Francisca Bauer, the Sister of
the Woods
By EDMUND L. BINSFELD*
OLD THEODORE WILLIAMS of Norwalk,
Ohio, liked to remi-
nisce, and when the Rev. Frederick
Rupert, pastor at St.
Paul's Roman Catholic parish there, was
preparing what he
called an outline history of the
Catholic churches in that area,
Williams told the priest about the
early days. Among other
things, Williams said that when he was
a boy of eight, he
saw at sunset one September evening in
1828, two odd-look-
ing wagons drawn by a yoke of oxen
coming into Norwalk
along East Main Street.1
Father Rupert himself names the
immigrants in these
wagons: Peter Bauer, his wife, his six
children, and a female
relative; Anton Phillips, his wife, and
two children; Joseph
Carabin, his wife, and eight children;
and Clement Baum-
gartner.2 From a manuscript
written by Francis de Sales
Brunner, who knew these people and
later became their parish
priest, we learn that the families
migrated from Pfalzburg in
Lower Alsace and that vicinity.3 With
these pioneers as a
group or as individuals, this essay is
not concerned. Rather
it is a history of only one member in
the party, namely, Peter's
relative, Francisca Bauer.4
* Father Edmund L. Binsfeld, a member of
the Society of the Precious Blood,
is librarian at Brunnerdale Seminary, Canton, Ohio.
1 Frederick Rupert, Outline History of St. Peter's and St. Paul's
Churches,
Norwalk, O., Containing Also the Early History of St.
Alphonsus, Peru, O., and
of St. Mary's, Norwalk, O. (Norwalk, Ohio, 1899), 4.
2 Ibid.
3 Francis de Sales Brunner, Die Priester u. Bruder der Versammlung vom
Kostbaren Blute und ihre Missionshauser
in Nord-Amerika (1855), 73. Manu-
script in the St. Charles Seminary
Archives, Carthagena, Ohio.
4 Rupert identifies her as a paternal
aunt of Peter Bauer. History of St. Peter's
and St. Paul's, 5.
354
THE OHIO HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
Miss Bauer came from France, where she
had been a sister
in the Congregation of Divine
Providence. In his manuscript,
Francis Brunner states that this nun,
having fled from the
political disorders already rising in
her country, came to the
United States with her relatives in
order that she might lead
a hermit's life in the wilderness. He
describes her as rather
elderly--she had already been in this
country for sixteen
years before he came to know her. He
says that she was
wise and well instructed, thoroughly
conversant with French,
German, and English. Most of all--and
this was very im-
portant to Brunner--Sister Francisca,
as she was called, was
a pious and deeply spiritual woman.5
The Bauers bought and settled a large
section of woodland
three miles south of Norwalk.6 On
a corner of Peter's prop-
erty, Sister Francisca had about twenty
wooded acres.7 As a
pioneer she knew how to use the ax, the
mattock, and similar
tools as skillfully and as persistently
as formerly she had
used the pen and the embroidery needle.
She built for herself
a small log house in the center of her
land and called it her
cell. Around it she soon had cleared
enough woodland for a
garden, which she planted with herbs
and vegetables, and
also enough space as a pasture for her
cow, later two of them.
But such a hermitage was not isolated
from the settlement.
Soon she became a nurse and doctor for
the sick.8 Misunder-
standings between the farmers were
often settled by her. If
someone needed funds, she could find
the assistance. Because
of her personality and background,
because of her unique posi-
tion among the French and German
settlers, she was often
called to give advice and counsel.
Francis Brunner, it is evi-
dent, admired her as the leader of her
own people.9 Thus be-
gan the American life of the woman who
came to be called
by the Germans in northern Ohio,
because of herself and her
5 Brunner, Die Versammlung vom Kostbaren
Blute, 74.
6 Ibid.
Ibid.
8 The first historical notice of a
doctor at Peru, two miles to the south, is found
in the Norwalk Reporter, November
14, 1829.
