Oct 25, 2021 | NEWS
The canonical visitation of the Superior General to the Germany Province is planned for the entire month of November. Recently, covid restrictions have changed a lot the plans for visits to the Congregation. We hope that this time it will be possible to meet every community, every sister and visit our co-workers without any problems. It is a special time for the Superior General and for the Sisters in the Germany Province. We encourage all the sisters of the Congregation and our friends to pray for the intentions of the Sisters of the Germany Province and for a blessed time of visitation.
Generalate SMI
Oct 23, 2021 | HISTORY, NEWS
In today’s Gospel, the Lord Jesus will command his disciples; Let your loins be girded, and let your torches be lit. And you, be like those who are waiting for your master when he returns from the wedding feast, to open to him immediately when he comes and shakes.
Servant of God Fr. John Schneider wanted to prepare as best as possible to meet Christ when he received the sacrament of priesthood. After passing the matriculation examination at the Carolinum in Nysa, which took place on September 20, 1845, he went to study in Wrocław with 13 classmates. Only one of the high school graduates chose medical studies, the rest enrolled in theology.
In the time of our Founder, if a candidate for the priesthood wanted to enter a theological seminary, he had to first, as a layperson, graduate from theological studies. The University of Wrocław had a faculty of Catholic theology with 199 students, of course only men, and a faculty of Evangelical theology with 72 students in the academic year 1845/46. The students lived in private stations. John Schneider rented a room in Ostrów Tumski next to the church of St. Krzyża, in the tenement house at No. 9. He suffered a lot from cold. He lived with a friend in an unburned room. To warm the stove a bit, they put a candle stump in it. When the owner of the lodgings noticed this, she started to burn them in the stove at her own expense.
For three years, from 1845 to 1848, he studied theology and served as a volunteer in the 11th Grenadier Regiment in Wrocław. He used the experience gained in the army during the revolution that broke out on March 6, 1848. in Wrocław on the wave of the spring of peoples and solidarity with social movements in France and Austria. In Wrocław, there were bloody clashes with the revolutionary-minded inhabitants of the city. The speeches were left-wing and anti-clerical. During the riots, revolutionaries attacked the apartments of members of the cathedral chapter in Ostrów Tumski. It was then that John Schneider organized a team of fellow students, leading it himself, and defended the endangered canons of Wrocław against the attackers. His brave attitude won him the kindness of the members of the Wrocław chapter and his colleagues awarded him the title of “generalissimo”.
After three years of studies at the University of Wrocław, the Servant of God entered the seminary in October 1848, which at that time was called the Alumnate and was located in the place where the Archdiocese Library building stands today. Candidates for the priesthood were trained in pastoral theology, liturgy and asceticism for 9 months.
The superiors of the Students gave Father John the following opinion: “Big, healthy. sufficient talent, satisfactory zeal, satisfactory behavior, diligent character, compatible – with good will, sermons also satisfactory, catechism satisfactory ”.
During his stay in the Aluminae, John Schneider received a clerical attire, tonsure and four lower priestly orders: ostiarate, language, exorcist and acolyte, and three higher ones: sub deaconate, diaconate and presbyterate. He was ordained to the deacon by auxiliary Bishop Daniel Latusska on June 21, 1849 in the Church of St. Cross. Along with him, 38 alumni from the Archdiocese of Wrocław and 4 from the Archdiocese of Olomouc were ordained.
He was ordained a priest by the bishop of the Archdiocese of Wrocław, Prince Bishop Melchior von Diepenbrock on July 1, 1849 in the Church of St. Cross. The day of priestly ordination of Fr. John Schneider considered it the most important in his life. It was a day for him on which, after several years of preparation, he met his Master in the sacrament of priesthood. He was prepared for this solemn moment by difficult events, marked by material poverty, requiring great denial and faithfulness to his own life vocation.
How do I perceive the difficult events that I face in my own life? Do they prepare me to meet Christ?
Sr.M. Elżbieta Cińcio
Oct 19, 2021 | HISTORY, NEWS
At the Holy Mass that will be celebrated later, the priest, while praying the collective, will pray to God on behalf of all of us: May your grace always precede us and always accompany us, prompting our zeal to do good deeds.
The first place in everyone’s life where we have the opportunity to learn to be zealous and do good deeds is the family home. Such was also the house of the Servant of God Father John Schneider.
Our Founder was born on January 11, 1824 in Mieszkowice in the Prudnik region. Two days later he was baptized in the local branch church of St. George. He was given the names John Jerzy, which were borne by his father and his paternal grandfather. Father and godmother came from Mieszkowice, in addition, he also had another godmother from his mother Katarina’s home village, i.e. from Łąka Prudnicka.
In the Schneider house, two more sisters were born after John, so a family of five was the environment that shaped the attitude of our hero, sensitive to human poverty and hurrying to save people standing on the chasm of moral evil.
