Following Boniface Wimmer’s death in 1887, the monks of Saint Vincent and its daughterhouses set out to gather all of his letters and correspondences—a task that undoubtedly included collecting portrait photographs of Wimmer. Portrait photography of the mid-19th century possesses an intrinsic artistry; a 30-plus-second exposure demanded thoughtful and compelling compositions with a Read more…
Wimmer Wednesday. Boniface Wimmer is invited to Saint Vincent. “St. Vincent, Pennsylvania“October 11, 1846“Reverend Boniface Wimmer: “Having learned that it is your intention to establish a monastery of the Benedictine Order in this country, the members of which devote themselves to the care of souls and to the education of Read more…
Wimmer Wednesday. Boniface Wimmer meets with Bishop Michael O’Connor of Pittsburgh. “Father Boniface then set out for Pittsburgh to pay his respects to the Most Reverend Bishop and to present his references to him. While the bishop expressed his appreciation for Father Boniface’s plan, he at the same time suggested Read more…
Wimmer Wednesday. Boniface Wimmer did not find the grounds of Hart’s Sleeping Place, near Carrolltown, suitable for farming. Oswald Moosmüller writes: “Father Boniface, whose cradle had stood in the so called “Dark Soil” region, the most fertile wheat country in Bavaria, contemplated the harsh, rocky, and mountainous countryside around Carrolltown Read more…
Wimmer Wednesday. Boniface Wimmer arrives in America: “After a good ocean voyage, Father Boniface and his companions had arrived safely in New York on September 16. There he visited with the Redemptorist Father Rumpler on Third Street, the aged Vicar General Raffeiner in Williamsburg, and the Benedictine pioneer, Father Balleis Read more…
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…