9 Die Versammlung vom Kostbaren Blute,
75.
FRANCISCA BAUER 355
cell in the woods, the Waldschwester,
or "sister of the
woods."10
The life of the German settlers must
have been quite self-
contained, as there is little or
nothing about them in the local
American newspapers and periodicals of
that date.11 Some-
times an English or German priest
visited them on his jour-
neys through northern Ohio.12 Infrequent
as these missionary
visits were, they also were disturbing
when the priest could
not hear confessions in German, nor the
settlers confess very
well in English. Confidently and humbly
then, in order to
receive the sacrament of penance, the
people would have Sister
Francisca be the interpreter between
them and the priest.13
In the unpublished manuscript of
Brunner already referred
to several lengthy passages are devoted
to Sister Francisca's
establishment of what was to become the
oldest parish in the
present diocese of Toledo, Ohio.14
After being in Ohio among Germans of
Catholic descent
without a resident priest for almost
two years, Sister Fran-
cisca could not understand why her
people should not have
their own church and pastor instead of
relying on the uncer-
tain and infrequent visits of a
missionary. We are told by
Brunner in a Xenophon-like passage that
Sister Francisca
gathered all the German Catholics in
the vicinity and force-
fully brought home to them their great
religious need. She
urged them to form a parish and to
consider the actual erec-
tion of a church. Strength would come
only through having
a church building of their own. As long
as they had none,
10 Ibid.
11 The name of Angeline Bauer is given
in the list of people having letters
waiting for them in the post office at
Norwalk. Norwalk Reporter, October 10,
1829.
12 Father John Martin Henni was stationed at this time in Canton, Ohio,
and the
little German settlement was one stop on
his occasional pastoral tour. In the
Norwalk Reporter, October 31, 1829, there is recorded the marriage of
Angeline
Bowers (Bauer) to Philip Lemay, on
October 22, 1829, and the officiating priest
is given as the Rev. Mr. Haney (an
Americanization of Henni). See Peter Leo
Johnson, Crosier on the Frontier: A Life of John
Martin Henni, Archbishop of
Milwaukee, (Madison, Wis., 1959), especially pp. 34-35.
13 Brunner, Die Versammlung vom
Kostbaren Blute, 79-80.
14 Ibid., 75-77.
356 THE OHIO
HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
no other Catholics would buy land
around them, and hence
no increase of Catholicism could be
expected. In time the
children would fall away; the parents
would be responsible,
for they took the children away from
the care of the Church
in Europe and brought them into the
wilderness of America.
By their own fault these Catholic
farmers were in danger
every day of dying without the
sacraments. Moreover, if all
did not or would not cooperate, soon
some would abandon
the settlement and move nearer to a
Catholic church. In
order to prevent this she offered the
first sacrifice by donat-
ing some of her land for a church.
Aroused, the people promised to support
their Wald-
schwester if she would supervise the project. Immediately
sister laid down a rule that as soon as
one of the colony did
not conduct himself as a Catholic
member should, and did
not wish to support the project, he
should be excluded from
the parish. This she followed with
rules for attaining their
objective, and ended by saying each
person should declare
how much he was willing to contribute
for the support of
divine services.
Decisively Francisca provided about
twenty acres for the
new parish: eight from herself and ten
or twelve from Peter
Bauer.15 The deed was drawn
in favor of Bishop Edward D.
Fenwick of Cincinnati. This was sent
with a letter to him
by Sister Francisca, who asked if he
would permit them to
build a church, and if so, would he
send a priest as soon as
possible to bless the place.16
Fenwick approved and at the same time
commissioned the
nearest priest, Father John Martin
Henni, at Canton, Ohio, to
15 Rupert says that
"in accordance with Bishop Fenwick's wishes [expressed in
October 1831] those sturdy pioneer
Catholics labored with determination to erect
a beautiful house of worship. Two acres
of land were donated for church and
school purposes by Mr. Taylor, who was
not a Catholic, and who for this act of
generosity deserves to be gratefully
remembered." History of St. Peter's and St.
