The

Servant of God "Servant of God" is a title used in the Catholic Church to indicate that an individual is on the first step toward possible canonization as a saint. Terminology The expression "servant of God" appears nine times in the Bible, the first five in th ...

Abbé ''Abbé'' (from Latin ''abbas'', in turn from Greek , ''abbas'', from Aramaic ''abba'', a title of honour, literally meaning "the father, my father", emphatic state of ''abh'', "father") is the French word for an abbot. It is the title for lowe ...

Pierre-Victor Braun, (5 June 1825 – 18 May 1882) was a

French French (french: français(e), link=no) may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to France ** French language, which originated in France, and its various dialects and accents ** French people, a nation and ethnic group identified with Franc ...

Catholic priest The priesthood is the office of the ministers of religion, who have been commissioned ("ordained") with the Holy orders of the Catholic Church. Technically, bishops are a priestly order as well; however, in layman's terms ''priest'' refers only ...

who ministered to the poor of Paris. His work laid the foundations for the establishment of several different congregations of Religious Sisters who now serve worldwide. The cause for his

canonization Canonization is the declaration of a deceased person as an officially recognized saint, specifically, the official act of a Christian communion declaring a person worthy of public veneration and entering their name in the canon catalogue of ...

was opened in France in 1991, and was accepted for investigation by the

Holy See The Holy See ( lat, Sancta Sedes, ; it, Santa Sede ), also called the See of Rome, Petrine See or Apostolic See, is the jurisdiction of the Pope in his role as the bishop of Rome. It includes the apostolic episcopal see of the Diocese of Rome ...

in 2007.

Early life

Victor Braun (as he called himself) was a native of

Saint-Avold Saint-Avold (; ; Lorraine Franconian: ''Sänt Avuur'') is a commune in the Moselle department in Grand Est in north-eastern France. It is situated twenty-eight miles (45 km) east of Metz, France and seventeen miles (27 km) southwest ...

in the Lorraine region of France. A few years after his

ordination Ordination is the process by which individuals are Consecration, consecrated, that is, set apart and elevated from the laity class to the clergy, who are thus then authorization, authorized (usually by the religious denomination, denominational ...

for the Diocese of Metz, he moved to Paris to meet the spiritual needs of the

German-speaking German ( ) is a West Germanic language mainly spoken in Central Europe. It is the most widely spoken and official or co-official language in Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Liechtenstein, and the Italian province of South Tyrol. It is also a ...

people of his region who were flocking from the farms to the capital at the height of the

Industrial Revolution The Industrial Revolution was the transition to new manufacturing processes in Great Britain, continental Europe, and the United States, that occurred during the period from around 1760 to about 1820–1840. This transition included going f ...

in France to find work."Fr. Victor Braun & the Founding of our Congregation", Sisters of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary
/ref> He became a regular confessor at the famed Basilica of Our Lady of Victories in Paris. In the course of his ministry, Braun also served in a seedy quarter of the city where he became aware of the struggle of the young women there who had come as unskilled workers, especially when they were not able to find work in the factories. He also saw single mothers struggling to survive with their children. With the help of a small group of volunteers he opened a hostel where the young women could find a refuge and place of support. He also opened a

day care center Child care, otherwise known as day care, is the care and supervision of a child or multiple children at a time, whose ages range from two weeks of age to 18 years. Although most parents spend a significant amount of time caring for their child(r ...

so that mothers could find employment by which they could support their families. Additionally home visits were done by his volunteer ladies to the residences of the sick poor to care for them in their need.

Founder

By October 1866, Braun had reluctantly concluded that the work had to be entrusted to a

congregation A congregation is a large gathering of people, often for the purpose of worship. Congregation may also refer to: *Church (congregation), a Christian organization meeting in a particular place for worship *Congregation (Roman Curia), an administra ...

professed A vow ( Lat. ''votum'', vow, promise; see vote) is a promise or oath. A vow is used as a promise, a promise solemn rather than casual. Marriage vows Marriage vows are binding promises each partner in a couple makes to the other during a weddin ...

Religious Sisters in order to guarantee its continuity. Thus he established three of these volunteers under the leadership of a

Bavaria Bavaria ( ; ), officially the Free State of Bavaria (german: Freistaat Bayern, link=no ), is a state in the south-east of Germany. With an area of , Bavaria is the largest German state by land area, comprising roughly a fifth of the total lan ...

n woman, Anna Katherina Berger, as a religious congregation, the Sœurs Servantes du Sacré-Cœur de Jésus. Berger had come to Paris already a member of a community of Franciscan Sisters in

Pirmasens Pirmasens (; pfl, Bärmesens (also ''Bermesens'' or ''Bärmasens'')) is an independent town in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany, near the border with France. It was famous for the manufacture of shoes. The surrounding rural district was called ''Lan ...

, founded by the

Blessed Blessed may refer to: * The state of having received a blessing * Blessed, a title assigned by the Roman Catholic Church to someone who has been beatified Film and television * ''Blessed'' (2004 film), a 2004 motion picture about a supernatural ...

Paul Joseph Nardini Paul Joseph Nardini, (25 July 1821 – 27 January 1862) was a German diocesan priest and the founder of the religious congregation of the Poor Franciscan Sisters of the Holy Family, also commonly known as the Nardini Sisters, or the Mallersdorfer ...

