P. Lothar Hardick, O.F.M.

He Leads, I Follow


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       He Leads, I Follow

      The Life of Mother Maria Theresia Bonzel

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       He Leads, I Follow

      The Life of Mother Maria Theresia Bonzel

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      Foundress of the Sisters of St. Francis of Perpetual Adoration

      P. Lothar Hardick, O.F.M.

      Translated from the German by Sister M. Honora Hau, O.S.F. and Sister M. Clarahilda Fischer, O.S.F.

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       www.osv.com

      Our Sunday Visitor Publishing Division

      Our Sunday Visitor, Inc.

      Huntington, Indiana 46750

       Nihil Obstat

      John A. Schulien

       Censor Librorum

       Imprimatur

      image William E. Cousins

      Archbishop of Milwaukee

      March, 25, 1971

      The Nihil Obstat and Imprimatur are official declarations that a book is free from doctrinal or moral error. It is not implied that those who have granted the Nihil Obstat and Imprimatur agree with the contents, opinions, or statements expressed.

      Copyright © 2018, 1971 Sisters of St. Francis of Perpetual Adoration. Published 2018.

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      All rights reserved. With the exception of short excerpts for critical reviews, no part of this work may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means whatsoever without permission from the publisher. For more information, visit: www.osv.com/permissions.

      Our Sunday Visitor Publishing Division

      Our Sunday Visitor, Inc.

      200 Noll Plaza

      Huntington, IN 46750

      1-800-348-2440

      ISBN: 978-1-68192-272-0 (Inventory No. T1960

      eISBN: 978-1-68192-273-7

      LCCN: 2018930279

      Cover design: Lindsey Riesen

      Photos: courtesy Sisters of St. Francis of Perpetual Adoration

      Printed in the United States of America

       Contents

       Foreword

       Chapter I The Years of Childhood

       Chapter II Maturing of Vocation

       Chapter III New Beginnings

       Chapter IV The Way of the Cross Begins

       Chapter V Compelled into Her Characteristic Way of Life

       Chapter VI With the Blessing of God

       Chapter VII The Kulturkampf

       Chapter VIII North America

       Chapter IX New Developments in the Homeland

       Chapter X Again Anew to America

       Chapter XI Superior General

       Chapter XII Motherhouse in Olpe

       Chapter XIII “She was Mother to Us”

       Chapter XIV Loyal Daughter of Saint Francis and Holy Church

       Chapter XV Blessed Passing

       Afterword

       Index

       Foreword

      His Excellency Archbishop of Paderborn, Dr. Lorenz Jaeger, in the preface of his festive talk celebrating the centenary of the Congregation of the Sisters of St. Francis of Perpetual Adoration in Olpe, wrote: “We hope confidently this jubilee year 1963 will give us a new and comprehensive biography of the life and works of Mother Maria Theresia.” Unfortunately, this wish, expressed also by many others, could not possibly be accomplished during the jubilee year of the Community. A biography of this nature above all demands a progressive development through research to discover the greatness and value unsurmised at first. Whoever wishes to write such a biography must first allow himself to be led by the person whose life he wishes to portray. He must learn to really love that person to be able to place himself into his life and thinking. Only then can he attempt to delineate this life for others and awaken in them a like love and respect. Therefore this book should not be written hurriedly but with ever renewed, though time-consuming, examination of the sources.

      An attempt was made not to write so much of the various periods and problems of Mother Maria Theresia’s life, but to let her own words speak as far as possible. One could select words ever so honorable and pleasing regarding her heroic endurance, her quiet patience, her maternal goodness, but these, however, would be the words of another. Consequently, they are not so valuable as her own. In her modest and unassuming manner, her own words disclose all. In using this method there is hope that her life will draw the reader close to Mother Maria Theresia.

      Her own writings constitute the most valuable source material of her life. From her hand we have the following:

      a. Records relative to the beginning of the Community. These are characterized by extreme poverty and are displayed in a small notebook of 116 pages of which only pages 3-35