Paul's, 6.
16 A search through the present
uncataloged letters in the archives of the
archdiocese of Cincinnati at Mt. St.
Mary's Seminary, Norwood, Ohio, resulted
in finding no correspondence at all of
Francisca Bauer with Bishop Fenwick or
vice versa, or the deed described above.
FRANCISCA BAUER 357
bless the site of the church, which he
did.17 Further, during the
month of October 1831, Bishop Fenwick,
on his way to
Canton, Ohio, from Detroit, Michigan,
stopped at the settle-
ment, and stayed for the night at the
house of Peter Bauer.
Next morning at Mass he preached,
praising the people for
their zeal. He also promised to return
and bless the church
as soon as he heard of its completion.18
Under the direction of the Waldschwester,
trees were cut,
wood was hewn, shingles were made, and
logs were sawed at
the mill. Sister provided food for the
men, hired others, and
herself worked wherever she could in
the building of the
church.19
A frame structure thirty-two by forty
feet was under way.
It stood about sixty feet back, or
west, of the Norwalk road,
and twenty feet from the south line on
a slight elevation.
Four windows were put into the two side
walls of the church,
and a high double door at the west end,
so that the church
faced away from the road. The roof
sloped upward from
three sides, with a cross on its tip.
On the west tip a small
square belfry was added.
Weather-boarded horizontally with rough
unpainted boards,
the church was lined similarly on its
interior walls and ceiling.
The first altar was of rough boards,
and looked like a long,
high table placed against the west
wall. The first pews were
round logs hewn flat on the upper
surface. Holes were
bored into the lower side of the log,
and wooden pins inserted
as legs. There were no kneelers, and no
communion rail at
the time. The only cost was for sawing,
for nails, hinges,
window-sashes, and glass, amounting to
an approximate
total of a hundred dollars.20
Father Henni came to bless the church;
and since the people
could not decide on whom to choose for the patron
saint,
17 Brunner, Die Versammlung vom
Kostbaren Blute, 76-78.
18
Rupert, History of St. Peter's and St. Paul's, 6.
19 Brunner, Die Versammlung vom Kostbaren Blute, 78.
20 Rupert, History of St. Peter's and St. Paul's, 6-7.
358
THE OHIO HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
Father Henni, then first pastor--though
non-resident-se-
lected Saint Michael as the patron of
the new parish.21
From that day forward, every Sunday
Sister Francisca
assembled the parish in their little
church. The rosary would
be prayed. Goffine's instructions would
be read. Then the
group in whole or in part would say
Mass prayers and sing
hymns. In the afternoon the Waldschwester
instructed the
children.22
In June 1832, six Redemptorists--three
priests and three
brothers--arrived at New York from
Austria at the invita-
tion of Bishop Fenwick to take charge
of the Indian and
German Catholic missions in Michigan.23 But, disheartened
by their meager success, the Redemptorists
sought relief from
their assignment. As soon as their
provincial gave permis-
sion, Bishop John B. Purcell, Fenwick's
successor since Sep-
tember 1832, offered to the
Redemptorist missionaries work
in northern Ohio: they would have
charge of all the German
Catholics in Crawford, Huron, Erie,
Seneca, and Wyandot
counties, with residence at the little
German settlement.24
Meanwhile, on his way to Detroit about
the end of July
1832, the Redemptorist Francis Xavier
Haetscher had stopped
there. He and Brother Aloysius Schuh
remained awhile, as
Father Frederic Rese, administrator of
the diocese of Cin-
cinnati after the death of Bishop
Fenwick and before Bishop
Purcell assumed office, had requested,
going from there to
Norwalk and Tiffin.25 In a
letter to his superior, Haetscher
wrote that at St. Michael's parish, he
"induced the settlers to
complete the church building."26
At his request a log house
21 Brunner, Die Versammlung vom Kostbaren Blute, 79.
22 Ibid., 80.
23 Michael J. Curley, Venerable John Neumann, C.SS.R., Fourth Bishop of
Philadelphia (Washington, D. C., 1952), 81. See also John A. Berger,
Life of
Right Rev. John N. Neumann, D.D. (New York, 1884), 223, and George F.
