From Sweeping Chimneys to founding an Order

Parent's house in Weitersburg Peter Friedhofen, founder of the Order of the Brothers of Mercy, was born 25 February 1819 on a farm in Weitersburg bei Vallendar, near Koblenz.

Peter lost his father when he was only one and a half; his mother died when he was nine. He and his five brothers and sisters suffered considerable hardship and deprivation. After his elementary education, be began an apprenticeship with his older brother Jacob as a chimney sweep. He then spent three years as a journeyman (they really journeyed in those days!), then pursued this occupation in Ahrweiler, and from 1842 in Vallendar as a master chimney cleaner.
 
He lived out his faith, loved prayer and reading the Bible, at the same time cultivating a deep inner devotion to Mary. When he would sing Marian hymns while working high up on the roof, he would invite children on the street below to sing along. In work as in prayer he knew that God was close, and his work became more and more a form of worship. With his friendly ways he had a good influence on young people. When his brother Jakob died, he selflessly assumed responsibility for caring for his widowed mother and her eleven children until he was forced to acknowledge that neither his strength -a lung disease continually troubled him- nor his financial means could possibly be enough.
 

Already in his youth Peter felt drawn to the lay apostolate. The joy of his own life joined to God was something he wished to share with others. According to the piety of his day, this desire found expression in the Fraternity of Aloisius, which Peter founded in several parishes and placed under a strict rule which was approved by the Bishop of Trier.
 

But this did not satisfy him. As a journeyman and later as a master chimney cleaner, he came in contact with many people, coming to know much suffering and isolation, especially among the sick. The love toward the helpless, the sick, and the suffering urged him more and more to dedicate himself to their care. This went hand in hand with the desire to consecrate himself totally to the Lord and to gather those of similar desire around him as »Brothers of Mercy.« Through all the difficulties which he encountered on the way to this goal, meditating upon the sufferings of Christ gave him the necessary strength. »To learn everything well,« he wished to spend a few months in another convent. He asked the bishop for his recommendation.
 

Bishop Arnoldi was pleased with the plan to found the »Brothers of Mercy« for the care of the sick in his diocese. He recommended to the young Peter Friedhofen that he look to the Alexian Brothers in Aachen, Cologne, or Neuss. But Peter did not feel called to rejuvenate the old orders, for his calling was to ignite »new fire, new spirit, and new impulses.« During this time, he came to know all the difficulties that often arise when founding a new order. Building work on the convent was delayed, it was winter, and he had no money to pay for work already completed. A visit to Katharina Kasper in Dernbach, the founder of the »Poor Maids of Jesus Christ«, gave him new courage.
 

Friedhofen explained to the Bishop’s secretary Liehs his plan for an independent order, but stressed his readiness to submit to the Bishop’s decision. A few days later the answer came from Trier. The Bishop agreed to Friedhofen’s plan. He encouraged Peter to continue building and to learn the care of the sick. Peter then got used to the idea of beginning his novitiate with the Alexians in Aachen. The warm hospitality shown him during a visit there removed every doubt. He was prepared to accept the rule of St. Augustine and the Alexians, but it was to be a new, independent order. Soon Peter and his first brother Karl Marchand moved to Aachen to begin the novitiate.

 

The much desired confirmation of the new community came on 21 June 1850: »To Peter Friedhofen from Ahrweiler, who wishes to enter the Order of the Brothers of Mercy of John of God, and, should it please Divine Providence, to transfer the same as a new foundation to the Diocese of Trier, and who for this purpose shall begin the novitiate or probationary period in the convent of the Alexians in Aachen: I testify according to his petition, that I approve and confirm his plan known to me and wish for him through the conveyance of my episcopal blessing the grace of heaven toward its execution, so that this holy work may be founded to the glory of God and to the salvation of souls.«
 

On 13 July 1850 Peter Friedhofen and Karl Marchand traveled to Aachen. Here, Peter felt the ramifications of French law: perpetual vows were prohibited, a vow of poverty was no longer possible. The city welfare office administered the finances of the convent and had a say in the acceptance of new candidates for the order. Brothers involved in home care accepted payment and kept control of their personal finances, since they were responsible for their own upkeep.

Friedhofen felt this to be a contradiction to his call and to his experience. »We have chosen Jesus Christ, the Crucified; to him we have given ourselves and all that we have; nothing have we held back. And Jesus our Savior has given himself to us, for we feel this most deeply.#171;
 

Otherwise, however, the two novices found in the Alexians in Aachen good and honest people. For their calling as ministers to the sick, they could learn much from them. »Most of all I have paid attention to the arrangements in the hospital,« Peter wrote, »how the beds are done, how the sick are cared for when the disease increases or decreases, the signs of healing and of death. I have written down how carefully one must attend to a patient’s eating and drinking during convalescence, how the sick die, and how one attends them in dying...I have learned to care for wound victims, to arrange the bandages in various ways and to bind the wounds. I helped to set shoulders, and also broken arms and legs, to prepare baths, etc.«
 

After many battles and disappointments, in November of 1850 the time finally came for Peter Friedhofen and his companions to move to Weitersburg. But the house had considerable disadvantages: it was not paid for, Peter had no cash, and the place was not conducive for the care of the sick. Friedhofen was forced to make a decision: only a larger town had the necessary prerequisites for the Brothers’ tasks. So the small group moved to Koblenz.
 

The young pastor of the Church of Our Lady, Philipp de Lorenzi, became the commissioner of the community. He engaged himself enthusiastically for the new order. He recommended the Brothers to the physicians of Koblenz. The head nurse of the city hospital offered to train the novices for their future work.
The young founder soon determined, however, that ambulant patient care hardly enabled a common life for the brothers, and that the spiritual substance of the community was endangered. Thus he tried to find a building of their own that could house the sick and elderly. »Then a true spirit of community can be instilled, since the brothers would rotate between city and convent.«
 

For the young community, 25 March 1851 was the first milestone. In the sacristy of the Church of Our Lady, Peter Friedhofen and two of his companions received the clothing of the order. Now the community also appeared in public through a visible sign. Confidence and trust in the order of both the general public and physicians grew, as did the membership. On 14 March 1852, with large participation of the people, Father de Lorenzi accepted the solemn vows of Peter Friedhofen and one brother, two aspiring to the novitiate were vested. Thus was fulfilled what Peter experienced again and again: »How great and how often was my fear when I had to suffer so many contradictions, when almost all had abandoned me. How freely the tears came! Yet my God and my dearest Lady have helped me, victory has come to my side.«
 


In 1853 the first brothers came to Trier at the request of the bishop. Soon there were new foundings abroad. This meant a great deal more work for the founder. Tuberculosis sapped his strength more and more. So Peter dedicated all his strength to the religious formation of his brothers. Above all he urged upon them the spirit of evangelical poverty. The most precious thing he could give his brothers is his spiritual inheritance. The disease took a speedy course, and at only 41 years of age, Peter Friedhofen died after a six weeks illness on 21 December 1860. At that time, the community numbers 44 brothers.