanese province
• The American Province (USA) with the region of the Sacred Heart in Brazil
• The Indonesian province of Papua New Guinea and East Timor

Furthermore entertain the Thuiner Franciscan since 2007, a small settlement in Assisi, Italy, the site of action of St. Francis. There, the sisters can go on holiday and to deal with the spirituality of her religious patron. One branch, founded in 2000 by Thuine from the Albanian Delvina is subject to those in Assisi directly to the Muttherhaus.

The Mother House

The St.Georgsstift as the mother house of the Congregation has been expanded and remodeled since the last third of the 19th century by several buildings. There are now the monastery of Christ the King Church, the old St. George's Chapel, the religious leadership, the novitiate, the retirement home of the sisters, a guest house, a conference building, the Anthony boarding school, a vocational school, a gym and swimming pool, various outbuildings and workshops, a nursery, a farm and houses for the worldly people.

The Christ the King Church was built as a new monastery church 1928/29, and was consecrated by the then Nuncio Eugenio Pacelli.

Facilities in Germany

The German Province of the Congregation maintains in North-West Germany about a dozen schools, including in Lingen (Ems ) (professional school and high school ), Osnabrück ( vocational schools ), Papenburg (Gymnasium), Schwagstorf in Fuerstenau (Realschule and Hauptschule), Thuine (vocational school, junior high school and high school ) and Dingelstädt ( special school ). The Franciscan Sisters operate four hospitals in Berlin, Osnabrück, Ostercappeln and Thuine. They maintain sanatoria on Borkum and Timmendorfer beach, a hospice in Bad Pyrmont, nursing homes in Bad Soden, nice oak, Schwagstorf and Thuine, guest houses for retreats, conferences and meetings in Bad Pyrmont, Heede, Schwagstorf and Thuine.