Anna Maria Dengel
Encyclopedia
Mother Anna Maria Dengel, S.C.M.M.
, (16 March 1892-17 April 1980) was an Austria
n physician
, Religious Sister and missionary
. She was the founder of the Medical Mission Sisters
, which was among the first congregations of Religious Sisters authorized by the Roman Catholic Church
to provide full medical care to the poor and needy in the overseas missions
.
, to Edmund Wilhelm Dengel and Maria Gertrud (Scheidle) Dengel. Anna had four brothers and sisters, and four half-brothers and sisters. After her mother died when Anna was nine, she was enrolled in the boarding school
of the Visitation monastery
in Hall in Tirol
. After completing her schooling there, she was offered a position to teach German
in Lyons
, France
. Dengel accepted the offer and taught there for two years before returning home to Austria.
physician and Catholic missionary
, Agnes McLaren
, was looking for women doctors for a hospital in Rawalpindi
, India
(now Pakistan
), which had been established to provide medical care for the Muslim
women of the region who were barred from care by male physicians. She was overjoyed and immediately wrote to McLaren of her interest, and a lively correspondence between them began. McLaren was already in her mid-70s at this time, however, and died before she and Dengel could meet, but Dengel followed the course of preparation for her mission in India which she and McLaren had set. Dengel took McLaren’s advice to attend medical school at University College in Cork
, Ireland
. In 1919, after graduating, she went to England for a nine-month internship. The following year she left for Rawalpindi to continue the work that McLaren had begun.
For four very difficult years, Dr. Dengel struggled to make an impact on the health care of the women and children in northern India. She became convinced that many more professionally trained and spiritually dedicated women were needed in order to effect real healing among the people. So she set out for the United States
to seek help.
Michael A. Mathis, C.S.C.
, and other Catholic priests, bishop
s and cardinals, about how best to meet these needs. She encountered the same barrier which her mentor, McLaren, had in her own pioneering service in healthcare to the women and children of Muslim India, namely, the prohibition in Church law
barring members of religious institues from practicing medicine.
After this experience, Dengel came to the conclusion that she needed to establish a new religious congregation dedicated to the cause. She drew up a Constitution for the congregation she had in mind and wrote that the members were “to live for God…to dedicate themselves to the service of the sick for the love of God and …to be properly trained according to the knowledge and standards of the time in order to practice medicine in its full scope, to which the Sisters were to dedicate their lives.”
Permission was granted on June 12, 1925, to begin the new congregation and on September 30 of that year, the “First Four”--Anna Dengel along with Johanna Lyons, M.D., of Chicago, Evelyn Flieger, R.N., originally from Great Britain
, and Marie Ulbrich, R.N., of Luxemburg, Iowa
—came together in Washington, D.C.
, to found the Society of Catholic Medical Missionaries.
The “First Four” were unable to profess canonical
vows because the Catholic Church had yet to approve the practice of medicine by Religious Sisters, yet they lived as Sisters just the same. Lifting this restriction had been a goal of Dengel's mentor, Agnes McLaren, who had petitioned the Vatican
to have Church authorities do so. Finally, in 1936, after the Medical Mission Sisters had grown, the Catholic Church approved Sisters’ working in medicine and all of its branches and recognized the women as a religious congregation, now known as the Sisters of the Catholic Medical Missions. The members of the Medical Mission Sisters then made their first public vows and Sister Anna Dengel was elected the first Superior General
.
, Italy
, on 17 April 1980, and a Mass of the Resurrection
was celebrated for her at the Campo Santo in the Vatican
on 21 April. Her body was buried in the Teutonic Cemetery (reserved to natives of Germanic nations serving the Catholic institutions of Rome), which is within the territory of Vatican City.
Medical Mission Sisters
The Medical Mission Sisters are a religious congregation of women in the Roman Catholic Church founded in 1925 and dedicated to providing the poor of the world better access to health care. They were formerly officially known as the "Society of the Catholic Medical Missions".-History:The...
, (16 March 1892-17 April 1980) was an Austria
Austria
Austria , officially the Republic of Austria , is a landlocked country of roughly 8.4 million people in Central Europe. It is bordered by the Czech Republic and Germany to the north, Slovakia and Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the...
n physician
Physician
A physician is a health care provider who practices the profession of medicine, which is concerned with promoting, maintaining or restoring human health through the study, diagnosis, and treatment of disease, injury and other physical and mental impairments...
