Bavarian Parishoners Visit FSE Centers

September 12, 2000. Lowell, Michigan & Meriden, Connecticut.

Father Manfred Krumm and several parishoners from Ettenbeuren, Bavaria, are visiting the Franciscan Sisters of the Eucharist in Lowell and Meriden this month. Father Krumm's friendship with the community started years ago when he, as a young boy, met Mother Rose Kreibich, Mother General of the Franciscan Sisters of Perpetual Adoration at his home parish, Our Lady of the Assumption in Ettenbeuren, Bavaria. Mother Rose was the first FSPA Mother General to return to Ettenbeuren, the hometown of the original foundresses and founders of the order.

In 1849 a small group of Franciscan Tertiary men and women left the Bavarian parish with their pastors to serve the German immigrants in Wisconsin. From this beginning, the Franciscan Sisters of Perpetual Adoration, La Crosse, Wisconsin, was established and subsequently, the Sisters of St. Francis of Assisi, Milwaukee. From the Franciscan Sisters of Perpetual Adoration, the Franciscan Sisters of the Eucharist was founded in 1973. The three Franciscan communities celebrated their common roots in 1999, 150 years from the date of the original founding.

Over the years, Father Krumm has continued to relate to the three Franciscan orders and participated in the celebrations of the 150th anniversary. He has brought a number of parishoners to the United States to meet members of the three communities.