CHAPTER VI
Foundation in St. Georgental, Foundations in Toponar and Berzencze.
In September of 1873 two sisters of the Congregation were on a soliciting trip in German Bohemia. When they arrived in St. Georgental the Pastor, Reverend Luttna, told them that a factory owner, Mr. Edward Wolf and his wife, Magdalena, wanted to make a foundation for the good of poor children in order to thank God for the blessing that had come to their businesses. Foreseen for this was a house belonging to Mr. Wolf which should become an institute to care for children and a vocational school, as well as a place for the education of orphans. The Pastor asked the sisters to intercede with Mother Franziska to send sisters to conduct the institute to be established in St. Georgental. Mother Franziska was not against these plans and, after repeated exchanges of letters with the Pastor and Mr. Wolf, she went in the company of Sister Xaveria Egger to St. Georgental on November 27, 1873 to see the house. On this occasion she traveled through the pilgrimage site of Philippsdorf. It was reputed that the Blessed Mother appeared there in 1868 to a sick girl named Magdalena Kali and healed her. During her stay in Philippsdorf Mother Franziska had opportunity to speak with the favored one. In the shrine chapel she recommended all her undertakings and intentions to the Mother of God with great devotion. Since now, as was often the case, she was lacking funds, she placed her purse on the spot where the Blessed Mother had stood during the apparitions and asked her fervently to provide through her intercession the necessary money so that many poor people could be helped. This request did not remain unheard, because, even if Mother Franziska often had to struggle with great money worries, she always received what was absolutely necessary, often in the last minute and in almost mysterious ways. Mother Franziska was completely satisfied with the absolute necessities and often admonished her spiritual daughters to wish for no more than that so that holy poverty would be preserved. She saw this as the protecting wall of the spiritual life and therefore often said, When I die I will constantly ask God that the Congregation remain poor." Money and possessions she saw as mere means to do good. They had no other value for her. Therefore, as soon as she received a larger donation she could think only of how to use it as soon as possible for some good work.
After successfully completing the journey to St. Georgental, Mother Franziska was greeted in a most friendly way at the station by the Pastor and Mrs. Wolf. After viewing the house, Mother Franziska came to an agreement with Mr. Wolf to first renovate it for the intended purpose since it was not in especially good condition. Mr. Wolf was very prepared to have this done. Upon his agreement to this, Mother Franziska, seeing how fervently the inhabitants of St. Georgental desired the opening of the planned institute, promised to send sisters as soon as the building was finished. She also thought that these, by a good education of the children with a firm foundation of instruction in the holy Faith, could limit the influence of the very widespread ‘Old Catholic’ sect in that populous region and so have a beautiful field of apostolic activity. For Mother Franziska, for whom the holy Faith was above everything else and whose greatest wish was to be able to save very many souls, this was the decisive reason for taking over the planned institute, even if various obstacles should present themselves. These did not fail to come, but Mother Franziska overcame them all with her determination’ and so, on July 25, 1874, the bill of sale in which Mr. Wolf gave the house to the Congregation for a nominal fee was signed. Mother Franziska had traveled again to St. Georgental to close this deal. After finishing the business involved in the purchase she went to Leitmeritz, the diocesan seat of St. Georgental to ask the Bishop to accept the Congregation there as well as to obtain permission to have a chapel and to have Holy Mass celebrated in the house at St. Georgental. This good shepherd received Mother Franziska kindly, agreed to her requests and to special protection for the Congregation and gave her and the new undertaking his blessing. Then Mother Franziska traveled on to Prague to obtain the civil permission for the foundation in St. Georgental and was received in a most friendly way by the Governor’s Assistant, von Adar. The request was most satisfactorily granted in a short time. After taking care of her affairs, Mother Franziska passed through Brunn, to their great joy, visiting the sisters there and then back to Vienna. On August 1 she sent the sisters to the new foundation and on the 31st of the same month she traveled there again herself to prepare for the dedication. The renovation was completed and so, after much effort and work, this celebration could be held on September 10. The inhabitants of St. Georgental participated enthusiastically. The day before they decorated the houses with wreaths and lighted the windows at night. After a Pontifical High Mass and moving sermon in the parish church there was a solemn procession to the convent which was dedicated in honor of the Queen of Angels. Thereafter the first Holy Mass was celebrated in the house chapel, at which the sisters received Holy Communion. The celebration concluded with the singing of the TE DEUM. Until evening the house was full of people who were very happy about the foundation by the sisters. As name for this new house Mother Franziska chose the one she had earlier wanted to give the Refuge in Breitenfurt, "Divine Providence". After all, she had great devotion to Divine Providence to which she completely handed over all her undertakings, but the action of Divine Providence was also wonderfully visible in the whole life of Mother Franziska and the success of her endeavors witnessed the truth of the saying: "Who trusts in God builds on sure ground."
On January 19, 1875 Mother Franziska again gave her permission to take over a foundation. Countess Festetics, by birth, Countess Zichy, had opened a Kindergarten and vocational school on her properties in Toponar in Hungary and turned to Mother Franziska to allow sisters to come and conduct the institute. Joyfully she grasped this opportunity to widen the field of the Congregation’s work and promised to send sisters to Toponar in the fall of the same year. On June 28 this was confirmed by contract.