Today, on the outskirts of Mieszkowice, we will no longer see Father John’s family home. At this point, my Congregation placed a white statue of Our Lady Immaculate on a pedestal.
Catholics in Mieszkowice constituted a religious minority in relation to the local Protestants. The Catholic primary school was located in the neighboring town of Rudziczka, which also had a parish church. So the Servant of God, from the age of six, traveled two and a half kilometers each way to school every day, until he finished seven classes. He regularly served at the Holy Mass. in the church in Mieszkowice. He had a dream that was humanly impossible to realize, he wanted to serve God as a priest. It was associated with obtaining secondary and higher education. And his parents couldn’t afford to send their son to school.
Divine Providence put on his way the noble priest serving in Rudziczka, Father Antoni Hoffmann, who was concerned with helping children to get education in accordance with their abilities and fulfill their bold dreams. During his parish priesthood, he helped three boys to obtain ordination. One of them was John Schneider. The parish priest persuaded his parents to send their son to Nysa, to Carolinum and offered material help. It was a high school with traditions, graduates of which were, among others, the king of Poland, Michał Korybut Wiśniowiecki, son of King John III – Jakub. Our Founder spent eight years of education in Nysa on diligent learning, experiencing material shortages and serving as an altar boy in the school church of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary. John did not have a watch and he would wake up by feeling at night to punctually at 5.00, stand at the foot of the altar and serve the Father Director of the Carolinum for the Holy Mass. More than once he stood at night for several hours with the church door closed, and the city night guard sent him back with the words: go back home , because it is only one o’clock in the morning. For the service of an altar boy he received 1 talara annually, which at that time was a payment for a farm worker for one working week.
He took the secondary school-leaving examination in 1845. It was written on the matriculation certificate that John Schneider devoted himself to all subjects with great diligence, and in what he did, you could see punctuality, a love of order and diligence. He received excellent grades in religion and mathematics. Unfortunately, his mother could not enjoy her son’s successes, because she had passed away to the Father’s House a year earlier.
John Schneider set off for Wrocław with his high school diploma in hand.
In the moment of reflection, let us ask ourselves the following questions:
What is left of my teenage dreams? Who supported me in realizing my noble desires?
Sr.M. Elżbieta Cińcio
Oct 12, 2021 | NEWS
On December 7, 2021, 145 years have passed since the death of our Founder the Servant of God, Fr. John Schneider. Wrocław bade farewell to the priest – sincerely devoted to the Church, city, parishioners, sisters … people. Father John “was like a fire that warmed with the flame of youth, burning himself in pastoral work, at work for charitable works and in creating a new Congregation. He never took any rest, he was forced to take health leave twice, ”recalled Fr. Władysław Bochnak. Father John, called the apostle of mercy, did not count time for the needy, he was an enthusiastic vicar fully present in the service for the faithful of the parish of the Blessed Virgin Mary in Piasek in Wrocław. As a parish priest, he was strongly involved in the life of the parish of St. Maciej, undertook many social and charitable activities and at the same time created and supervised the emerging new religious congregation. Intense activity for the benefit of so many souls, in so many pastoral spaces, caused premature exhaustion of the body, as a result of which he died at the age of 53. His death touched many. Archbishop Henryk Forster said about him that: “He was a great decoration of priests in Silesia, and this because of his extraordinary zeal, willpower and deep inner life.”
The funeral service was celebrated in the St. Matthias church in Wrocław by Father Robert Spiske – the founder of the Jadwiga sisters. The homilies were delivered by the parish priest of Saint Michael in Wrocław, Father Gustav Haucke, who addressed the deceased priest:
“Dear Dead Brother, come out of that beloved church of yours that you liked to restore and decorate so much! Go out with your flock and your brothers priests and go to a place of peace, a home that no one will take from you. (…). You will follow tears of gratitude and prayers of your parish, your relatives and your wards, there will be a memento of your brothers (…), your good deeds and merits will follow, for which our Lord and Judge, Jesus Christ, will reward you with joy and happiness in heaven “.
God’s servant, Fr. John Schneider died in the age of 53, on December 7, 1876 in Wrocław, on the eve of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary.
As spiritual daughters of Father John, on the first Tuesday of each month, we pray in all religious communities for the gift of beatification of our Founder. This year, at the suggestion of the Provincial Superior of the Polish Congregation, Sr. M. Magdalena Zabłotna, we started a novena of nine Tuesdays at the Founder on October 5. The weekly prayer combined with the conference of Sr. Elżbieta Cińcio will allow the participants of the service to learn about the stages of the life of the Servant of God. Our sisters who gather in the church on Piasek from various institutions pray together with the faithful first in adoration combined with the prayer of the rosary. Sr. Elizabeth’s speech takes place before the Holy Mass at 18.00, this time the sister introduce the profiles of the parents of Fr. John – Katarina and Jerzy John and introduce the audience to the atmosphere of the little Janek’s family home. Eucharist celebrated for the beatification of Fr. The Founder also becomes a thanksgiving and an exceptional cry of our Congregation for the spiritual good for each of us personally and for the entire Congregation.
