Wimmer Wednesday. Boniface Wimmer’s group finally leaves for its Mission to America. “Finally, the immediate preparations for the journey began with a spiritual retreat. The day of departure from Munich was July 25, 1846. They traveled by way of Augsburg, Ulm, Stuttgart, Mannheim and Mainz to Rotterdam, where they shipped Read more…
Wimmer Wednesday. Oswald Moosmüller’s book gives insights on those who would accompany Boniface Wimmer to America. “These five students thus would become the first candidates for the priesthood which Divine Providence brought to Father Boniface for the establishment of a monastery in America.5 “In addition to these, another fifteen upstanding Read more…
Wimmer Wednesday. Boniface Wimmer writes to those who would go with him to America. “Each one will take along what he possesses. Whatever may be left after the fare to America has been paid will be his until he makes his religious profession. After that it will belong to the Read more…
Wimmer Wedneday. Boniface Wimmer continues in a letter to those who would go on his mission with him. “To that end you should consider it a privilege to be allowed to take part in a work like this. I will be glad to have good and zealous helpers. But you Read more…
Wimmer Wednesday. Boniface Wimmer continues in a letter to those who would follow him to America. “What I know about America I have learned only from hearsay or from what I have read about it. I must be prepared to meet all possible emergencies. I am giving up a comfortable Read more…
Wimmer Wednesday. As Boniface Wimmer got closer to his Mission to America, he penned these words to those who would go with him. “In reply to your communication regarding our proposed mission to America I wish to submit the following. If I rightly understand the tenor of your letter, you Read more…
Wimmer Wednesday. A call to action. Boniface Wimmer writes: “Let us, therefore, no longer build air castles for our countrymen in America. Let us provide for their religious interests; then their domestic affairs will take care of themselves. Benedictine monasteries of the old style are the best means of checking Read more…
Wimmer Wednesday. Boniface Wimmer’s focus was on education and ministry. From that all else would follow. “A large German population would be found near the monastery, much as in the Middle Ages, villages, towns, and cities sprang up near Benedictine abbeys. Then the monks could expect a large number of Read more…
Wimmer Wednesday. Boniface Wimmer’s early conclusions on mission development. “Father Boniface points out further how once upon a time the conversion of England, Germany, Denmark, Sweden, Norway, Hungary and Poland was, to a large extent, carried out by the Benedictine Order, and in such a manner that it lasted for Read more…
Wimmer Wednesday. Boniface Wimmer’s early plans focused on German immigrants. “Father Boniface goes on to explain that he does not intend to speak about missions to the Indians, nor about parishes in towns or in the country, nor about established congregations, which already have churches, schools, and priests; he only Read more…