Founder, Sisters of St Francis of Perpetual Adoration (1830–1905)
Born in Germany to a deeply religious family, Regina Christine Wilhelmine Bonzel felt an early call to religious life. “On the day of my First Holy Communion,” she recalled, “I was unspeakably happy. . . . Without really knowing what I was saying, I repeated over and over again, ‘O Lord, I am your victim, accept me as your victim; do not reject me.’ ”
Though her mother initially refused to allow her to enter a religious order, on turning twenty-one she entered the Third Order of St. Francis. With a group of friends, she embarked on a life of service to orphans. Eventually they were recognized as a new congregation, the Sisters of St. Francis of Perpetual Adoration, for which she became superior, taking the name Maria Theresia of the Blessed Sacrament. As new members arrived, the order established a series of schools, hospitals, and orphanages. She was determined that her sisters embrace the spirit of poverty, humility, and charity.
During the Franco-Prussian War, Mother Maria’s sisters cared for over 800 wounded soldiers. Yet after the war, the government instituted a series of harsh anti-Catholic measures known as the Kulturkampf. Severe restrictions were placed on all religious congregations, and the sisters were forbidden to accept new members. Mother Maria responded by sending sisters to Indiana in the United States. She herself accompanied the first six missionaries in 1875 and returned twice more to oversee their expanding work. Mother Maria died on February 6, 1905. She was beatified in 2013.
“All as God wishes. He leads, I follow.”
—Blessed Maria Theresia Bonzel
