MALLINCKRODT, PAULINE VON, BL.

Foundress of the Sisters of christian charity, also known as Marie Bernadine Sophia Pauline Mallinckrodt; b. June 3, 1817, Minden, Westphalia, Germany; d. April 30, 1881, Paderborn (near Münster), Germany.

Her mother was a devout Catholic; her father, a high-ranking civil servant, was a Protestant of tolerant views. Her brother, Hermann, became a Catholic leader in public life. In Aachen, where she spent her earlier years, Pauline frequented the circle of the poet Louise Hensel (1798–1876), who became a Catholic in 1818. When she was 18, she declined to marry a well-to-do Protestant. In Paderborn, where she lived from 1839, Pauline dedicated herself to works of charity, founded an association of women to help the impoverished sick in 1839, and in 1840 established a day nursery. In 1842, Pauline opened a school for blind children. She persuaded St. Madeleine Sophie barat to have her institute take charge of this school, but the Prussian government would not grant admittance to the French religious congregation.

As a result Pauline founded her own congregation Aug. 21, 1849, and served as its first superior general. During her lifetime the institute extended its apostolate to include teaching in elementary and secondary schools. When the Kulturkampf caused the closing of 17 houses in Germany, Pauline moved the motherhouse to Mont-Saint-Guibert near Brussels, Belgium, and also began to establish houses abroad. She visited the U.S. in 1873 shortly after the first group of her sisters arrived in New Orleans, and again in 1879 after journeying to her foundation in Chile. She traveled also to England, where houses were started. By the time of her death from pneumonia in 1881, the Sisters of Christian Charity had 492 members in 45 houses.

Mother Pauline is buried in the motherhouse in Paderborn. The decree introducing her cause for beatification was issued in 1958, which ended with her beatification by Pope John Paul II, April 14, 1985.

Feast: April 30.

Bibliography: p. von mallinckrodt, Kurzer Lebensabriß unserer teuren Würdigen Mutter und Stifterin Pauline v. Mallinckrodt, von ihr selbst verfaßt (Paderborn 1889). t. barkey, Damit ihr Leben gelingen kann (Paderborn 1984). a. bungert, Pauline v. Mallinckrodt, (Würzburg 1980). k. burton, Whom Love Impels: The Life of Mother Pauline von Mallinckrodt, Foundress of the Sisters of Christian Charity (New York 1952). j. j. degenhardt, Dienstbereit in der Liebe Christi (Paderborn 1985). br. ernest, A Happy Heart: A Story of Mother Pauline von Mallinckrodt (Notre Dame, Ind. 1956). c. frenke, Pauline v. Mallinckrodt in ihrer Zeit (Paderborn 1984). a. hÜffer, Pauline von Mallinckrodt 2d. ed. (Münster 1902). The Life of Mother Pauline von Mallinckrodt, Foundress of the Sisters of Christian Charity (New York 1917). a. mette, Die Liebe zählt nicht—nur die Liebe zählt (Paderborn 1985). L'Osservatore Romano, English edition, no. 19 (1985): 6–8. k. sander-wietfeld, Pauline von Mallinckrodt: Ein Lebensbild nach ihrer Briefen und Aufzeichnungen (Paderborn 1985). a. schmittdiel, Pauline von Mallinckrodt (Paderborn 1949). sisters of christian charity (U.S.), Enriching Many (Mendham, N.J.1942). d. wedmore, The Woman Who Couldn't Be Stopped (Mendham, N.J. 1986).

[n. backmund]