Pilgrims of Hope (4): Renewal

The series “Pilgrims of Hope” is a monthly spiritual contribution to the Holy Year – a collaboration between the international Generalate of the Hospital Sisters of St Francis and the Muenster-based German church publication “Kirche und Leben” (“Church+Life”). Our topic in March: Hope for Renewal.

In the cycle of nature, April is a month of renewal: finally, the days are getting longer again, and every year, we can enjoy the bright yellow of the daffodils and the delicate green of the first leaves.

Our church year also follows a cycle of growth and decay, which culminates in the Holy Week. Here, death and renewal are particularly close together. The good news is that Jesus’ death on the cross is not the end, but the prerequisite for a new beginning, for Resurrection. Every year, this Easter message strengthens our faith, and our hope that a new beginning, that renewal is possible.

Our patron, St. Francis of Assisi, who had a particularly close relationship with nature, was also convinced of this. In 1225, when he was already terminally ill, Francis wrote his hymn of praise to God’s creation, the “Canticle of the Creatures,” known to many as “Laudato Si.” This year, 2025, the Franciscan family celebrates the 800th anniversary of this important work.

At a time when the word “sustainability” was still a long way from being invented, Francis lived in true harmony with nature. In his “Canticle of the Creatures,” he thanked God for his creation. Full of respect and at the same time very intimately, he speaks of the sun, the moon and the elements as his “brothers and sisters”, and he is not afraid of “Brother Death,” who is, after all, a natural part of the cycle called life. In 1979, Pope John Paul II named St. Francis the patron saint of environmental protection and ecology.

St. Francis’ way of life would also be described as “sustainable” today: He renounced personal possessions and consumption, and only had the bare necessities for life – a conscious restriction that set him free to serve God and humanity.

As Franciscan Sisters, we have based our lives on these principles of St. Francis since the founding of our religious community in 1844. When we entered the Congregation, we vowed to live in “poverty, celibacy, and obedience.” In the past, this also meant that the Congregation lived as self-sufficiently as possible, and in harmony with nature: Until well after World War II, our Motherhouse in Muenster also comprised a farm; we Sisters ran a nursery and a bakery, our own wash house and a large kitchen, which we used to feed not only ourselves but also the patients at St. Francis Hospital and many people in need.

This has changed step by step, but we remain self-sufficient in one area: In our German Motherhouse, we run a tailor’s workshop where the clothes and veils for all the Sisters of the German Province and the General Administration are made to measure.

Sister M. Pankratia Stuewe has been working here since 1976. She turned 86 in February and celebrated her 60th anniversary last year. “We currently dress about 250 Sisters,” Sister Pankratia says. Like all the Sisters in the past, she originally trained as a nurse and worked in nursing for several years. But when help was needed in the tailor’s workshop, Sister Pankratia changed her place of work and learned the tailoring trade from scratch from her fellow Sisters. Today, she works with two bespoke tailors and specializes in sewing and adjusting the Sisters’ habits and veils. In her almost 50 years of service, she has only seen the Sisters’ clothing change twice – most recently in 1989. “The dress is much more practical than the former habit,” she explains. All the fabrics are robust and durable. For the veil, we Sisters can choose between a festive black and a white model, and the dress is available in four colors: anthracite or light gray for everyday wear, black for festive occasions and Church Holidays, and white for work. This means that we are always dressed appropriately. What more could a woman want?

Sustainable clothing, sustainably produced: We have been using renewable energy since 2022, when 690 solar modules installed on 1316 square meters of roof space. This photovoltaic system covers more than half of the energy requirements of our mother house and saves 122 tons of CO2 annually. St. Francis would certainly approve of that. And of the view of the roof of our Motherhouse Church in the dark: the solar panels form a cross shape that is illuminated by LEDs at night. And this shining cross reminds us again and again of God, the source of our faith, and of our hope for renewal.

By Sister M. Diethilde Boevingloh and Claudia Berghorn

This article was published in German, online and in print, in the Diocese of Muenster’s magazine, “Kirche+Leben” (Church+Life), in April 2025.