Mother Frances Streitel: Strong in the storms of life

Amalia Frances Rose Streitel aka Mother Frances Streitel, Foundress of the Sisters of the Sorrowful Mother, and, as a Maria Stern Franciscan, known as Sister Angela. As you probably surmised from the entries above, Father Beckert repented of his actions and begged for Sister Angela to be reassigned to the Marian Institute. In one of his correspondences or by word of mouth, he says: “Tell Sister Angela I will entrust the direction to her with utmost confidence, and not only shall I keep Father Braun entirely away but myself shall also keep out of the way….”   That statement certainly must have meant a lot to Sister Angela, at least it would have been a welcomed message to my ears. One of the most difficult situations to be in, humanly speaking, for me is to be given a position and then have another person micromanage that position or interfere in its operation. Confidence is eroded, to say the least; creativity is then stretched to the hilt!  Sister Angela reveals her strength in her prayers for Father Braun, begging the Lord to “preserve him from grief such as He permitted me to have”  (May 9, 1879 Letter to Mother Salesia Ellersdorfer, her Superior General). In that same letter she prays that God’s holy will be done concerning the Marian Institute and thanks the Lord for the humiliations she endured. That she has been blessed throughout this ordeal is obvious in the following statements: “May the Lord extol me in eternity. Oh, how good the Lord is to the soul who loves Him. It will be strong in the storms of this life….In spite of insomnia and lack of appetite, I am, God be praised, well and cheerful. Never before have I felt, as I do this time, the power of sufferings borne for the love of God” (Ibid.).  Wow! What a testimony to grace working within her.  Definitely she did not get in God’s way but let God be God in working through the messiness of this situation.