In February of 1875 the Rev. Father Steiner resigned from his position as general director of Congregation. The loss of this deserving man so bound up with her noble work hurt Mother Franziska deeply. To get a substitute she asked the Reverend Monsignor Anton Horny, Cathedral Canon at St. Stephen’s in Vienna, on March 11, to take over this position. He gladly agreed, visited the Marienanstalt for the first time and expressed much praise of its arrangement and accepted on March 21. For many years Monsignor Horny filled this position as a blessing for the Congregation and, after the first approbation of the Constitutions by the Holy See when the post of General Director was dissolved he was appointed Vicar for the Congregation.
At the same time, to Mother Franziska ‘s great joy, the Congregation gained still another friend who, ever since, has worked with restless zeal for its welfare. This is Reverend Monsignor Friedrich Sixt, a priest of the St. Stephen’s Cathedral, who on March 15, 1873 took over the catechetical instruction of the pupils in the Vienna Marienanstalt and later, became confessor for the novices and still later for the professed sisters in the Mother House.
On April 20, 1875 Mother Franziska traveled with Sister Xaveria Egger to Paris to arrange some family business for Sister Augustina d’Armaille and at the same time to try to get permission to solicit in the French capitol. Mother Franziska and her companion had to endure much discomfort during the trip, especially suffering hunger and thirst because of the lack of money and they finally arrived in Paris without a cent. If Sister Augustina, who was already there, hadn’t picked them up at the station their situation would have been the worst imaginable. The efforts to obtain permission to solicit were, unfortunately, in vain. In order that the trip would not remain without profit for the Congregation, however, Mother Franziska visited various humanitarian institutes in Paris as well as in Strassburg on the way back, in order to learn how they were run. She was especially interested in the shelters for servants, though none of these met her expectations since none received the girls without charging for room and board, most charging them two Francs a day. This in no way satisfied Mother Franziska’s zealous love of neighbor. As on this trip, so otherwise, Mother Franziska liked to use the opportunities to visit charitable institutions to take what was good and practical to improve her own institutes. In general she used her trips to enrich her knowledge and experience and encouraged her spiritual daughters to do the same. She told these to buy maps and geography books on their collecting trips, to study them thoroughly, to visit the various places of interest, all for the purposes of learning something and to use that which was learned for the good of the Congregation. On such occasions she often said to the sisters, "Don’t travel like empty suitcases!" by which she meant, "thoughtlessly". One is immediately reminded of Mother Franziska’s father, who never allowed little Franzi to ride absentmindedly with him and we see the good fruits of his wisdom.
On the return trip from Paris Mother Franziska stayed one day in the orphanage of the School Sisters in Augsburg. There were her former teacher, Sister Margareta and many other sister acquaintances who had worked earlier in the convent in Munich. The sisters were very happy to see their former promising pupil, now a foundress of a religious Congregation, again, and not less, was the joy of Mother Franziska to be even a short time with her former teachers whom she so revered and of whom she always spoke with such respect.
June 16, 1875, the Feast of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, was a meaningful day for the Congregation as Mother Franziska, in union with the sisters in all the houses, consecrated the Congregation in a solemn way to the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus. Mother Franziska had a truly glowing devotion for this Most Sacred Heart as even the name she gave the Congregation demonstrates. He was the object of her most intimate love. In this Most Sacred Heart she placed all her cares and intentions, in Him she sought counsel and consolation and she believed firmly that a sister who did not honor the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus could not be a true Daughter of Divine Love. She designated the Feast of the Sacred Heart of Jesus as the main Feast of the Congregation and it is annually celebrated in the most solemn manner.
In August, 1875 Mother Franziska obtained Austrian citizenship. This news was in the Vienna newspapers on the 27th of the month. Following this many people expressed their recognition of the many good things which had already come about through her work. So her noble work attacked at the beginning by enemies from various sides, now, after a few years received general public praise.
September 22, 1875 was again a joyful day for Mother Franziska because of the dedication of the institute honoring the Mother of God under the name "Maria Schutz" (Mary’s protection) founded by Countess Festetics in Toponar and given over to the direction of our sisters. Of course Mother Franziska traveled to Toponar for this. At the conclusion of the celebration the house was presented to the sisters. Unfortunately Mother Franziska became so seriously ill in Toponar that she thought she would not see Vienna again. This led to the great dismay of the sisters, but with God’s help she recovered since the life work given her by the Lord was still a long way from completion.
On November 21, the foundation feast of the Congregation, the Reception and Profession took place as each year, but now for the first time in the solemn way according to the prescribed ecclesiastical ceremonial to the great joy of Mother Franziska and making a moving impression on all those present and participating. The candidates for Reception also wore white dresses for the first time. After the conclusion of the celebration those received were led into the novitiate and those sisters who had pronounced their holy vows were conducted into the professed sisters’ room. In front of the procession were three girls dressed in white, one carrying a palm and the other two with candles. On this day all the sisters received the office books with the imprimatur of the bishop, containing not only the Marian Office to be recited daily but also all the rest of the prayers customary in the Congregation. Previously the sisters had not had all the prayers used daily all together in one book and therefore were very happy about the new books.