, Religious Sister and missionary
Missionary
A missionary is a member of a religious group sent into an area to do evangelism or ministries of service, such as education, literacy, social justice, health care and economic development. The word "mission" originates from 1598 when the Jesuits sent members abroad, derived from the Latin...
. She was the founder of the Medical Mission Sisters
Medical Mission Sisters
The Medical Mission Sisters are a religious congregation of women in the Roman Catholic Church founded in 1925 and dedicated to providing the poor of the world better access to health care. They were formerly officially known as the "Society of the Catholic Medical Missions".-History:The...
, which was among the first congregations of Religious Sisters authorized by the Roman Catholic Church
Roman Catholic Church
The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the world's largest Christian church, with over a billion members. Led by the Pope, it defines its mission as spreading the gospel of Jesus Christ, administering the sacraments and exercising charity...
to provide full medical care to the poor and needy in the overseas missions
Catholic missions
As the church normally organizes itself along territorial lines, and because they had the human and material resources, religious orders—some even specializing in it—undertook most missionary work, especially in the early phases...
.
Early life and education
Anna Maria Dengel was born 16 March 1892, in Steeg, AustriaSteeg, Austria
Steeg is a municipality in the Austrian district of Reutte, Tyrol.-External links:...
, to Edmund Wilhelm Dengel and Maria Gertrud (Scheidle) Dengel. Anna had four brothers and sisters, and four half-brothers and sisters. After her mother died when Anna was nine, she was enrolled in the boarding school
Boarding school
A boarding school is a school where some or all pupils study and live during the school year with their fellow students and possibly teachers and/or administrators. The word 'boarding' is used in the sense of "bed and board," i.e., lodging and meals...
of the Visitation monastery
Order of the Visitation of Holy Mary
The Order of the Visitation of Holy Mary or the Visitation Order is a Roman Catholic religious order for women. Members of the order are also known as Filles de Sainte-Marie, Visitandines, Salesian Sisters and, more commonly, Visitationists.- History of the order :The Order was founded in 1610 by...
in Hall in Tirol
Hall in Tirol
Hall in Tirol is a town in the Innsbruck-Land district of Tyrol, Austria. Located at an altitude of 574 m, about 5 km east of the state's capital Innsbruck in the Inn valley, it has a population of about 12,700 .-History:...
. After completing her schooling there, she was offered a position to teach German
German language
German is a West Germanic language, related to and classified alongside English and Dutch. With an estimated 90 – 98 million native speakers, German is one of the world's major languages and is the most widely-spoken first language in the European Union....
in Lyons
Lyons-la-Forêt
Lyons-la-Forêt is a commune in the Eure department in Haute Normandie in northern France.Because of its architecture which has been maintained as it was at the beginning of the 17th century, it is also a well-known landmark within the very distinct geophysical and geocultural entity that is the end...
, France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
. Dengel accepted the offer and taught there for two years before returning home to Austria.
Career
When Anna Dengel was in her mid-20s she heard that a ScottishScottish
Scottish may refer to something of, from, or related to Scotland, a country in northern Europe, part of the United Kingdom since 1707.Scottish may also refer to:-Languages:*Scottish English, the varieties of English spoken in Scotland...
physician and Catholic missionary
Missionary
A missionary is a member of a religious group sent into an area to do evangelism or ministries of service, such as education, literacy, social justice, health care and economic development. The word "mission" originates from 1598 when the Jesuits sent members abroad, derived from the Latin...
, Agnes McLaren
Agnes McLaren
Agnes McLaren was a respected Scottish doctor who was the first to give medical assistance to women in India who, because of custom, were unable to get medical help from male doctors.-Background:...
, was looking for women doctors for a hospital in Rawalpindi
Rawalpindi
Rawalpindi , locally known as Pindi, is a city in the Pothohar region of Pakistan near Pakistan's capital city of Islamabad, in the province of Punjab. Rawalpindi is the fourth largest city in Pakistan after Karachi, Lahore and Faisalabad...