Houck, The Church in Northern Ohio
and in the Diocese of Cleveland from 1817
to September, 1887 (New York, 1887), 10.
24 Brunner, Die Versammlung vom
Kostbaren Blute, 81; Houck, The Church in
Northern Ohio, 10.
25 John Lenhart, "Francis Xavier
Haetscher, C.SS.R., Indian Missionary and
Pioneer Priest, (1832-1837)," Social
Justice Review, XLIV (1952), 309.
26 Ibid.
FRANCISCA BAUER 359
was begun for a priest's residence on
an elevation some dis-
tance from the church and on the
opposite side of the wagon
road.27
Before the Redemptorists arrived from
Michigan, Father
Henni visited the settlement again in
the spring of 1833, and
stayed about a week so that all who
could would make their
Easter duty.28
Brunner tells us that when at last the
Redemptorists
arrived, they were received with joy.29
The visiting priests
stayed with Peter Bauer;30 and Brunner
specifies that Fran-
cisca arranged her little house, built
an addition to it with
blanks and clay, and put a bed in it
for Father Tschenhens,
the head of the missionary group, as
well as daily providing
him with food.31
Certainly to be taken into
consideration at this time is the
fact that these religious priests and
brothers came from a well-
established community in Austria, where
the poverty of
American missionary life was not felt.
Consequently there
would be natural antipathies to face
and to overcome. This
eature affords an appreciable
background to the letters sent
back to their European headquarters.32
On July 3, 1833, from Norwalk, Ohio,
Tschenhens posted
letter to Joseph Passerat, his superior
in Vienna:
With the money obtained from the
diocesan board (over $200) I have
heanwhile finished and furnished the
interior of the church and have
ought more than again as much land as
the church formerly owned,
to that we possess more than 50 acres
of the best land which is suitable
or cultivation. Since the log-church
will be too small before long and
rill stand but a few years more, a new
stone church will be necessary.
since the new church is not centrally
located I took particular care,
then I bought additional land to
acquire some which is better situated,
27 Rupert,
History of St. Peter's and St. Paul's, 9.
28 Ibid.
29 Die
Versammlung vom Kostbaren Blute, 81.
30 Rupert,
History of St. Peter's and St. Paul's,
9.
31 Die Versammlung vom Kostbaren Blute,
81. See also Lenhart, "Francis
avier Haetscher," 207.
32 Ibid.
360
THE OHIO HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
so the future church will be built where
it will be centrally located.
Everything is in readiness for building
of a priest's house within a short
time. This house will be 30 feet long
and 25 feet wide and two stories
high, or as they build here, one and a
half stories high with bedrooms
in the upper part. The reason is, I
promised the congregation that I
myself would keep school, teaching both
English and German classes
and that I would have the carpenter-work
on the church and house
done by our Brothers, providing that the
congregation lends a helping
hand both in the building of the house
for 5 or 6 persons and the culti-
vation of the land, and provided that an
annual salary be paid me until
we will be able to make our living by
working the farm. The congre-
gation most willingly agreed to these
conditions, hence I hope that the
house will be finished by the end of
this year; for the Americans are
very eager to have schools and
educational institutions erected for the
education of their children and even
non-Catholics do not spare
expenses, if they have an opportunity to
place their children in such
institutions. This arrangement gives us
missionaries an additional
opportunity to do good. It is most
fortunate that a pious and educated
lady, who speaks German, English, and
French, and is most estimable
on account of her moral qualities, has
volunteered to teach the girls.