. She was appointed as

Mother Superior An abbess (Latin: ''abbatissa''), also known as a mother superior, is the female superior of a community of Catholic nuns in an abbey. Description In the Catholic Church (both the Latin Church and Eastern Catholic), Eastern Orthodox, Coptic ...

of the small community by Braun, under the name of Mother Mary Odilia. Braun expressed his vision for the congregation in these words: "The purpose of our congregation is to bring the love and compassion of the

Sacred Heart The Most Sacred Heart of Jesus ( la, Cor Jesu Sacratissimum) is one of the most widely practised and well-known Catholic devotions, wherein the heart of Jesus is viewed as a symbol of "God's boundless and passionate love for mankind". This devo ...

of Jesus to all those we meet in our service of love."

Revolution and exile

The sudden outbreak of the Franco-Prussian War in 1870 caused a major change in the future of the small congregation. Rumors of anti-Catholic atrocities by the

Paris Commune The Paris Commune (french: Commune de Paris, ) was a revolutionary government that seized power in Paris, the capital of France, from 18 March to 28 May 1871. During the Franco-Prussian War of 1870–71, the French National Guard had defended ...

caused a group of the Sisters to flee to England for safety. They were followed by a larger group, who brought with them Braun, who was suffering from shock resulting from his ministry at the battlefront. Because of her nationality, the co-founder, Mother Odilia, was forced to return to her native Germany. The

refugee A refugee, conventionally speaking, is a displaced person who has crossed national borders and who cannot or is unwilling to return home due to well-founded fear of persecution.

s were warmly received by

Cardinal Cardinal or The Cardinal may refer to: Animals * Cardinal (bird) or Cardinalidae, a family of North and South American birds **''Cardinalis'', genus of cardinal in the family Cardinalidae **''Cardinalis cardinalis'', or northern cardinal, the ...

Henry Edward Manning, the

Archbishop of Westminster The Archbishop of Westminster heads the Roman Catholic Diocese of Westminster, in England. The incumbent is the metropolitan of the Province of Westminster, chief metropolitan of England and Wales and, as a matter of custom, is elected presid ...

, who gave them a small house in the Stratford area of the city. Braun and the Sisters quickly established themselves in the

East End of London The East End of London, often referred to within the London area simply as the East End, is the historic core of wider East London, east of the Roman and medieval walls of the City of London and north of the River Thames. It does not have uni ...

where they began again their mission of helping struggling workers and their families."Beginnings" After the upheavals of the Franco-Prussian War and the subsequent uprisings, with the establishment of peace in France, Braun and some of the French Sisters returned to their homeland. They re-established the congregation there and its work. In 1873 he went to Austria where he started a new congregation of Sisters in the same form of work and with the same name as their French counterparts, (german: Dienerinnen des heiligsten Herzens Jesu), whose motherhouse is in

Vienna en, Viennese , iso_code = AT-9 , registration_plate = W , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST ...

. Braun died in the Parisian suburb of

Argenteuil Argenteuil () is a Communes of France, commune in the northwestern suburbs of Paris, France. It is located from the Kilometre Zero, center of Paris. Argenteuil is a Subprefectures in France, sub-prefecture of the Val-d'Oise Departments of France, ...

on 18 May 1882. The Servants had been recognized in the

Diocese of Versailles The Roman Catholic Diocese of Versailles (Latin: ''Dioecesis Versaliensis''; French language, French: ''Diocèse de Versailles'') is a diocese of the Latin Rite of the Roman Catholic Church, in France. The diocese, headed by the Bishop of Versail ...

as a congregation in 1868 by the local bishop,

Mgr. Monsignor (; it, monsignore ) is an honorific form of address or title for certain male clergy members, usually members of the Roman Catholic Church. Monsignor is the apocopic form of the Italian ''monsignore'', meaning "my lord". "Monsignor" ca ...

Jean-Pierre Mabile. Thus, in need of larger space, they chose to move their

motherhouse A motherhouse is the principal house or community for a religious institute. It would normally be where the residence and offices of the religious superior In a hierarchy or tree structure of any kind, a superior is an individual or position at ...

Versailles The Palace of Versailles ( ; french: Château de Versailles ) is a former royal residence built by King Louis XIV located in Versailles, about west of Paris, France. The palace is owned by the French Republic and since 1995 has been managed, u ...

, where they arrived on

Christmas Day Christmas is an annual festival commemorating the birth of Jesus Christ, observed primarily on December 25 as a religious and cultural celebration among billions of people around the world. A feast central to the Christian liturgical year, ...

1884. They soon established services to the needy and the mentally handicapped of the region. Braun's remains were transferred to the chapel of the Motherhouse in 1925.Paroisse de Saint-Symphorien de Versailles

Legacy

The Sisters who remained in England later chose to separate and formed a new congregation in 1903, the Sisters of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary. In 2003 the three congregations stemming from Braun's work formed the Victor Braun Federation. Made up of the three congregations which trace their roots to Braun's original group, the members are: the Sœurs Servantes du Sacré-Cœur de Jésus, Dienerinnen des heiligsten Herzens Jesu, and the Sisters of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Braun, Pierre-Victor 1825 births 1882 deaths People from Saint-Avold 19th-century French Roman Catholic priests Founders of Catholic religious communities French Servants of God Franco-Prussian War chaplains French military chaplains