Mother Franziska liked strong prayers, composed many of them herself or selected them with great care for the Congregation. She often reminded the sisters of the devotional and punctual recitation of the obligatory prayers and emphasized that these, because done in obedience, had far greater value than self-chosen personal devotions. She also liked to explain the Marian Office to the Sisters. She did this in such simple and yet enthusiastic words that thereafter all prayed with a redoubled zeal. On such occasions she usually let one sister after another read a psalm, asked what this or that verse meant, which psalm or which verse was preferred by the individual and such things. At that time the Office was prayed in German, not yet in Latin as later. Mother Franziska noted her favorite psalms as those which expressed praise to God or called upon creatures to do so, for example, the TE DEUM, the song of Praise of the Three Young Men in the Fiery Furnace: "Praise the Lord, all you works of the Lord", etc., the Psalms 148, "Praise the Lord in the Highest Heaven", 149, "Sing a new song unto the Lord", 150, "Praise the Lord in His Holy Ones" among others. She also strictly insisted that prayer in choir be beautiful, in the correct even tempo, and exactly according to the prescribed ceremonial regulations. She did not tolerate a careless attitude at prayer, leaning on one’s arms and so on, neither did she accept an exaggerated piety. Her own piety was simple, without singularity, but deep, and this is what she expected of the sisters, and encouraged them to strive for the same among their charges. As with prayer, so with the rest of the spiritual practices, Mother Franziska placed great value on their exact and punctual performance, feeling rightly that it is here that the sisters must take the spiritual nourishment needed for the exact fulfillment of the obligations of their vocation. She valued meditative prayer very highly and was very careful that this was explained to the candidates and novices so that they could become practiced in it. She often did this herself. In the same way, when it was possible, Mother Franziska herself gave the spiritual reading to the sisters and candidates and in later years, when her time was much taken up by the constantly growing Congregation, she often held a so-called "reading without book". She usually read one or other point of the Holy Rule or a few sentences from a book appropriate for such reading and then began to explain that which had been read. At these times her extraordinary eloquence was a good help. She spoke fluently and easily, analyzed the point at hand with simple, clear words clarified it with examples, usually taken from her own experience, pointed out failures that had come about and showed how these could be avoided in the future. Such a reading said more to the sisters than many of the most beautiful thoughts found in a book, since Mother Franziska knew exactly how to touch the spiritual needs of her daughters and, as the saying goes, "What comes from the heart reaches hearts".
On special occasions, such as in Holy Week Or after times of especially distracting work as, for example, is caused by the renovation of a house, Mother Franziska liked to lead for this or other house or also for the candidates, a three day spiritual renewal or so-called "little retreat". As a foundation for this she used excerpts from the book of Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius Loyola, which consisted of loose pages, each one containing a meditation. These were not fully written, but gave only single points which the person meditating herself filled in. She jokingly called these pages her "wisdom sheets". She slowly read out the points and then completed them as she let her own thoughts intermingle with them. She did this with such warmth that all who listened felt themselves touched and at the same time became convinced about their spiritual Mother’s familiarity with meditative prayer and the intimate communion she experienced with God therein. In using these she knew, as with the spiritual readings, how to touch the needs of her children. She matched her conference and her words entirely to the meditation. These last were sometimes terrifyingly serious during the meditations about the goal and end of the human person, sin, death, judgment and hell, encouraging in considering the divine mercy, enthusiastic when she spoke of heaven, the call to religious life, working for the glory of God and salvation of neighbor. The sisters liked best to hear the meditation about the sufferings of Christ, since she knew how to present this with such warmth in the most glorious light of the love of the Savior, that no heart could remain untouched. After all, she had a most fervent devotion to the sufferings of the divine Bridegroom. The sisters and candidates always came from these little retreats inflamed with a new zeal and the best resolutions.
On February 15, 1876 during a fall in the hallway in the Mother House Mother Franziska seriously injured a hand and had to wear it in a sling for a long time, though she didn’t allow this accident to greatly interrupt her restless activity and, since she could not work with her hand, her restless spirit worked all the more. The Vienna Marienanstalt had long ago proved to be too small for all the unemployed servant girls and the pupils who were registered for acceptance. At the celebrations for Reception and Profession also, which were always attended by many relatives of the sisters, the lack of space made itself felt and so Mother Franziska thought about enlarging the house through an addition in the garden. Since the poor Congregation had no means for this, she decided to turn to the Emperor, Franz Joseph I, with a respectful petition to assign a sum from the income of the State Welfare Lottery. She requested an audience with His Majesty for this purpose. His Highness graciously received the request and Mother Franziska received 10,000 florins from the lottery for the planned addition. The cost estimate was 19,000, but the beginning was helped and for the rest Mother Franziska hoped in God’s continued help. So on April 3, 1876 she let the preparations begin and the cornerstone for the addition was laid on the 20th of the month. The Reverend Director, Dr. Horny gave the sermon on this occasion on the text: "If the Lord does not build the house, in vain do the builders labor". The Lord did build the house since Mother Franziska had placed Him in command as Master Builder by offering this up as she did every undertaking and the dedication of the wing could be held as early as September 11, 1876. Through this increased space Mother Franziska could now follow the impulse of her benevolent heart and open the doors of the house to more of the poor.
