Loved by the Father
Sent by the Son
to live in the Spirit
In 1833 a little girl was born in a small Bavarian village near the market town of Wasserburg/Inn. The day after she was taken across the street and Baptised with the name Franziska in the village church. She was strongly influenced by the piety of her culture and recognized that God was her loving heavenly Father. When she was old enough to attend Mass she absorbed every word of the hymns and the homilies. A born leader, she chose to “play church” and had a circle of willing companions whom she taught and questioned from the pulpit of a tree branch. She also played at religious life because she was familiar with Monks who came to beg among the farmers. Scraps of cloth became habits and odd bricks built little monasteries.
From the time she was introduced to the Eucharistic Christ, she felt a call to fashion her life according to God’s will. She made a pilgrimage to a famous Marian shrine at Altoetting where the call became more precise. She asked her parents to give her an education. The only thing available to a woman of her state was to become an instructor of needlework. She joined two religious communities but still felt that her life was for a different road. She joined a priest who wanted to provide education for poor country women and this became a hospital and school in Switzerland. Again there was disappointment and doubt along with physical weakness. After a directed retreat she found herself alone in a small apartment in Vienna. In desolation she turned once again to the Lord to lead her. Soon she received approval for the outline of a Congregation to offer help, education, security and spiritual guidance to the thousands of country girls all over Europe who were coming to the big cities to serve as maids in the houses of the wealthy. These girls were often lost for lack of advocacy and education in the ways of independent and dignified living. Through many struggles she attracted followers and soon her Congregation was known even to the Emperor who asked her to work in the cities of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Famous St. Mary’s Homes were founded in the great cities and even schools in the newly acquired lands of the Balkans.
The story begins a significant new chapter when a little girl is born in Venice, Italy of a German father and Italian mother. The girl who became Mother Kostka Bauer was born in 1870 and baptized in the cathedral at Venice. Her father wanted her to be shaped by the German-Austrian culture and so sent her as a boarder to a school in St. Andre where she met the sisters of the young Congregation. The Foundress passed away in 1894, so little Olympia as she was called, had a real connection to the roots. She felt a call, but wanted to enter only if she could become the superior general. What seemed unrealistic childhood ambition was really a symptom of someone who would not live by half measures. She entered the congregation and as Sister M. Kostka, was assigned to a school in Hungary and then as directress of novices. Gradually she shared her own spirit with those she was forming and a missionary dream evolved. They would go to America. Immigrants from countries with a dominantly Catholic culture would be thrust into a diverse society and all the problems associated with poverty in the big city ghettos. They needed care for body and soul. In time this proved to be God’s will as the superiors gave their approval and a small group came to New York City in 1913, They started with the hospitality of a good Hungarian woman and gradually found a house of their own which took in servant girls and continued the original work of the sisters. As the American foundation grew pastors began to ask for sisters to come as catechists and eventually as struggles she attracted followers and soon her Congregation was known even to the Emperor who asked her to work in the cities of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Famous St. Mary’s Homes were founded in the great cities and even schools in the newly acquired lands of the Balkans.
Mother Kostka was elected General Superior but became trapped by World War II. She suffered greatly because the unity of the Congregation was so important to her and she could not contact the sisters who were now in many places in Europe and even South America. In God’s plan suffering is never an obstacle to but rather a seed for good. She was here to nurture the growth and spread of the congregation to many parishes and finally to give her life and to rest here on Staten Island in St. Mary’s cemetery.
Mother Kostka was elected General Superior but became trapped by World War II. She suffered greatly because the unity of the Congregation was so important to her and she could not contact the sisters who were now in many places in Europe and even South America. In God’s plan suffering is never an obstacle to but rather a seed for good. She was here to nurture the growth and spread of the congregation to many parishes and finally to give her life and to rest here on Staten Island in St. Mary’s cemetery.
The missionary spirit continues today as new foundations are made in Africa, Bolivia, Argentina, and in the countries recently freed from Communism. The Congregation is today divided into ten provinces with convents and ministries in 15 countries.where over a thousand sisters are living to “…do good, give joy, make happy and lead to Heaven…”
The Emblem symbolizes the inner life of the Blessed Trinity, the source and model of love in community and service of the Daughters of Divine Charity.
