After the celebration of Holy Mass in which the postulants received Holy Communion, the celebrant Dean Goerdes gave a brief talk. Thereafter, he asked, “Dear daughters, what is your desire?” The nine postulants answered, “We desire to be admitted to the novitiate of the Sisters of St. Francis.” The celebrant asked further, “What is your purpose in desiring this admission?” The answer: “We cherish the wish to perfect ourselves more and more in this way of life to be able to serve God and the Congregation of the Sisters of St. Francis more intimately and to become more serviceable to our neighbor through prayer and good works.” Thereupon the celebrant continued: “Let us, dear daughters, plead in prayer that God ratify your purpose and bless it.” The singing of the Litany of All Saints followed during which the postulants lay prone. After the invocation Veni Creator, the postulants approached the altar singly while the choir sang Jesu Corona Virginum. After this, each in turn had her hair cut, and she received the blessed religious habit. All clothed in the habit returned to the chapel and again approached the altar. The celebrant read the list:
In order to remind you that from now on your whole way of life must be new since you have died to the world and live only for Christ, you shall receive a new name today. Thus:
Miss Clara Pfaender shall be known as: Sister Maria Clara of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary.
Miss Aline Bonzel shall be known as: Sister Maria Theresia of the Blessed Sacrament,
Miss Regina Loeser shall be known as: Sister Maria Antonia of the Immaculate Conception,
Miss Fredericka Boehmer shall be known as: Sister Maria Franziska of the Five Holy Wounds,
Miss Theresia Eisenbach shall be known as: Sister Maria Magdalena of the Precious Blood,
Miss Lisette Pfaender shall be known as: Sister Maria Agnes of the Sweet Name of Jesus,
Miss Luise Drexelius shall be known as: Sister Maria Josepha,
Miss Anna Marie Clemens shall be known as: Sister Maria Margaretha,
Miss Regina Wurm shall be known as: Sister Maria Gertrudis.
(The three last named were invested as lay sisters; the first six, as choir sisters. Mother Maria Theresia abolished the institute of lay Sisters immediately after the separation of the congregation.)
After each Sister was crowned with a wreath of flowers, benediction with the Most Blessed Sacrament was given. The Sisters were then conducted to their convent. There Dean Goerdes announced that Sister Clara had been appointed as superior by the bishop for a period of two years. Thus a new congregation had in reality been brought into being. The Sisters approached their superior and kissed her hand as a sign of willing obedience. The remainder of the day they passed in quiet and recollection. No visitors were permitted lest the tranquility be disturbed. The work had begun. Perhaps in the stillness throughout the convent the motto that Dean Goerdes gave them at the opening talk that morning burned itself into their souls: “Leave all to God! If this work is of God, it will endure; if it is not of God, it will of itself fall into ruin.”
In the December 10, 1860, letter giving permission for investiture, the bishop also wrote:
In virtue of the faculty granted me by the Holy See, I will allow the congregation to have a private oratory (provisional for one year) and permit the Blessed Sacrament to be preserved in this oratory with the stipulation that a perpetual light be kept burning, the key of the tabernacle be in the custody of a priest, and that Holy Mass be celebrated in the oratory at least three times a week.
It is significant for a religious community, at its very beginning, to be permitted to have the Blessed Sacrament preserved in its midst and Holy Mass celebrated in the convent oratory. Thereby a community is given a real heart center. That is probably the reason why the Sisters wished to spend the remainder of investiture day in quiet and recollection. They wished to prepare themselves for the following day, December 21, when Holy Mass would be celebrated for the first time within their convent home.
Mother Maria Theresia gives a graphic account of the significance of this day in a later chronicle:
The next morning, the feast of St. Thomas Apostle, Holy Mass was celebrated for the first time in the beautifully decorated chapel and the Blessed Sacrament was placed in the tabernacle for adoration. Touching and festive was the singing of the Sisters. Their desire and yearning rose ever higher and higher manifesting itself in sobbing as at the Sanctus the hymn, When Will You Come, My Redeemer was intoned — no heart remained untouched — no eye dry, when at the consecration the tremulous voices of the Sisters began: Welcome, Consolation of the Devout, You Sweet Jesus. After the Communion of the priest, the Sisters received Holy Communion. Filled with joy and gratitude to God, their Savior in their hearts, the Sisters began the Perpetual Adoration of the Most Blessed Sacrament in hourly rotation, day and night, after Holy Mass. Adoration is the chief objective of the congregation.
And this last paragraph added later to the chronicle — “Adoration is the chief objective of the congregation” — has a very special significance. One of the main objectives was attained in the Perpetual Adoration to which the congregation had pledged itself. It had now begun. After the investiture this was their most important accomplishment. The care of the orphans had started earlier. Now as it were, the crowning of the whole was acknowledged. Everyday life according to their high ideals had now begun.
Chapter IV
The Way of the Cross Begins
It is seemingly a law in religious life that everyone who is called by God to follow him in a special way must first walk the way of the cross. To mature life to its fullest, he must pass the test of perseverance by enduring sorrows and hardships of various descriptions. What can be said of the individual can also be said of the congregation as a unit. In the latter instance this manifests itself strongly and forcefully. Upon perusing the list of founders and foundresses one sees this verified always and ever again. Each congregation must first walk the way of the cross before it can see its way clearly into the future. According to human judgment many founders and foundresses became frustrated in their work. Many who began a congregation were later removed from the leadership of that congregation and were forced into public disgrace that through humiliation they might contribute more effectively to the growth of the congregation. But also in other situations, where such was not the case, the cross in the first years stood in grim seriousness and willed to be borne.
The new foundation in Olpe proved no exception to the rule. Here also the cross made its appearance and that at an early hour. Even before the first Sisters were invested with the religious habit, thoughts as to whether Olpe was really a favorable place for the foundation of an active charitable congregation began to rise to the surface. Bishop Konrad Martin had written to Dean Goerdes on November 20, 1860, as follows:
I have learned from a reliable source that the town of Olpe is not an appropriate place for the foundation of a Franciscan congregation nor for an orphanage, and that Elspe would be far more suitable for both institutions. Will Your Reverence please examine and weigh the situation with Rev. Hengstebeck, the parish priest in Elspe, and then report to me?
The Dean accordingly made the contacts and found the house in Olpe roomy and uninhabited at the time. But plans to move into this house did not materialize.
On the other hand it was evident because of its rapid growth that the congregation needed territory that could