In this way God's Providence directs
everything most fittingly to the
holy end which I have in view and this
providential arrangement gives
me more and more assurance that the
entire enterprise will succeed to
satisfaction.33
He ought to have added, perhaps, that
he had changed the
name of the parish from St. Michael to
that of St. Alphon-
sus.34 Thus Father Tschenhens thought
to have honored the
founder of his community and that is
the name by which the
oldest parish in the Toledo diocese is
known today.
When September 1833 came, Sister
Francisca, true to her
word, opened her school for the girls
in a round log house
built by the farmers a short distance
from the church. Among
her ten pupils the first day were Mary
Hettel and Elizabeth
Amend.35
33 Quoted in Lenhart, "Francis
Xavier Haetscher," 205-206.
34 Brunner, Die Versammlung vom
Kostbaren Blute, 82; Houck, The Church in
Northern Ohio, 17.
35 Rupert, History of St. Peter's and St. Paul's, 14;
Lenhart, "Francis Xavier
Haetscher," 244. See also Bernhard
Beck, Goldenes Jubilaum des Wirkens der
Redemptoristenvater an der St.
Philomena-Kirche in Pittsburg und Umgegend
nebst deren Ersten Missionen in den
Vereinigten Staaten Nord-Amerikas (Pitts-
burgh, 1889), 37n.
FRANCISCA BAUER 361
About November's end Brother Joseph
Reisach, C.SS.R.,
arrived. He wrote:
When I came to Norwalk I found a
blockhouse without door and
windows and another frame building
which was to be a church. We
had no place to sleep in; therefore
Father Tschenhens left on his apos-
tolic excursions and said that he would
not return before two rooms
at least were ready.36
But the priest house was not completely
ready at all when
Bishop Purcell came on the rounds of
his first visitation in
late June or early July of 1834. It was
hay harvest time, and
the bishop stayed with Peter Bauer.37
In September 1834 Francisca opened
school again, this time
with twenty-six pupils. More than half
came four miles,
several from Norwalk proper.38 During
the winter of 1834-35
the log school was turned into a barn,
while classes were kept
in the priest house until a better one
was built by the brothers
under the supervision of Tschenhens.
The new school stood
southwest of the church.39
Francisca must have experienced a great
happiness when on
July 17, 1835, the Feast of the Most
Holy Redeemer, the
little parish of St. Alphonsus had its
first solemn Mass.40 But
with good things there also come the
bitter; and of these,
Francisca was to have her share. A
growing dissatisfaction
with living conditions engendered
accusations against a bene-
factress.
Francisca was alleged to have
interfered too much in
36 Quoted
in Beck, Goldenes Jubilaum, 36.
37 Rupert, History of St. Peter's and St. Paul's, 13.
38 Ibid., 14.
39 Ibid.
40 Rupert, History of St. Peter's and
St. Paul's, 11; Lenhart, "Francis Xavier
Haetscher," loc. cit., XLV
(1952), 21. Rupert quotes from a Life of Rt. Rev. J. N.
Neumann (p. 231) a part of the report of a Father Prost, who
arrived in July
1838: "The Father's residence is a
wretched log cabin, containing only one large
room, which is divided off into sleeping
compartments. The brothers sleep in the
garret, the flooring of which consists
of single planks laid side by side over the
beams. One has to step carefully from
one board to the other. If Brother Aloysius
should happen to fall out of bed some
night, he would pursue his downward career
to the lower story, though not, thank God, to the lower
regions." History of St.
Peter's and St. Paul's, 12.
362
THE OHIO HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
parish affairs; she, it was said,
caused disturbances by her
imprudent zeal. It is written that she
and the Redemptorist
brothers could not get along. These men had talked
impru-
dently to the people about prospective
donations from Europe
which never came and which caused a
cleavage between the
people and the priest. Now they did
similarly between Fran-
cisca and Tschenhens. She, it was
claimed, ruled the house,
commanded the brothers as if they were
servants and expected
them to live up to her ideals. They
declared that in her zeal
she demanded that they be models of
perfection and mortify
themselves. Since Tschenhens was absent
most of the time,
the brothers were without discipline.
