POOR SISTERS OF SAINT FRANCIS. - Religious institute founded in Aachen by Frances Schervier, who in 1845 associated with herself four other young women to place themselves at the disposal of the city's poor, with the aim of relieving their material and spiritual miseries.

They rented a small house, from which they went out only to care for the sick in their homes or to serve as cooks and distributors in the soup kitchens. Later they also opened houses in which they gave shelter to women of ill repute in order to lead them back to God and to society. Their example attracted many vocations, so that the municipality of Aachen was able to entrust to them in 1878 the care of a very large hospital for contagious diseases; from there they were called to many other cities. Cardinal Geisel on 2 July 1851 erected the association into a congregation, giving it the Rule of St. Francis and certain statutes to be observed. Having spread in Germany, France, Denmark, and also in America, the Institute obtained the decree of praise on 20 Aug. 1870; definitive approval on 6 Oct. 1908. At present the houses number 123, divided into 6 provinces, and the sisters 2482.

Bibliography

BIBL.: Archivio S. Congr. dei Religiosi, C. 25.

Giulio Mandelli

@incollection{ec9_povere_suore_di_san_francesco, author = {Mandelli, Giulio}, title = {Povere Suore di San Francesco}, booktitle = {Enciclopedia Cattolica}, volume = {IX}, pages = {1865}, note = {Cited by column}, publisher = {Ente per l’Enciclopedia Cattolica e per il Libro Cattolico}, address = {Città del Vaticano}, year = {1952}, url = {https://azioneromana.com/article/povere-suore-di-san-francesco} }

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Poor Sisters of Saint Francis

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