During the enlargement of the Mother House preparations were being made again to take over a new foundation. The Reverend Pastor Johann Kavulak in Berzencze in Hungary had the intention, using the capital carefully saved over long years, to found an educational institute. Since he had heard of the work of the Daughters of Divine Charity in Budapest, he went there to the superior, Sister Borgia Uri, and offered the Congregation the ownership and direction of the convent he would donate. When Mother Franziska heard of this she sent Sister Borgia to Berzencze on March 2, 1876 to get to know the situation there exactly. She reported to her that the house built by the Pastor would serve the purpose and it seemed to offer a beautiful field of work for the Congregation. Filled with the desire to work for the salvation of youth wherever the Congregation would be offered opportunity to do so, Mother Franziska gave her consent for accepting the institute to the Reverend Pastor Kavulak and sealed this in a contract with him on July 30, 1876. On September 22 she traveled to Berzencze for the dedication of the house which was held on the 24th. This was celebrated by the Most Reverend Auxiliary Bishop of Vesprem and the convent received the beautiful name, "The Divine Friend of Children". So now Mother Franziska had an additional foundation under her direction and this blossomed to her credit and the joy of the worthy pastor, later Monsignor, Kavulak. It contains an elementary school, vocational school and a kindergarten.
Mother Franziska never forgot the spiritual progress of her daughters during the visible development of the Congregation, but rather directed her efforts toward confirming them more and more in their religious life. Therefore, she entertained for a long time the thought of providing some substitute for the candidacy and novitiate that the circumstances of the time had not allowed to those sisters who had entered immediately after the foundation. In October, 1876 her plan was fulfilled in that Mother Franziska called the sisters concerned, twelve in number, together in the Refuge in Breitenfurt and had them begin a so-called Profession Novitiate. This was introduced by a retreat and the sisters had certain exercises to fulfill as novices must do. Mother Franziska spent as much time with them herself and gave them the necessary direction. This novitiate lasted four months and Mother Franziska had the joy of seeing that the sisters involved used this graced time given them very zealously. She would gladly have extended this to an entire year but it was impossible since the Sisters were needed in the various houses and for soliciting. Even so it was a great sacrifice to let them come to Breitenfurt for so long a time, but Mother Franziska wanted to bring this sacrifice because she knew well of the value of the novitiate and that the outwardly most glowing works of the Congregation would have no value and no endurance before God if at the same time there is no work done for the interior perfection and stability of the same. Mother Franziska considered it a holy obligation to provide them with the grace of a novitiate, since it was exactly these sisters who entered first who brought so many and so great sacrifices. Although much has already been told about the early years of the Congregation and the efforts and sacrifices involved, it will still be interesting to hear Mother Franziska’s own words, in the Chronicle of the Congregation in connection with the announcement concerning the Profession Novitiate. These are written down in 1884 as the events of the first years are once again and more thoroughly summarized. She says, "At the foundation of the Congregation during the first years, it was not possible to have a candidacy and novitiate and therefore those accepted could not be sufficiently evaluated. Also we could not be too selective in accepting those who really had enough courage and trust in God to enter a congregation whose continued existence was not yet assured! In this way some slipped in who were not really called and this was demonstrated only later. Therefore, in the early years some had to be dismissed. Those, however, who, filled with the best spirit, were called by God to help in this work, let nothing shake them in their holy vocation. Enough sufferings and persecutions came. Many told the sisters that the Congregation was not viable and would not endure; we had much opposition. The sisters, however, faithfully remained with me. It was a life of love in community. I comforted them by saying that God would surely help us and that our society would certainly become a religious congregation. For me the saying of Gamaliel was a constant comfort, ‘If it is God’s work no one can destroy it, if it is a human work it will fall apart of itself.’ The thought that no enemy could destroy the Congregation if God wanted it to exist strengthened me. I did as much as I could in my poverty to educate the sisters in the spiritual life and the purposes of the Congregation. I saw how concerned the sisters were to ennoble their hearts and spirits. When these arrived home, weary from soliciting, or worn out by some other work of the day, they still zealously studied, with an eagerness for knowledge like good children, catechism, Bible history, church history, geography etc. or also needlework. Spiritual counsels were accepted with joy. I did not have to give any command in a severe way, it was enough if I said, ‘I think this or that should be done or should be this way or that.’ I was very strict but the sisters knew that I loved them. The first sisters who helped with the foundation, tired themselves day and night and undertook the most difficult trips in order to prove themselves useful to the Congregation. How often the rail compartment was our dormitory, how often we wrote the whole night through to make the changes in the Statutes, to write soliciting letters, etc. It was a life of sacrifice and yet we did everything gladly. It was all meant to establish our dear Congregation or to win benefactors for it. All joys and sufferings were shared with the sisters because I knew how fervently they participated in these. In principle I told the first sisters of all events so that these could use these experiences if God would call them to be superiors.
