|
 |
 Brother James Wirth (Peter Wirth) is the founder of our religious community. He was born on October 15, 1830 in Niederbreitbach, Germany. He was the youngest of four children. Brother James lost his father at the age of nine and one year later his mother died. From that time on his uncle, who was a teacher, took care of him. During the course of his years living with his uncle, Peter learned the trade of shoemaker. His orientation to St. Francis substantially determined his affiliation to the secular Third Order of St. Francis. As he wrote later on, he believed that he was "called by God." In his heart he was always moved by the words, "Follow Me!"
 In his hometown Peter found kindred souls who jointly founded a manual workers association which was actually a religious community. They called one another "Brother", but the first beginnings ended quickly. Eventually, it came to pass in 1862, that Peter Wirth asked the Bishop of the diocese of Trier permission to establish a religious community. The Bishop gave permission for this founding. On June 12, 1862, the Congregation of Franciscan Brothers of the Holy Cross was founded in the Kreuzkapella (The Chapel of the Cross).
Brother James founded the community to educate orphans and to take care of the poor, the sick, the suffering and willingly responded to the needs of the time.
Our founder was 40 years old when he died on March 28, 1871, only nine years after the foundation of our religious community. He contracted smallpox while he was taking care of smallpox patients. His remains were later place in the motherhouse Church of St. Joseph in Hausen.
Motherhouse of the
Franciscan Brothers of the Holy Cross
Hausen, Germany
|
