Paul Joseph Nardini

Paul Joseph Nardini (25 July 1821 – 27 January 1862) was a German diocesan priest and the founder of the religious congregation of the Poor Franciscan Sisters of the Holy Family, also commonly known as the Nardini Sisters, or the Mallersdorfer Sisters from the town where they are now headquartered. He was beatified in 2006 by the Catholic Church. He is commemorated on 27 January.

Early life

Nardini was born at Germersheim in the Palatinate, then part of the Kingdom of Bavaria, to Margareta Lichtenberger, an unwed mother who gave him the name Paul Joseph Lichtenberger at his birth. The name of his father, an Austrian military engineer, has remained unknown. According to Norbert Weis, postulator in the beatification process of Paul Nardini, records suggest that Austrian aristocrat Joseph Zocchi of Morecci was likely his father.

Margareta was unemployed and thus not able to provide for herself and her son. After two years of living in deep poverty, she turned her son over to her paternal aunt, Maria Barbara Lichtenberger, who was married to Anton Nardini. The couple adopted young Paul and gave him their own surname. They loved the boy and raised him as if he had been their own son, providing him with the best education possible.

Nardini displayed extraordinary diligence in his studies and earned excellent grades. In so doing, he drew the attention of several teachers. After he completed grammar school, it became clear that Paul was interested in the priesthood. The Bishop of Speyer, Johannes von Geissel, had him admitted to the seminary at Speyer, where Nardini studied philosophy from 1841 through 1843. Upon completing his philosophy studies, he was sent to the Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München by Geissel's successor, Nikolaus von Weis. There, Nardini obtained a degree in theology, and graduated summa cum laude. Nardini was noted for his example of sacrifice, determination, self-denial and apostolic zeal, which was very important in evangelizing and drawing people to the Catholic Church in the largely Protestant area. His effectiveness as a priest, combined with his preaching and catechizing skills and his love of the Eucharist, earned him a reputation for sanctity and led to his being called the "Father of the Poor" in the community. He also asked them to help in the care of the sick. Soon after the arrival of three Sisters of the congregation, there was an outbreak of typhus in the city. The Sisters nursed the sick day and night, even bringing them into the small house Nardini had rented for them. One of them contracted the illness herself.

Founder

After two years, it became clear that the amount of work to be done was more than the Sisters could handle, and they were likely to be recalled. By then, the congregation already numbered 220 Sisters, working in 35 different locations. Pope Benedict XVI authorized the Congregation for the Causes of Saints to promulgate his cause.

He was formally beatified by Cardinal Friedrich Wetter, Archbishop of Munich in the Cathedral of Speyer, where Nardini had been ordained. Wetter read the papal bull officially recognizing Nardini as beatified. There were some 2,000 people present for the ceremony, including some 600 Poor Franciscan Sisters of the Holy Family which he founded, with thousands of others watching the ceremony on closed-circuit television in the square of the cathedral. It was the first beatification in Germany in 10 years, and the first one in which the pope himself was not present. The current bishop of Speyer, Anton Schlembach, called Nardini a "highly gifted minister" who "opened people's eyes to the necessity and beauty of the priesthood".