 Sister Louisa Marthens (first American deaconess) Dr. William Passavant is credited
with bringing the first deaconesses to the U.S. During a trip to Germany he came in
contact with Pastor Theodore Fliedner who, as founder of the modern diaconate, had opened
a hospital and training school for deaconesses in Kaiserswerth. At Passavant's request, in
1849, Fliedner brought four German deaconesses to Pittsburgh to work in the Pittsburgh
Infirmary (now Passavant Hospital). Louisa Marthens, a member of Passavant's congregation,
offered her services to the deaconesses. On May 28, 1850, Sister Marthens was consecrated
as the first American deaconess. Over the next 50 years, her service centered around
establishing and managing hospitals and orphans' homes from Philadelphia to west of
Chicago. In 1859, she took four orphans from Zelienople, Pennsylvania, to Germantown to
establish the Silver Springs-Martin Luther School that operates today in Plymouth Meeting,
Pennsylvania. Sister Louisa died in 1899 at the age of 71.
< Back To The Timeline |
|