When much bitterness came and I thought I would be crushed by worry and cares, I took my little niece Theresia Rinauer (later Sister Gonzaga), who came to me at age five as an orphan, with me to the chapel so that she could help me pray. How many tears were shed before the tabernacle are known to God alone. At night when I couldn’t sleep because of worry and pain I looked for comfort and help in the chapel. A glance at the crucifix which hangs in the chapel and the Sorrowful Mother strengthened me and then peace and resignation returned to my soul. This crucifix with the Sorrowful Mother was in our family for many years. We always had to say all our prayers before this crucifix, therefore I had it brought here as my dearest treasure.
God gave me from childhood a cheerful disposition. I treasure this as a special grace from the Lord. No matter how the storms blew, no one noticed it from the outside. The good God was visibly with us. We very often did not have even ten ‘Kreuzer’ in the house, but if a payment had to be made, the money also came at the right time. A hundred cases could be cited, all the sisters had an unlimited trust in our holy Father St. Joseph. He was and still is, after the Mother of the Lord, our best intercessor and protector. May this faith and this trust never become dormant among the sisters of the Congregation!"
Thus far we have the simple and yet eloquent words of Mother Franziska which have given us a glance into her noble heart and surely form a worthy conclusion to this chapter.
After successfully completing the journey to St. Georgental, Mother Franziska was greeted in a most friendly way at the station by the Pastor and Mrs. Wolf. After viewing the house, Mother Franziska came to an agreement with Mr. Wolf to first renovate it for the intended purpose since it was not in especially good condition. Mr. Wolf was very prepared to have this done. Upon his agreement to this, Mother Franziska, seeing how fervently the inhabitants of St. Georgental desired the opening of the planned institute, promised to send sisters as soon as the building was finished. She also thought that these, by a good education of the children with a firm foundation of instruction in the holy Faith, could limit the influence of the very widespread ‘Old Catholic’ sect in that populous region and so have a beautiful field of apostolic activity. For Mother Franziska, for whom the holy Faith was above everything else and whose greatest wish was to be able to save very many souls, this was the decisive reason for taking over the planned institute, even if various obstacles should present themselves. These did not fail to come, but Mother Franziska overcame them all with her determination’ and so, on July 25, 1874, the bill of sale in which Mr. Wolf gave the house to the Congregation for a nominal fee was signed. Mother Franziska had traveled again to St. Georgental to close this deal. After finishing the business involved in the purchase she went to Leitmeritz, the diocesan seat of St. Georgental to ask the Bishop to accept the Congregation there as well as to obtain permission to have a chapel and to have Holy Mass celebrated in the house at St. Georgental. This good shepherd received Mother Franziska kindly, agreed to her requests and to special protection for the Congregation and gave her and the new undertaking his blessing. Then Mother Franziska traveled on to Prague to obtain the civil permission for the foundation in St. Georgental and was received in a most friendly way by the Governor’s Assistant, von Adar. The request was most satisfactorily granted in a short time. After taking care of her affairs, Mother Franziska passed through Brunn, to their great joy, visiting the sisters there and then back to Vienna. On August 1 she sent the sisters to the new foundation and on the 31st of the same month she traveled there again herself to prepare for the dedication. The renovation was completed and so, after much effort and work, this celebration could be held on September 10. The inhabitants of St. Georgental participated enthusiastically. The day before they decorated the houses with wreaths and lighted the windows at night. After a Pontifical High Mass and moving sermon in the parish church there was a solemn procession to the convent which was dedicated in honor of the Queen of Angels. Thereafter the first Holy Mass was celebrated in the house chapel, at which the sisters received Holy Communion. The celebration concluded with the singing of the TE DEUM. Until evening the house was full of people who were very happy about the foundation by the sisters. As name for this new house Mother Franziska chose the one she had earlier wanted to give the Refuge in Breitenfurt, "Divine Providence". After all, she had great devotion to Divine Providence to which she completely handed over all her undertakings, but the action of Divine Providence was also wonderfully visible in the whole life of Mother Franziska and the success of her endeavors witnessed the truth of the saying: "Who trusts in God builds on sure ground."
On January 19, 1875 Mother Franziska again gave her permission to take over a foundation. Countess Festetics, by birth, Countess Zichy, had opened a Kindergarten and vocational school on her properties in Toponar in Hungary and turned to Mother Franziska to allow sisters to come and conduct the institute. Joyfully she grasped this opportunity to widen the field of the Congregation’s work and promised to send sisters to Toponar in the fall of the same year. On June 28 this was confirmed by contract.
In February of 1875 the Rev. Father Steiner resigned from his position as general director of Congregation. The loss of this deserving man so bound up with her noble work hurt Mother Franziska deeply. To get a substitute she asked the Reverend Monsignor Anton Horny, Cathedral Canon at St. Stephen’s in Vienna, on March 11, to take over this position. He gladly agreed, visited the Marienanstalt for the first time and expressed much praise of its arrangement and accepted on March 21. For many years Monsignor Horny filled this position as a blessing for the Congregation and, after the first approbation of the Constitutions by the Holy See when the post of General Director was dissolved he was appointed Vicar for the Congregation.
At the same time, to Mother Franziska ‘s great joy, the Congregation gained still another friend who, ever since, has worked with restless zeal for its welfare. This is Reverend Monsignor Friedrich Sixt, a priest of the St. Stephen’s Cathedral, who on March 15, 1873 took over the catechetical instruction of the pupils in the Vienna Marienanstalt and later, became confessor for the novices and still later for the professed sisters in the Mother House.