First, Brother James
left. Then Brother Joseph was sent to
help Haetscher. Fi-
nally, to bring peace, Tschenhens
returned to Francisca all
the furniture which she had given to
them, and gradually the
woman was kept away.41
Circumstances between the priest and
the people, between
the brothers and Sister Francisca, were
in such a state that
on January 2, 1840, Tschenhens and the
Redemptorists left
the German settlement. Throughout that
year of 1840 travel-
ing missionaries like Machebeuf,
McNamee, Wuertz, and
Junker visited St. Alphonsus.42 And
when Bishop Purcell
visited there in 1841, he saw that this
state of an absentee
pastor was harmful to the parish, and
so he requested Tschen-
hens to take charge again.43 It
was there that Neumann, the
future Redemptorist bishop, found him
and stayed with him
until the middle of November. Life at
St. Alphonsus rectory
was a novitiate for Neumann under
Tschenhens.44
Meanwhile, factions arose between some
of the Catholics
living in Norwalk and those in the
settlements. Interdicts
followed quarrels, and these led to
temporary truces.45 And
with Tschenhens' second and final
departure, the Waldschwes-
41 Lenhart,
"Francis Xavier Haetscher," 206-207. See also Not With Silver and
Gold (Dayton, Ohio, 1945), a history of the Sisters of the
Congregation of the
Precious Blood, Salem Heights, Dayton,
Ohio, 1834-1944, p. 107.
42 Rupert,
History of St. Peter's and St. Paul's, 18-19.
43 Houck,
The Church in Northern Ohio, 49, 11-12.
44 Berger, Life of Neumann, 248-249.
45 Rupert, History of St. Peter's
and St. Paul's, 20-21.
FRANCISCA BAUER 363
??er's parish was without its pastor once more until 1844. In
date December 1843 the Fathers of the
Precious Blood arrived
in Cincinnati, and Bishop Purcell
assigned them in charge of
the parish of St. Alphonsus.46
Less than a month after their arrival
at St. Alphonsus, on
February 9, 1844, Francis de Sales
Brunner, leader of the
Society of the Precious Blood in
America, wrote from Nor-
walk to John Butz at Lowenberg, Canton
Graubunden,
Switzerland. There is a contrast in the
spirit of Brunner as
sound in his letter about the parish
with that of Tschenhens
in his letter to his superior in Vienna
on the same subject.
Brunner's whole approach is in an
entirely different mode:
Here in Norwalk we receive much help and
good advice from a
Valdschwester already some sixty years old; less than half a mile
from
our church, she has her little hut, and
daily brings us milk from her
row; and when anyone is ill, she is our doctor. She is an
Alsatian,
true servant of God, and recommends
herself very much to your
prayers; the Sisters should pray for
her. Her little hut is open to all
the Sisters of the Precious Blood, her
woods for wood, and her eight
crores of land for planting.47
In a second letter, dated February 21,
1844, to the same
??hn Butz, Brunner wrote:
Here one can--as far as I know there is
no opposition--introduce
perpetual adoration. And the Waldschwester
is willing to donate from
her property of eight acres for this
purpose. But I am not willing to
take it from her.48
Was Brunner putting his own wishes into
the mouth of
sister Francisca, or was he simply
recording the fact that,
influenced by his statements about the
work of the order in
Europe, Sister Francisca succeeded in
bringing to northern
ohio the Precious Blood sisters from
Lowenberg? We have
46 Houck, The Church in Northern
Ohio, 12-13. For the historical background
the Fathers of the Precious Blood, see
Paul Knapke's History of the American
Province of the Society of the
Precious Blood (Carthagena, Ohio,
1958--).
