The Sisters of St. Francis
At the end of the Civil War in 1865, there were many dislocated, homeless, and destitute people. There was a great number of orphans. The New York Society sent one thousand orphans to the Western states before 1875.
Catholic people of Tiffin, primarily an immigrant community, faced these same problems from the war and the depression that followed. Hundreds of new- comers had come from the German sections of Europe and settled in Tiffin and on the surrounding fertile lands. The Reverend Joseph Bihn, pastor of St. Josephs in Tiffin, distressed by the plight of the orphans and the poor, determined to establish a home for both orphans and the dependent aged. Father Bihn, a native of Bavaria, Germany, bought a fifty-eight acre farm from Dr. F. E. Franklin in 1867 for $5,000. The several buildings on this farm became the nucleus of the present St. Francis Home.
Father Bihn, having received encouragement from his bishop to found a community of Sisters, asked Mrs. Elizabeth Schaefer, a widow, to be a cofounder Mrs. Schaefer, along with her daughter, 18 year old Mary Am, sold their farm for $4,000 and devoted their lives to the cause.
From St. Joseph’s perish, Miss Mary Schaefer, sister-in-law of Elizabeth, and Miss Cunigunda Schmidt joined Elizabeth and Mary Am as the first four members of the congregation of the Sisters of St. Francis. These four women received their religious habit from father Bihn on June 4, 1868.
The Reverend founder and the four Sisters signed their names to an incorporating document on December 2, 1869.
The name of the Association was The Citizens’ Hospital and Orphan Asylum. Mother Francis (Mrs. Schaefer), Father Bihn, and John B. Greiveldinger were the first trustees.
Michael Boes of Thompson, Ohio, in 1870 offered his services to Fr. Bihn, who then established the Brothers of the Third Order of St. Francis. The Brothers, a separate community from the Sisters contributed greatly to the development of the Citizens’ Hospital and Orphan Asylum. Brother Cornelius Stroesser joined in 1874 and some of the tools and ironwork still being used today bear the initials B.C. As the number of orphans grew, the older bays were placed under the charge of the Brothers.
Brothers of the Third Order of St. Francis. The Brothers, a separate community from the Sisters contributed greatly to the development of the Citizens’ Hospital and Orphan Asylum. Brother Cornelius Stroesser joined in 1874 and some of the tools and ironwork still being used today bear the initials B.C, As the number of orphans grew, the older bays were placed under the charge of the Brothers.
The Brother’s Refectory was erected in 1871 and the Portuncula Convent in 1872 and served the Brothers and the older orphaned boys. The Brothers wore black habits with white cads and small black capes. Fr. Bihn died in 1893, and no more candidates were received. Several of the Brothers returned to secular life. The rest remained with the Order until death.
On November 12, 1871, a new convent eighty by forty feet and four stories high, was dedicated. General William Harvey Gibson and Judge James Pillars spoke at the ceremony. At that time the community numbered seven Sisters, one novice and five postulants. The winter of 1871-72 was a very difficult one because much of the interior work remained to be done, and some common furniture was lacking.
During the winter months the Sisters wove sheets and towels from the flax grown on the farm. Woolen cloth was made from their own sheep. Carpets and blankets beyond their own needs were sold to the Tiffin community. The farm, increased by an 81 acre addition in 1871, required heavy, hard labor of all the Sisters.
In 1871 the Sisters were offered a new field of labor and they began to teach in the perish school at St. Nicholas Church in Frenchtown, Ohio. Schools at St. Joseph’s and St. Mary’s in Tiffin were taught by the. Ursuline Sisters.
In 1878, twenty-seven Sisters were caring for severity-two orphans and twenty-three elderly. In 1881, the new chapel was dedicated and further enlarged in 1888 when two towering steeples were erected.
Between 1871 to 1888, over four hundred acres of land were purchased with the major idea that the land was to be used solely for the orphans, old, and poor people. In 1888, 215 persons had to be supported, and 110 poor orphans educated. A few years before 1936, the children began attending St. Joseph’s Parochial school and Calvert High School.
Epidemics were a concern for all. The first was typhoid in 1883 when one eighteen year old girl died. Diphtheria in 1892 killed six orphans and in 1918 one boy died of influenza. Doctors Maurice Leahy, E. H. Porter, Charles F. Daniel, and Paul Leahy were given credit for attending the sick and baiting the epidemics.
Over seventeen hundred children had been cared for by the time the orphanage closed in 1936. From the time of John Greiveldinger to 1942, over seven hundred aged men and women found a haven at St. Francis Home. A new building was erected in 1931 to accommodate a long waiting list.
There is a long history of the Sisters of St. Francis teaching in various places. They went to Bellevue, Shelby, Gallon, New Cleveland, Massillon, Randolph, Maumee, Avon, and so forth. In many places they conducted classes in English and in German Many Sisters became certified in primary and secondary education.
A regularly established high school was certified and opened in September, 1934. It was primarily for girls who might later teach in a parochial school.
By 1918, the farm had grown to 582 acres. Love and care for the land had been woven throughout the history of the Sisters of St Fnncis. This demonstrated love and cam for the land will be the major focus of my next column.
The infrmnatin for today’s column is from the book, Sisters of the Third Order of St. Francis of Penance and of Charity. 1869 - 1942.
–Percy