{"id":6384,"date":"2025-06-04T17:00:10","date_gmt":"2025-06-04T15:00:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/generalat-hsosf.de\/?p=6384"},"modified":"2025-06-04T17:03:20","modified_gmt":"2025-06-04T15:03:20","slug":"pilgrims-of-hope-5-peace","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/generalat-hsosf.de\/en\/pilgrims-of-hope-5-peace\/","title":{"rendered":"Pilgrims of Hope (5): Peace"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"<\/span>
\n

<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Pilgrims of Hope (5): Peace<\/h1>\n\n\n\n

The series \u201cPilgrims of Hope\u201d 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 \u201cKirche und Leben\u201d (\u201cChurch+Life\u201d). Our topic in Mai: Hope for Peace.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

On May 8, 2025, the German Bundestag held a memorial service to commemorate the end of World War II and the liberation from National Socialism 80 years ago. Back then, in 1945, peace finally returned to Europe. However, this peace did not last until the memorial service.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On the same day, Robert Francis Prevost was elected the 267th Pontifex of 1.4 billion Catholics worldwide. The first words he spoke as Pope Leo XIV were: \u201cPeace be with you all!\u201d In fact, \u201cpeace\u201d was a key word in his speech, and since then many have hoped that he, as the \u201cPope of Peace,\u201d will help end the current wars and overcome the major crises in the world.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

War and peace have always been among the most pressing issues in human history. St. Francis of Assisi, the patron saint of our Congregation, took part in a war against the neighboring city of Perugia in 1202 and spent more than a year as a prisoner of war in a dungeon. He returned to Assisi a sick and broken man and changed his life: he renounced all his worldly possessions and turned to God, and to the poor and marginalized. Peace between people, nations, and religions became an important concern for him: in 1219, Francis traveled to Palestine as a missionary and joined the Crusaders. Hoping to bring peace, he preached in the camp of the Muslim army before Sultan Al-Kamil. Unfortunately, his hope was not fulfilled.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Many of our Sisters can also tell of war experiences that have influenced their lives. This is also true of Sister M. Manuela Musholt, who was born in February 1940 on a small farm in Gescher-Estern as the eleventh of 15 children.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

\u201cMy two oldest brothers were taken from the farm shortly before the end of the war and sent to the front when they were 17 and 16 years old,\u201d she reports. \u201cThey were missing for four years before returning sick and traumatized from captivity in Siberia on Christmas Day 1949.\u201d Sister Manuela remembers the nights toward the end of the war when all the windows were blacked out in the evening and the sound of Allied bombers flying over the house. \u201cWe prayed a lot during those nights,\u201d she says, \u201cfor our brothers at the front, for our whole family, and for peace for all.\u201d Religious life was always very important in her family. Sister Manuela developed an early desire to serve God, and the people\u2014as a nurse. So, at the age of 19, she joined the Hospital Sisters of St. Francis and began her nursing training in the hospital during her novitiate.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

After many years working as a nurse as well as in occupational therapy and later in the Provincial Administration of the German Province, Sister Manuela has been looking after the museum in the Motherhouse of the Hospital Sisters since 2018. Here, visitors can also learn about the many Sisters who served in military hospitals \u2013 first in the German-Danish War of 1864, just 20 years after the Congregation was founded. Thirty-four sisters from M\u00fcnster cared for the war wounded in the Austrian army’s military hospitals in Schleswig-Holstein in the North of Germany. As a token of gratitude, the then Mother Superior received a chasuble from the Austrian imperial couple, which now attracts many visitors to the museum as \u201cSissi’s chasuble.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The sisters also served in military hospitals during the wars of 1866 and 1870\/71, as well as in both World Wars, both on the front lines and in the hospitals and convents of the Congregation where military hospitals had been set up. They were called upon to do so by the Red Cross, among others. Many Sisters received medals and awards for their work, and quite a few died side by side with the wounded they cared for.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n
\"\"
Longuyon, France, 1917<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"
Our Sisters in the operating theatre during WWI<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"
St. Quentin, France<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The old photos in the museum clearly show the suffering and inhumanity of war. \u201cBoth as nurses and as Franciscan Sisters, we will always be advocates of peace,\u201d says Sister Manuela. This is entirely in keeping with the spirit of St. Francis, whose greeting unites us: \u201cPace e bene,\u201d peace and all good.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

By Sister M. Margarete Ulager and Claudia Berghorn<\/em> <\/p>\n\n\n\n

This article was published in German, online and in print, in the Diocese of Muenster’s magazine, “Kirche+Leben” (Church+Life)<\/a>, in Mai 2025.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n
\n
<\/div>\n\n\n\n
\n
Back to overview<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
\n
\n

You might also be interested in:<\/h2>\n\n\n
\n
\n\t
\n\t\t
\n\t\t\t\"Visual\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t<\/div>\n\t\t
\n\t\t\t\n
\n\n\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\n
\n\t
\n\t\t\t\n\t\n\t\t