The founding of a religious order, whether contemplative or charitable in nature, must always be seen in context of the time in which the order is called into being. Each epoch in the two thousand year history of the Church has its founders who recognized the signs of their times and generated new life in the Church and the faithful.

One a few should be called to mind: Benedict of Nursia, Francis of Assisi, Vincent de Paul, and today, Mother Theresa of Calcutta

Also Brother Peter Friedhofen was a founder of his time: the nineteenth century, beginning with the French Revolution and the following Napoleonic era, stood under the sign of social change, the breaking up of the old order and the beginning of a new one.
 

In 1803, a flourishing period of Christian culture and church life on the middle Rhine came to an end. The victory march of the machine continued unabated, bringing many advantages, but also massive adjustments, especially in the trades, which for the most part the new industrial concerns had begun to overshadow.
 

The network of the extended family, which afforded a certain stability and security, was considerably damaged by urbanization. A new class of people developed—the proletariat. Insufficient housing and poor nutrition favored the spread of tuberculosis, and whole families fell to the disease. Modern social security through health and accident insurance, pensions and retirement were unknown.
 

This was the background against which Peter Friedhofen heard his call. Giving up his job as chimney cleaner, driven by Christian conviction and sense of responsibility, he devoted himself to the care of the poor and sick. Even though he felt the beginnings of the deadly disease tuberculosis in his own body, he turned until his last breath to the sick and suffering. Unshakable in faith, burning with love of neighbor, and with an almost presumptuous trust in God, he gathered young men about him to lead them in service for others.