Who We Are
HISTORY OF THE MISSIONARY BENEDICTINE SISTERS OF TUTZING
The Foundation of the Congregation of Sisters
Father Andreas Amrhein thought also of female missionaries. Of “The Seven Fundamental Thoughts, ” the sixth reads as follows:
…Our missions necessarily have to take care of the conversion of pagan women and the Christian education of the girls, born in paganism…However, the education and training of girls and women cannot and may not be the task and training of priests and brothers. That duty will be better and more becomingly accomplished by Missionary Sisters.
Father Andreas Amrhein then invoked history:
Also the Benedictine apostles of old knew and observed that principle. St. Boniface, for example, made his sister Lioba to found within the proximity of his mission monastery a cloister for Benedictine nuns. For the same purpose, the monastery of St. Walburga at Eichstatt in the mission territory of St. Willibald, came into being.
OUR FOUNDER
FATHER ANDREAS AMRHEIN, OSB
By Sister Mary Bellarmine Bernas, OSB
(Summarized from Sustained by God’s Faithfulness
by Sister Bernita Walter, OSB)
“To be a monk and a missionary; to profess to live according to the Rule of St. Benedict and spend a life in the foreign missions; to combine monastic life with apostolic activity.”
These were the seemingly contradictory elements of the ideal Benedictine and missionary life that was the persistent and consuming desire of Josef Andreas Amrhein for many years. At a time when monasticism in Europe meant prayer and work exclusively within the monastery and a missionary vocation precluded a monastic base, Father Amrhein’s vision of a monastic life combined with missionary engagement was understandably difficult to accept by his superiors.
Joseph George Amrhein was born on the 4th of February, 1844 in Beromuster, Canton Luzern, Switzerland. He entered the Beuron Abbey in July 1870 and professed as Fr. Andreas on December 25, 1871. He was ordained priest in July 1872.
In 1884, he founded a mission house in Reichenbach, Oberpfalz, Diocese of Regensburg. He governed both the men’s and women’s branches of the Congregation of St. Ottilien until his resignation from office in January 1896.
He died on December 29, 1927.
Please find the link below to access the full story:
OUR CHARISM
The Fundamental characteristic of our way of life is seeking God in community, under a rule and a superior.
HISTORY OF THE MANILA PRIORY
“In Spirit I see our Sisters spread out in great numbers over the Philippines, laboring in many houses for the greater honor of God and the salvation of immortal souls.” Mother Birgitta Korff, OSB
The St. Scholastica’s Priory was founded in 1906 on the arrival of the first five Missionary Benedictine Sisters on September 14 of that year. The sisters were sent from the Motherhouse in Tutzing, Germany by Mother Birgitta Korff, the first Prioress General.
PIONEERS
On September 14, 1906, the Feast of the Exaltation of the Cross, five German Sisters arrived in the Philippines. They were Mother Ferdinanda Hoelzer, OSB, Sister Petronilla Keller, OSB, Sister Crescentia Veser, OSB, Sister Winfrieda Mueller, OSB and Novice Alexia Reudenauer, OSB. They were invited by the Apostolic Delegate for the Philippines, Dom Ambrosius Agius, OSB, to assist in the religious education of the youth.
Please find the link below to read more about our Manila Priory History:
A Brief History of the Missionary Benedictine Sisters in the Philippines 1906 – 2006 (Part I)