THE PROCESS OF BEATIFICATION OF MOTHER FRANCES

 

1931: Twenty years after her death, Mother Frances was more alive than ever in the hearts of the Sisters of the Sorrowful Mother and not only in them. Her holy life was embedded and preserved with silent reserve in the memory of all. All remembered the whisperings of the people of Castel Sant'Elia who, on the day of her funeral, said: "Mother Frances does not need our prayers. She is a saint and it is she who must pray for us". 
A saint: this unanimous certainty, which we call "fame of holiness", was the bold push to initiate Mother Frances’ beatification process. 

In 1931 the Sisters of the Sorrowful Mother elected Sr. M. Wendelina Bauer, a great admirer of Mother Frances' holy life, as General Superior. The new Superior immediately asked the delegates for their opinion on whether the first steps should be taken for the opening of the process of the Foundress’ beatification process.

Sr. Kiliana Jacobowski wrote: "The General Superior’s announcement aroused great joy in the hearts of the delegates; for most of the sisters assembled in Rome at the General Chapter had known Mother Frances personally and had been witnesses to her holy life”.
 
In this atmosphere of joy and enthusiasm, the process was soon set in motion. Bishop Luigi Maria Olivares, Bishop of Nepi and Sutri, the diocese where Mother Frances had lived the last years of her life, showed great interest in promoting the cause for the beatification of the Foundress and on November 12, 1936, sent an official letter to Mother M. Wendelina declaring, as was the practice, that he had no objection to the diocesan process for the beatification of Mother Frances and appointed Reverend Aquilin Reichert, O.F.M. Conv. as postulator.
 
From 1937 to 1940, due to Pope Urban VIII's decree prohibiting any public worship rendered to a candidate for beatification, the diocesan process of the canonical examination of Mother Frances' writings, her reputation for holiness and obedience was held in the episcopal court in Nepi. The first session of this process took place on April 5, 1937, in the bishop's residence in Nepi, Italy.
 
During this period, rogatory trials were also established - in 1938 in the Diocese of Paterson, New Jersey, in the Diocese of Winona, Minnesota, and in 1939 in the Diocese of Wuerzburg, Germany. Since it would have been too difficult for many of the witnesses to travel to Nepi, Italy, they were questioned by the authorities of their home dioceses. A total of sixty-five witnesses were heard. Except for two, they had all known the Servant of God personally and were therefore able to testify under oath. Of the sixty-five, thirty-two were not members of the Congregation. The witnesses deemed reliable made their statements "to bear witness to the truth and glory to God".

On March 11, 1940, the diocesan process was concluded, and in the same month the work passed to the Sacred Congregation of Rites. After the protocols were deposited in Rome, the Sacred Congregation examined the writings in compliance with all legal requirements and immediately afterwards issued the following resolution: "Nothing was found to hinder the advancement of the cause.” In the meantime, numerous letters of recommendation were sent to the Holy Father for the presentation of the cause for beatification by two cardinals, several archbishops, bishops, general superiors of religious orders and communities of both men and women, and others.
 
On April 3, 1940, at the request of Most Rev. Aquilin Reichert, O.F.M. Conv., Apostolic Penitentiary of the Vatican Basilica in Rome and postulator of the cause, His Holiness Pope Pius XII, upon the report of Cardinal Carlo Salotti, Prefect of the Sacred Congregation of Rites, graciously granted in an audience the necessary approval for the opening of the process, appointing and delegating His Eminence Cardinal Ermenegildo Pellegrinetti as ponent.
 
The office required that the cardinal designated pay "devote special attention to the cause and report to the plenary or ordinary assembly of the Sacred Congregation all things that seem to be in favor or that might prejudice the cause". (Can 2009)

On February 26, 1943, the Sacred Congregation of Rites approved Mother Frances' writings. On May 27, 1947, during an ordinary assembly in the Vatican, the cardinals decided to present this process to the Holy See. On June 13, 1947, His Holiness Pope Pius XII signed the resolution.
 
As mentioned in the previous chapter, Mother Frances' body was exhumed during the 1939 diocesan process. The body that had remained buried for 28 years was found well preserved. It was then placed in a new coffin that was sealed in a lead one, hermetically sealed and buried again near the first tomb at Castel Sant'Elia.  A second exhumation was performed on March 4, 1949. Present at the exhumation of Mother Frances' body were a representative of the Vatican, the Most Reverend Bishop of Nepi and Sutri, the entire ecclesiastical court of Nepi, Reverend Aquilin Reichert, the Mayor of Castel Sant'Elia, other local authorities, three witnesses connected with the trial, Reverend Mother M. Melania Eberth, another sister representing the congregation, and other people.
 
All were under oath to strictly adhere to the strict requirements of the Holy Church on such occasions. A medical representative of the Sacred Congregation was present to ensure that everything was done according to the laws of the Church.