47 The letter is in the St. Charles Seminary Archives.
48 Ibid.
364
THE OHIO HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
Brunner's original account of how
Francisca was instrumen-
tal in this case:
Since the loving God had deigned to use
the old Waldschwester, in
early years in founding the parish of
St. Alphonsus, thus He also willed
she should serve to lead the Sisters of
the Precious Blood into America.
Hardly had she heard of the Sisters at
Lowenberg, she had no rest until
the most Rev. Bishop of Cincinnati
expressed his wish to have some of
the Sisters to come from Europe, partly
to instruct young girls, partly
to begin perpetual adoration in his
diocese. In 1844 on July 22, a
sister from Lowenberg accompanied by two
novices came to St. Alphon-
sus and occupied a little old
block-house next to the old Waldschwester,
and to whom several pious young ladies
in a short time joined them-
selves. The good old Waldschwester gave
a helping hand, and provided
as much as she could for them. In their
little house they soon had no
more room, and as the new building at
Wolfs Creek was able to be
inhabited by the end of December49 so
the priests gave it to the sisters.
They entered it before Christmas and
celebrated the first religious
services in the new yet incomplete
chapel on Christmas night at the
crib of their dear Saviour. The night
hours of the perpetual adoration
started. So began the Convent of St.
Mary of the Crib.50
After the Sisters of the Precious Blood
left the German
settlement in order to live at Wolfs
Creek, there arose in the
spring of 1846 a revival of trouble and
jealous rivalry between
the parishes at the settlement and at
Norwalk. Purcell came
and made a report on July 2, 1846.51
The Precious Blood fathers moved their
headquarters
from the settlement to Thompson. And by
mid-October 1847
it was no longer under the bishop of
Cincinnati, but under a
suffragan-bishop of Cleveland. A
diocesan pastor was ap-
pointed, one of its native sons, Father
Peter A. Carabin.52
Through so many changes, and through so
much distress,
Sister Francisca, who fled from the
turmoil of a European
revolution, seeking peace with God as a
recluse in America,
49 On February 17, 1845, Brunner bought
a house at Thompson's settlement, a
place now known as Marywood.
50 Brunner,
Der Versammlung vom Kostbaren Blute, 128.
51 Houck,
The Church in Northern Ohio, 49, 255.
52 Rupert,
History of St. Peter's and St. Paul's, 32; Houck, The Church in
Northern Ohio, 88.
FRANCISCA BAUER 365
was aging fast and found herself still
without the whole-
souled quiet which she so ardently
desired. The stubborn
Alsatian farmers, the Redemptorist
brothers who did not find
the flourishing community life in
Michigan and Ohio which
was theirs in Austria, the wandering
clerical renegades who
sided with rival factions of the
parish, the departure even of
the Precious Blood sisters and
priests--all this added to the
inclemencies of age and to the friction
found in pioneer life.
In her late seventies Francisca sought
a quieter haven. By
1852 she had also left the little
settlement and found refuge
with her old friends the Precious Blood
sisters in their con-
vent of St. Mary of the Angels at
Thompson. At the end of a
list of names of twenty-seven Sisters
of the Precious Blood
who lived in the Thompson convent can
be seen the name of
Sister Francisca.53 So, too,
in 1855, her name is listed again,
but this time it is second on the list
of sisters at Thompson:
"Francisca Bauer, 80, from
Pfalzburg, Alsace."54 And the
chronicle on the early history of the
sisters' community in the
United States, there is given a
description of how she spent
her final days:
The good Waldschwester Francisca
Bauer, concerning whom men-
tion has often been made, had her
little hut close to the Chapel in the
Steig,55 which she also
cared for until her death. She came early every
morning to the convent and assisted at
Mass and prayers of the Sisters
and received Holy Communion. After
breakfast, she returned to her
dear Sorrowful Mother in the Steig.56
53 Francis de Sales Brunner, Die Schwestern der Versammlung vom
kostbaren
Blute und ihre Kloster in Nord-Amerika (Einsiedeln, Switzerland, 1852), 40. A
copy of this booklet is in the St.
