Franciscan Sisters of Christian Charity are proud to announce that a book on our early Sisters who emigrated from Germany was recently published in Germany. On May 7, 2026, the author, Dr. Uwe Scharfenecker, was in Gieboldehausen to present the book about these brave women who were School Sisters of St. Francis. In the audience included Dr. Thomas Scharf-Wrede, the director of the diocesan archives, and Canon Thomas Berkefeld, the pastor of Duderstadt and “senior clergyman” of the Untereichsfeld region. Later the next day, they visited the Upper Eichsfeld, where School Sisters were also founded in Heiligenstadt in 1861 and are still active there today. Watch for a future English translation of the book.
Franciscan Sisters of Christian Chairty Archivist Sister Caritas Strodthoff and assistant Sister Sue Ann Hall stand near photos of Mother Augustine Leineweber and Mother Pancratia Rokar who emigrated from Germany in 1885 and whose story is recounted in a newly published German volume.
Find the book cover summary below. Franciscan Sister of Christian Charity Sister Anna Maar translates the text.
“Forced by Bismarck’s *Kulturkampf*, the School Sisters of Gieboldehausen emigrated to America in 1875 and 1876, finding a new home in Wisconsin. This marked the end of the history of a community of Franciscan Sisters-founded in the 1850’s-that was dedicated to the education of girls within the Diocese of Hildesheim. Prior to this, one branch house after another had been established with the aim of fostering the development of young people, in the spirit of the Gospel and following the Franciscan model. There had been due lack of support from the Diocese, nor did the state, at least initially, overlook the substantial contribution the sisters made to social progress. The struggle against the Church-which Prussia instigated in the 1870’s-deprived both the state and the Church in Germany of the contributions of female religious orders in the fields of education and upbringing. In contrast, the United States offered these Sisters almost limitless opportunities to continue their educational work. Against the backdrop of the social and ecclesiastical conditions prevailing in the Diocese of Hildesheim and in the New World, this volume rescues from oblivion the work of women who risked their health and ultimately turned their backs o their homeland to dedicate themselves-unreservedly and in the footsteps of Jesus-to the future of children and adolescents.”
On May 7, 2026, the author, Dr. Uwe Scharfenecker, was in Gieboldehausen to present the book about these brave women who were School Sisters of St. Francis and became Franciscan Sisters of Christian Charity in America.
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