Site Design by
ETC
|
|
 |
Our Foundation
 Ordained a priest on August 10, 1839 in Strassburg, Alsace, 31 year old Father Francis Joseph Rudolf arrived in Oldenburg, Indiana in late October of 1844. His prayers were to found a community of Sisters to teach the children of the German immigrants who made up his parish. Those prayers were answered when seven years later, Sister Teresa Hackelmeier arrived from Vienna, Austria at Oldenburg on January 6, 1851. Sister Teresa adapted quickly to the needs of her new homeland. The young nun, just 24 years of age, readily took up the task of educating the girls in the surrounding communities.
During those first winter months at Oldenburg, Mother Teresa had only herself and three young Sisters: Michaela Lindemann, Gabriela Ehret and Josepha Speier, to prepare for teaching. By that summer they were joined by Theresa Dreer from Rorschach, Switzerland -- a young woman of superior education who came to the United States to dedicate herself to God and the education of youth.
 Late in the fall of 1851, the Sisters took definite charge of the parochial school comprised of 20 children. As the students prepared to make their First Holy Communion the weather was so bitter it was difficult for five or six of them, who lived in outlying farms, to return safely home from school. So those students stayed with the Sisters and became the first boarders. By 1852 the number of boarders, some of whom were in their teens, had increased to a total of 12. Thus began the Academy.
|
