Margaretha Flesch

In the autumn of 1851 (October 31), Margaretha and her sister Marianne, who suffered from epilepsy, left their family home to settle in one of the two unoccupied hermitages of the Holy Cross Chapel (Kreuzkapelle) near Waldbreitbach, on the banks of the Wied river. They lived there in extreme poverty, surviving on sewing work, gathering herbs, and helping the needy. Margaretha also took in orphans to prevent them from being auctioned off by municipalities that did not want to bear the cost of their maintenance. Her dedication attracted other companions starting in 1856. In 1861, she began the construction of a first house on the Kapellenberg hill in Waldbreitbach, which became habitable on November 11, 1861, under the name "Marienhaus." On March 13, 1863, Margaretha Flesch, Maria Bonner, and Gertrud Beisel pronounced their first vows of poverty, obedience, and chastity before Father Gomm in the Holy Cross Chapel. This act marked the official foundation of the congregation of the Franciscan Sisters of the Blessed Virgin Mary of the Angels (commonly known as the Franciscan Sisters of Waldbreitbach). Margaretha then took the religious name of Sister Maria Rosa (Mother Rosa) and became the first superior general of the institute. Under her leadership, the congregation grew rapidly to meet the needs of the sick, the poor, and orphans. By 1878, the institute already had more than 100 sisters spread across 21 or 22 mission houses. However, in 1878, at the end of her term as superior general, Mother Rosa was removed from leadership by her successor and the community rector, Father Probst. For the next 28 years, until her death, she lived as a simple sister within the motherhouse (Marienhaus), performing humble domestic and gardening tasks. She accepted this sidelining and these humiliations with heroic patience and humility, to such an extent that many young sisters were unaware that she was the foundress of their congregation. She passed away peacefully on March 25, 1906, at the Marienhaus monastery in Waldbreitbach. At the time of her death, the congregation numbered approximately 900 sisters in more than 70 houses.

The rehabilitation of Mother Rosa within her own congregation began several decades after her death. Her reputation for holiness prompted the Bishop of Trier to open the beatification process in 1957. The diocesan process was validated by the Congregation for the Causes of Saints on February 19, 1999. On April 28, 2006, Pope Benedict XVI authorized the promulgation of the decree recognizing the heroic nature of her virtues, conferring upon her the title of Venerable.

The miracle required for her beatification concerns the unexplained healing of Monica Schneider. On September 5, 1986, the latter was the victim of a serious car accident. Admitted to the Wadern hospital with severe open cranio-encephalic trauma and a fracture of the skullcap, she was transferred by helicopter to the Trier hospital. A brain scan confirmed a skull fracture with a bone fragment 8 to 10 centimeters long. Despite surgical intervention, her condition worsened and the vital prognosis was extremely bleak. The sisters of the congregation of the Franciscan Sisters of the Blessed Virgin Mary of the Angels then began to pray for her healing, invoking the intercession of Mother Rosa Flesch, and placed an image of the foundress containing a relic under the patient's pillow. During the night of September 5 to 6, 1986, Monica Schneider's condition reversed in a spectacular manner, leading to a rapid, complete, and lasting recovery. On June 8, 2006, the Medical Board of the Congregation for the Causes of Saints declared this healing scientifically inexplicable. The decree recognizing the miracle was promulgated by Pope Benedict XVI on July 6, 2007. The beatification ceremony was celebrated on May 4, 2008, in the Cathedral of Trier by Cardinal Joachim Meisner, Archbishop of Cologne, representing Pope Benedict XVI.

The spirituality of Mother Rosa Flesch is deeply rooted in the Franciscan charism, characterized by a joyful poverty, an absolute trust in Divine Providence, and unconditional service to the most destitute. Her life motto, which she often repeated, summarizes her spiritual impulse: "Do everything for the love of God, for God, with God, in order to finally reach God" (Cuncta agenda propter Deum, pro Deo, cum Deo, ut denique perveniatur ad Deum). Her legacy endures through the congregation of the Franciscan Sisters of the Blessed Virgin Mary of the Angels, which continues to work with the sick, the elderly, children, and the marginalized in Germany, as well as in other countries in Europe, America, and Africa.