Charles Seminary Archives.
54 Francis de Sales Brunner, Namensverzeichniss
der Schwestern vom kostbaren
Blute nebst Angabe der im Herrn entschlafenen Bruder
und Schwestern (Freiburg,
1855).
55 The
chapel takes its name from a famous shrine in Switzerland called Maria-
Steig. The word Steig in this
instance refers to the mountain path on which the
shrine stands. The chapel at Thompson
was so called by Father Brunner when he
came to America because he wanted to establish a
similar shrine, though there is
nothing like a mountain path in the vicinity. See
Edmund L. Binsfeld, The Shrine
of the Sorrowful Mother (Marywood, Ohio, 1950).
56 Chronik der Schwestern Versammlung
vom Kostbaren Blute, gegrundet A.D.
1834-1888, p. 210. Manuscript in the
Regina Heights Archives, Dayton, Ohio.
366
THE OHIO HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
Ultimately, Sister Francisca found her
peace in a little
house in the woods beside a shrine
dedicated to the Blessed
Virgin under the title of the Sorrowful
Mother. This calm
of her final days had its climax on
August 15, 1859. Though
she never became a member of the
Precious Blood sisters'
community,57 her body lies
buried among the graves of those
religious women in the cemetery of St.
Michael's parish, now
Marywood.
57 The original Verzeichniss contains
the necrology of priests, brothers, and
sisters, 1836-1925. On page 29 is found
item 112: "S. Fransika Bauer, 15 Aug.
Thompson." On page 34 of the
Verzeichniss unserer lieben Verstorben, which is
not contemporary, but is an official
necrology, we find the sisters numbered. After
No. 79 and before No. 80 there is
inserted, "Franziska Bauer, Aug. 15, Thompson,"
thus showing Francisca was not counted
as a member of the community. Manu-
scripts in the Regina Heights Archives.
Francisca Bauer, the Sister of
the Woods
By EDMUND L. BINSFELD*
OLD THEODORE WILLIAMS of Norwalk,
Ohio, liked to remi-
nisce, and when the Rev. Frederick
Rupert, pastor at St.
Paul's Roman Catholic parish there, was
preparing what he
called an outline history of the
Catholic churches in that area,
Williams told the priest about the
early days. Among other
things, Williams said that when he was
a boy of eight, he
saw at sunset one September evening in
1828, two odd-look-
ing wagons drawn by a yoke of oxen
coming into Norwalk
along East Main Street.1
Father Rupert himself names the
immigrants in these
wagons: Peter Bauer, his wife, his six
children, and a female
relative; Anton Phillips, his wife, and
two children; Joseph
Carabin, his wife, and eight children;
and Clement Baum-
gartner.2 From a manuscript
written by Francis de Sales
Brunner, who knew these people and
later became their parish
priest, we learn that the families
migrated from Pfalzburg in
Lower Alsace and that vicinity.3 With
these pioneers as a
group or as individuals, this essay is
not concerned. Rather
it is a history of only one member in
the party, namely, Peter's
relative, Francisca Bauer.4
* Father Edmund L. Binsfeld, a member of
the Society of the Precious Blood,
is librarian at Brunnerdale Seminary, Canton, Ohio.
1 Frederick Rupert, Outline History of St. Peter's and St. Paul's
Churches,
Norwalk, O., Containing Also the Early History of St.
Alphonsus, Peru, O., and
of St. Mary's, Norwalk, O. (Norwalk, Ohio, 1899), 4.
2 Ibid.
3 Francis de Sales Brunner, Die Priester u. Bruder der Versammlung vom
Kostbaren Blute und ihre Missionshauser
in Nord-Amerika (1855), 73. Manu-
script in the St. Charles Seminary
Archives, Carthagena, Ohio.
4 Rupert identifies her as a paternal
aunt of Peter Bauer. History of St. Peter's
and St. Paul's, 5.