On April 20, 1875 Mother Franziska traveled with Sister Xaveria Egger to Paris to arrange some family business for Sister Augustina d’Armaille and at the same time to try to get permission to solicit in the French capitol. Mother Franziska and her companion had to endure much discomfort during the trip, especially suffering hunger and thirst because of the lack of money and they finally arrived in Paris without a cent. If Sister Augustina, who was already there, hadn’t picked them up at the station their situation would have been the worst imaginable. The efforts to obtain permission to solicit were, unfortunately, in vain. In order that the trip would not remain without profit for the Congregation, however, Mother Franziska visited various humanitarian institutes in Paris as well as in Strassburg on the way back, in order to learn how they were run. She was especially interested in the shelters for servants, though none of these met her expectations since none received the girls without charging for room and board, most charging them two Francs a day. This in no way satisfied Mother Franziska’s zealous love of neighbor. As on this trip, so otherwise, Mother Franziska liked to use the opportunities to visit charitable institutions to take what was good and practical to improve her own institutes. In general she used her trips to enrich her knowledge and experience and encouraged her spiritual daughters to do the same. She told these to buy maps and geography books on their collecting trips, to study them thoroughly, to visit the various places of interest, all for the purposes of learning something and to use that which was learned for the good of the Congregation. On such occasions she often said to the sisters, "Don’t travel like empty suitcases!" by which she meant, "thoughtlessly". One is immediately reminded of Mother Franziska’s father, who never allowed little Franzi to ride absentmindedly with him and we see the good fruits of his wisdom.
On the return trip from Paris Mother Franziska stayed one day in the orphanage of the School Sisters in Augsburg. There were her former teacher, Sister Margareta and many other sister acquaintances who had worked earlier in the convent in Munich. The sisters were very happy to see their former promising pupil, now a foundress of a religious Congregation, again, and not less, was the joy of Mother Franziska to be even a short time with her former teachers whom she so revered and of whom she always spoke with such respect.
June 16, 1875, the Feast of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, was a meaningful day for the Congregation as Mother Franziska, in union with the sisters in all the houses, consecrated the Congregation in a solemn way to the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus. Mother Franziska had a truly glowing devotion for this Most Sacred Heart as even the name she gave the Congregation demonstrates. He was the object of her most intimate love. In this Most Sacred Heart she placed all her cares and intentions, in Him she sought counsel and consolation and she believed firmly that a sister who did not honor the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus could not be a true Daughter of Divine Love. She designated the Feast of the Sacred Heart of Jesus as the main Feast of the Congregation and it is annually celebrated in the most solemn manner.
In August, 1875 Mother Franziska obtained Austrian citizenship. This news was in the Vienna newspapers on the 27th of the month. Following this many people expressed their recognition of the many good things which had already come about through her work. So her noble work attacked at the beginning by enemies from various sides, now, after a few years received general public praise.
September 22, 1875 was again a joyful day for Mother Franziska because of the dedication of the institute honoring the Mother of God under the name "Maria Schutz" (Mary’s protection) founded by Countess Festetics in Toponar and given over to the direction of our sisters. Of course Mother Franziska traveled to Toponar for this. At the conclusion of the celebration the house was presented to the sisters. Unfortunately Mother Franziska became so seriously ill in Toponar that she thought she would not see Vienna again. This led to the great dismay of the sisters, but with God’s help she recovered since the life work given her by the Lord was still a long way from completion.
On November 21, the foundation feast of the Congregation, the Reception and Profession took place as each year, but now for the first time in the solemn way according to the prescribed ecclesiastical ceremonial to the great joy of Mother Franziska and making a moving impression on all those present and participating. The candidates for Reception also wore white dresses for the first time. After the conclusion of the celebration those received were led into the novitiate and those sisters who had pronounced their holy vows were conducted into the professed sisters’ room. In front of the procession were three girls dressed in white, one carrying a palm and the other two with candles. On this day all the sisters received the office books with the imprimatur of the bishop, containing not only the Marian Office to be recited daily but also all the rest of the prayers customary in the Congregation. Previously the sisters had not had all the prayers used daily all together in one book and therefore were very happy about the new books.