After all members had taken an oath, the entire text of "Presentation of the Cause of Beatification of Mother Frances Streitel" was read aloud. Then followed the procedure of exhumation. The remains of Mother Foundress were found relatively well preserved. The habit, two-thirds of which was in fairly good condition, was removed from the body, disinfected, washed and aired and placed in the possession of the postulator, who has the right to distribute this relic as he sees fit. Under the supervision of the doctors, the remaining flesh was removed from the bones and burned. The ashes were placed in an urn, the bones were disinfected, treated with a chemical preservative and then placed in the air to dry. To prevent someone from taking or removing the exposed remains during the three weeks in which they had to remain in the air, the windows and the sacristy door (presumably the sacristy of the Basilica of St. Elias) were protected and sealed with silk threads and the episcopal seal.

In the second meeting, three weeks later, the bones, ashes and documents were placed in a tin coffin divided into three compartments. This procedure was carried out with due legal formalities. Carried by six sisters, the urn was taken to the parish church, where His Excellency the Bishop of Nepi celebrated a solemn Requiem Mass and the priests present sang several psalms.

 A procession then took place from the parish church to the sisters' convent chapel. The remains of Mother Frances were placed in a crypt in the chapel wall. The opening of the vault was immediately sealed with plaster on which a marble slab was placed. With the permission of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, the sisters were allowed to place flowers in front of the crypt.
 
The last meeting in Castel Sant'Elia took place in the second week of May 1949. What a happy privilege for our sisters of Castel Sant'Elia in Italy to become custodians of the remains of our Foundress!
 
On June 7, 1949, the apostolic process on the specific virtues of Mother Frances ended. From that day all the people who had testified about her heroic virtues were free to speak on the subject. Forty-five witnesses were heard in the apostolic process. Each of them testified about Mother Frances' heroic virtues and urged the Cardinals of the Sacred Congregation to give their favorable judgment on Mother Frances' virtues to His Holiness Pius XII, so that the Pontiff could issue the infallible decision.
 
On December 14, 1949, the Acts of the Apostolic Process were transferred from Nepi to the Sacred Congregation of Rites. After a careful examination of the processes, both the diocesan and the apostolic one held in Nepi and elsewhere, on the life, virtues and miracles of Mother Frances, both in general and specifically, the Sacred Congregation of Rites came to the conclusion "that everything had been done according to the laws of the Church and that the validity of the process was established on condition that it be approved by His Holiness". (Quote from the "Decree of the Sacred Congregation of Rites concerning the validity of the Preliminary Processes for the Beatification of the Servant of God M. Francesca Streitel" of February 3, 1952).

On February 3, 1952, His Holiness Pope Pius XII confirmed the validity of all the previous processes - those conducted from April 4, 1937, to December 12, 1949 - the diocesan and apostolic processes, but not the process that dealt with miracles.

In 1955, there were new Animadversionses. The Postulator in 1956 gave a voluminous Response and an Additional Summary with new documents. Further research and special studies had been done in the fields of psychology and mysticism. 

In 1974 Fr. Vittore di Gesù e Maria, O.C.D. signed his vow about the psychological balance of the Servant of God and healthy mysticism. Everything was brought together in the Nova Positio super virtutibus. Documentation was discussed on April 19, 1966. 

On November 11, 1968, the Promoter General of the Faith signed aliae novae animadversiones. The work was entrusted to Fr. Alessio Benigar, O.F.M. an expert in mysticism. The volume was delivered on August 24, 1977, and the vote given by Fr. Vittore in 1964 was also approved. In 1976, P. Weber, S.A. C. was advised to concentrate on the 15 years of her life after the deposition. 

The General Chapter of the Sisters of the Sorrowful Mother in 1988 decided to continue the cause by committing to rewrite a new Positio with a documented biography. Meanwhile, there was the reorganization of the Congregation for the Causes of Saints and the cause of Mother Frances Streitel was entrusted to Fr. Gumpel, S.J. who directed the cause until 1994. Fr. Gumpel was helped by his collaborator Sr. Theresa Maria Mueller SSM. The Novissima Positio super vita, virtutibus et fama sanctitatis was completed under the direction of the General Rapporteur, Fr. Ambrosio Eszer O.P. in three volumes with a total of 1683 pages plus photographic documents and maps. 

From 1994 to 2003 Br. Redemptur Maria Valabek O.Carm, was the Postulator of the Cause.  On May 19, 2003, Sr. Therese Maria Mueller, having completed the composition and printing of the Novissima Positio, became Postulator of the Cause of Mother Frances. In 2004 the Historical Consultors examined the Novissima Positio with affirmative votes.

In 2008 there was the discussion of the alleged miracle of the young Kenneth Williams after an automobile accident. 

On May 15, 2009, the Promoter General of the Faith, Sandro Corradini, signed the document of the Theological Consultors on the Heroic Virtue of the Servant of God Mother Frances Streitel. On March 27, 2010, Pope Benedict XVI made public the decree on the heroic virtues of the Servant of God's virtues.