The nine-Tuesday novena has already started. Our monastery in Racibórz Brzezie was located together with the monastery in Racibórz and Pyskowice as the beginning of this novena pilgrimage. Each Tuesday, the liturgies prepare the next designated houses and in this way all the sisters can create a spiritual bouquet of heartfelt prayer brought to God from the resting place of our Father Founder.
Sr.M. Margaret Cur
Oct 11, 2021 | NEWS
The name of English Medium Primary School in Mwanga is Johane Schneider. John Schneider is a Patron of our school.
This school is for children from 5 to 13 years old. The children are getting education for their life and also, they are getting moral education and religion apart from other education.
STRANGE NAME BUT FAMOUS
In the beginning the people who live here in Mwanga, heard the name of school and see the photo of John Schneider, they didn’t understand the origin and nature of the name.
Always they used to say this name is a school name but difficult in pronunciation and very strange especially “Schneider”. They always ask who is that man?
Some people used to say
- This man is from Europe is the one who build the school.
- This man is the owner of school
- This man is a priest but is the one who rise the fund of building school
- This man is saint he is a patron of student so sisters take him as patron and they use his name.
Slowly through the explanation of the sisters some of the people come to understand. that John Schneider is the founder of our Congregation.
Due to the presence of this school in Mwanga our founder is wide known in many areas in Tanzania, although until now many people used to call our school as SCHOOL OF SAINT JOHN SCHNEIDER!
HOW STUDENTS CALL HIM
After educating the pupils and explaining about our founder, now they come to know and understand a bit who is John Schneider. Nowadays they used to call him a second name “Schneider” only, even the people surrounding us called our school the school of Schneider and they pronounce very well although the name is so strange in our place. we are expecting some of the parents to give their new born name of Schneider.
By Sr. Maksymiliana SMI
Oct 11, 2021 | HISTORY, NEWS
This year, December 7 is the 145th anniversary of the death of Fr. John Schneider, Founder of the Congregation of the Sisters of Mary Immaculate. We, his spiritual daughters, wish to prepare ourselves spiritually for this anniversary by participating in the novena of the 9th Tuesday Mass. celebrated in this church for the beatification of the Founder.
Today, on the first Tuesday of the said novena, the Liturgy of the Word will invite us to Bethany, to the home of the sisters Martha and Mary who had a brother Lazarus.
Before the Eucharist, let us move our thoughts to another house, in Mieszkowice near Prudnik, where sisters Anna and Maria and their older brother John, later a priest from Wrocław and Founder of our Congregation, lived. This house is a small, thatched building at the end of Mieszkowice, but its uniqueness was not in material form, but in the family that lived in it.
It was rented by the newlyweds: Katarina and John Schneider, who 200 years ago, on September 30, 1821, in the church of St. George in Mieszkowice entered into a holy marriage. They brought sincere love and great diligence to the marriage community, thanks to which they could acquire the most necessary items from scratch and buy a rented house before their offspring were born. The father of the family was a butcher by profession, he also worked as a farm worker in the property of the parish in Rudziczka, and in winter he was engaged in weaving. He always tried to organize his work in such a way as to participate in family dinners. Before she got married, her mother, Katarina, worked for wealthy farmers as a housekeeper. After the wedding, she often supported the family budget by hiring the neighbors to do heavy seasonal work.
The firstborn son John Jerzy was born on January 11, 1824, followed by his daughter Anna Rozalia in 1827 and the youngest daughter Maria Janina in 1832.
In the Schneider family home there was a place for common conversations and for prayer in the family circle and for forgiving one another. Thus, in love, in self-denial, in a climate of material poverty, parents shaped the spiritual outlines of their children, daughters chose to marry, and the son discovered a priestly vocation in himself.
The marriage of John and Katarina Schneider survived in their vow of fidelity for 23 years. Katarina fell ill with tuberculosis and ended her earthly life in 1844. Father John Jerzy lived to a ripe old age as a widower. His own son, a priest, buried him.
The spouses Katarina and John, remaining in marital love and fidelity, fulfilled their life vocation. They brought up three children well and gave the Church a priest and a great-granddaughter – a nun, a member of our Congregation of the Sisters of Mary Immaculate.
Let us remember here our parents who passed on, to us spiritual values. Let their prayers and sacrifices bear fruit a hundredfold in our lives and may not be wasted by us.
Sr. Elżbieta Cińcio