Mother Franziska liked strong prayers, composed many of them herself or selected them with great care for the Congregation. She often reminded the sisters of the devotional and punctual recitation of the obligatory prayers and emphasized that these, because done in obedience, had far greater value than self-chosen personal devotions. She also liked to explain the Marian Office to the Sisters. She did this in such simple and yet enthusiastic words that thereafter all prayed with a redoubled zeal. On such occasions she usually let one sister after another read a psalm, asked what this or that verse meant, which psalm or which verse was preferred by the individual and such things. At that time the Office was prayed in German, not yet in Latin as later. Mother Franziska noted her favorite psalms as those which expressed praise to God or called upon creatures to do so, for example, the TE DEUM, the song of Praise of the Three Young Men in the Fiery Furnace: "Praise the Lord, all you works of the Lord", etc., the Psalms 148, "Praise the Lord in the Highest Heaven", 149, "Sing a new song unto the Lord", 150, "Praise the Lord in His Holy Ones" among others. She also strictly insisted that prayer in choir be beautiful, in the correct even tempo, and exactly according to the prescribed ceremonial regulations. She did not tolerate a careless attitude at prayer, leaning on one’s arms and so on, neither did she accept an exaggerated piety. Her own piety was simple, without singularity, but deep, and this is what she expected of the sisters, and encouraged them to strive for the same among their charges. As with prayer, so with the rest of the spiritual practices, Mother Franziska placed great value on their exact and punctual performance, feeling rightly that it is here that the sisters must take the spiritual nourishment needed for the exact fulfillment of the obligations of their vocation. She valued meditative prayer very highly and was very careful that this was explained to the candidates and novices so that they could become practiced in it. She often did this herself. In the same way, when it was possible, Mother Franziska herself gave the spiritual reading to the sisters and candidates and in later years, when her time was much taken up by the constantly growing Congregation, she often held a so-called "reading without book". She usually read one or other point of the Holy Rule or a few sentences from a book appropriate for such reading and then began to explain that which had been read. At these times her extraordinary eloquence was a good help. She spoke fluently and easily, analyzed the point at hand with simple, clear words clarified it with examples, usually taken from her own experience, pointed out failures that had come about and showed how these could be avoided in the future. Such a reading said more to the sisters than many of the most beautiful thoughts found in a book, since Mother Franziska knew exactly how to touch the spiritual needs of her daughters and, as the saying goes, "What comes from the heart reaches hearts".
On special occasions, such as in Holy Week Or after times of especially distracting work as, for example, is caused by the renovation of a house, Mother Franziska liked to lead for this or other house or also for the candidates, a three day spiritual renewal or so-called "little retreat". As a foundation for this she used excerpts from the book of Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius Loyola, which consisted of loose pages, each one containing a meditation. These were not fully written, but gave only single points which the person meditating herself filled in. She jokingly called these pages her "wisdom sheets". She slowly read out the points and then completed them as she let her own thoughts intermingle with them. She did this with such warmth that all who listened felt themselves touched and at the same time became convinced about their spiritual Mother’s familiarity with meditative prayer and the intimate communion she experienced with God therein. In using these she knew, as with the spiritual readings, how to touch the needs of her children. She matched her conference and her words entirely to the meditation. These last were sometimes terrifyingly serious during the meditations about the goal and end of the human person, sin, death, judgment and hell, encouraging in considering the divine mercy, enthusiastic when she spoke of heaven, the call to religious life, working for the glory of God and salvation of neighbor. The sisters liked best to hear the meditation about the sufferings of Christ, since she knew how to present this with such warmth in the most glorious light of the love of the Savior, that no heart could remain untouched. After all, she had a most fervent devotion to the sufferings of the divine Bridegroom. The sisters and candidates always came from these little retreats inflamed with a new zeal and the best resolutions.
On February 15, 1876 during a fall in the hallway in the Mother House Mother Franziska seriously injured a hand and had to wear it in a sling for a long time, though she didn’t allow this accident to greatly interrupt her restless activity and, since she could not work with her hand, her restless spirit worked all the more. The Vienna Marienanstalt had long ago proved to be too small for all the unemployed servant girls and the pupils who were registered for acceptance. At the celebrations for Reception and Profession also, which were always attended by many relatives of the sisters, the lack of space made itself felt and so Mother Franziska thought about enlarging the house through an addition in the garden. Since the poor Congregation had no means for this, she decided to turn to the Emperor, Franz Joseph I, with a respectful petition to assign a sum from the income of the State Welfare Lottery. She requested an audience with His Majesty for this purpose. His Highness graciously received the request and Mother Franziska received 10,000 florins from the lottery for the planned addition. The cost estimate was 19,000, but the beginning was helped and for the rest Mother Franziska hoped in God’s continued help. So on April 3, 1876 she let the preparations begin and the cornerstone for the addition was laid on the 20th of the month. The Reverend Director, Dr. Horny gave the sermon on this occasion on the text: "If the Lord does not build the house, in vain do the builders labor". The Lord did build the house since Mother Franziska had placed Him in command as Master Builder by offering this up as she did every undertaking and the dedication of the wing could be held as early as September 11, 1876. Through this increased space Mother Franziska could now follow the impulse of her benevolent heart and open the doors of the house to more of the poor.
During the enlargement of the Mother House preparations were being made again to take over a new foundation. The Reverend Pastor Johann Kavulak in Berzencze in Hungary had the intention, using the capital carefully saved over long years, to found an educational institute. Since he had heard of the work of the Daughters of Divine Charity in Budapest, he went there to the superior, Sister Borgia Uri, and offered the Congregation the ownership and direction of the convent he would donate. When Mother Franziska heard of this she sent Sister Borgia to Berzencze on March 2, 1876 to get to know the situation there exactly. She reported to her that the house built by the Pastor would serve the purpose and it seemed to offer a beautiful field of work for the Congregation. Filled with the desire to work for the salvation of youth wherever the Congregation would be offered opportunity to do so, Mother Franziska gave her consent for accepting the institute to the Reverend Pastor Kavulak and sealed this in a contract with him on July 30, 1876. On September 22 she traveled to Berzencze for the dedication of the house which was held on the 24th. This was celebrated by the Most Reverend Auxiliary Bishop of Vesprem and the convent received the beautiful name, "The Divine Friend of Children". So now Mother Franziska had an additional foundation under her direction and this blossomed to her credit and the joy of the worthy pastor, later Monsignor, Kavulak. It contains an elementary school, vocational school and a kindergarten.
Mother Franziska never forgot the spiritual progress of her daughters during the visible development of the Congregation, but rather directed her efforts toward confirming them more and more in their religious life. Therefore, she entertained for a long time the thought of providing some substitute for the candidacy and novitiate that the circumstances of the time had not allowed to those sisters who had entered immediately after the foundation. In October, 1876 her plan was fulfilled in that Mother Franziska called the sisters concerned, twelve in number, together in the Refuge in Breitenfurt and had them begin a so-called Profession Novitiate. This was introduced by a retreat and the sisters had certain exercises to fulfill as novices must do. Mother Franziska spent as much time with them herself and gave them the necessary direction. This novitiate lasted four months and Mother Franziska had the joy of seeing that the sisters involved used this graced time given them very zealously. She would gladly have extended this to an entire year but it was impossible since the Sisters were needed in the various houses and for soliciting. Even so it was a great sacrifice to let them come to Breitenfurt for so long a time, but Mother Franziska wanted to bring this sacrifice because she knew well of the value of the novitiate and that the outwardly most glowing works of the Congregation would have no value and no endurance before God if at the same time there is no work done for the interior perfection and stability of the same. Mother Franziska considered it a holy obligation to provide them with the grace of a novitiate, since it was exactly these sisters who entered first who brought so many and so great sacrifices. Although much has already been told about the early years of the Congregation and the efforts and sacrifices involved, it will still be interesting to hear Mother Franziska’s own words, in the Chronicle of the Congregation in connection with the announcement concerning the Profession Novitiate. These are written down in 1884 as the events of the first years are once again and more thoroughly summarized. She says, "At the foundation of the Congregation during the first years, it was not possible to have a candidacy and novitiate and therefore those accepted could not be sufficiently evaluated. Also we could not be too selective in accepting those who really had enough courage and trust in God to enter a congregation whose continued existence was not yet assured! In this way some slipped in who were not really called and this was demonstrated only later. Therefore, in the early years some had to be dismissed. Those, however, who, filled with the best spirit, were called by God to help in this work, let nothing shake them in their holy vocation. Enough sufferings and persecutions came. Many told the sisters that the Congregation was not viable and would not endure; we had much opposition. The sisters, however, faithfully remained with me. It was a life of love in community. I comforted them by saying that God would surely help us and that our society would certainly become a religious congregation. For me the saying of Gamaliel was a constant comfort, ‘If it is God’s work no one can destroy it, if it is a human work it will fall apart of itself.’ The thought that no enemy could destroy the Congregation if God wanted it to exist strengthened me. I did as much as I could in my poverty to educate the sisters in the spiritual life and the purposes of the Congregation. I saw how concerned the sisters were to ennoble their hearts and spirits. When these arrived home, weary from soliciting, or worn out by some other work of the day, they still zealously studied, with an eagerness for knowledge like good children, catechism, Bible history, church history, geography etc. or also needlework. Spiritual counsels were accepted with joy. I did not have to give any command in a severe way, it was enough if I said, ‘I think this or that should be done or should be this way or that.’ I was very strict but the sisters knew that I loved them. The first sisters who helped with the foundation, tired themselves day and night and undertook the most difficult trips in order to prove themselves useful to the Congregation. How often the rail compartment was our dormitory, how often we wrote the whole night through to make the changes in the Statutes, to write soliciting letters, etc. It was a life of sacrifice and yet we did everything gladly. It was all meant to establish our dear Congregation or to win benefactors for it. All joys and sufferings were shared with the sisters because I knew how fervently they participated in these. In principle I told the first sisters of all events so that these could use these experiences if God would call them to be superiors.
When much bitterness came and I thought I would be crushed by worry and cares, I took my little niece Theresia Rinauer (later Sister Gonzaga), who came to me at age five as an orphan, with me to the chapel so that she could help me pray. How many tears were shed before the tabernacle are known to God alone. At night when I couldn’t sleep because of worry and pain I looked for comfort and help in the chapel. A glance at the crucifix which hangs in the chapel and the Sorrowful Mother strengthened me and then peace and resignation returned to my soul. This crucifix with the Sorrowful Mother was in our family for many years. We always had to say all our prayers before this crucifix, therefore I had it brought here as my dearest treasure.
God gave me from childhood a cheerful disposition. I treasure this as a special grace from the Lord. No matter how the storms blew, no one noticed it from the outside. The good God was visibly with us. We very often did not have even ten ‘Kreuzer’ in the house, but if a payment had to be made, the money also came at the right time. A hundred cases could be cited, all the sisters had an unlimited trust in our holy Father St. Joseph. He was and still is, after the Mother of the Lord, our best intercessor and protector. May this faith and this trust never become dormant among the sisters of the Congregation!"
Thus far we have the simple and yet eloquent words of Mother Franziska which have given us a glance into her noble heart and surely form a worthy conclusion to this chapter.
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