, India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
(now Pakistan
Pakistan
Pakistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan is a sovereign state in South Asia. It has a coastline along the Arabian Sea and the Gulf of Oman in the south and is bordered by Afghanistan and Iran in the west, India in the east and China in the far northeast. In the north, Tajikistan...
), which had been established to provide medical care for the Muslim
Muslim
A Muslim, also spelled Moslem, is an adherent of Islam, a monotheistic, Abrahamic religion based on the Quran, which Muslims consider the verbatim word of God as revealed to prophet Muhammad. "Muslim" is the Arabic term for "submitter" .Muslims believe that God is one and incomparable...
women of the region who were barred from care by male physicians. She was overjoyed and immediately wrote to McLaren of her interest, and a lively correspondence between them began. McLaren was already in her mid-70s at this time, however, and died before she and Dengel could meet, but Dengel followed the course of preparation for her mission in India which she and McLaren had set. Dengel took McLaren’s advice to attend medical school at University College in Cork
Cork (city)
Cork is the second largest city in the Republic of Ireland and the island of Ireland's third most populous city. It is the principal city and administrative centre of County Cork and the largest city in the province of Munster. Cork has a population of 119,418, while the addition of the suburban...
, Ireland
Ireland
Ireland is an island to the northwest of continental Europe. It is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island on Earth...
. In 1919, after graduating, she went to England for a nine-month internship. The following year she left for Rawalpindi to continue the work that McLaren had begun.
For four very difficult years, Dr. Dengel struggled to make an impact on the health care of the women and children in northern India. She became convinced that many more professionally trained and spiritually dedicated women were needed in order to effect real healing among the people. So she set out for the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
to seek help.
Foundation of the Medical Mission Sisters
Dengel spent months of travel and meetings to make the needs of India known, including discussions with the ReverendThe Reverend
The Reverend is a style most often used as a prefix to the names of Christian clergy and ministers. There are sometimes differences in the way the style is used in different countries and church traditions. The Reverend is correctly called a style but is often and in some dictionaries called a...
Michael A. Mathis, C.S.C.
Congregation of Holy Cross
The Congregation of Holy Cross or Congregatio a Sancta Cruce is a Catholic congregation of priests and brothers founded in 1837 by Blessed Father Basil Anthony-Marie Moreau, CSC, in Le Mans, France....
, and other Catholic priests, bishop
Bishop
A bishop is an ordained or consecrated member of the Christian clergy who is generally entrusted with a position of authority and oversight. Within the Catholic Church, Eastern Orthodox, Oriental Orthodox Churches, in the Assyrian Church of the East, in the Independent Catholic Churches, and in the...
s and cardinals, about how best to meet these needs. She encountered the same barrier which her mentor, McLaren, had in her own pioneering service in healthcare to the women and children of Muslim India, namely, the prohibition in Church law
Canon law (Catholic Church)
The canon law of the Catholic Church, is a fully developed legal system, with all the necessary elements: courts, lawyers, judges, a fully articulated legal code and principles of legal interpretation. It lacks the necessary binding force present in most modern day legal systems. The academic...
barring members of religious institues from practicing medicine.
After this experience, Dengel came to the conclusion that she needed to establish a new religious congregation dedicated to the cause. She drew up a Constitution for the congregation she had in mind and wrote that the members were “to live for God…to dedicate themselves to the service of the sick for the love of God and …to be properly trained according to the knowledge and standards of the time in order to practice medicine in its full scope, to which the Sisters were to dedicate their lives.”
Permission was granted on June 12, 1925, to begin the new congregation and on September 30 of that year, the “First Four”--Anna Dengel along with Johanna Lyons, M.D., of Chicago, Evelyn Flieger, R.N., originally from Great Britain
Great Britain
Great Britain or Britain is an island situated to the northwest of Continental Europe. It is the ninth largest island in the world, and the largest European island, as well as the largest of the British Isles...
, and Marie Ulbrich, R.N., of Luxemburg, Iowa
Luxemburg, Iowa
Luxemburg is a city in Dubuque County, Iowa, United States. It is part of the 'Dubuque, Iowa Metropolitan Statistical Area'. The population was 246 at the 2000 census...
—came together in Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, "the District", or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States. On July 16, 1790, the United States Congress approved the creation of a permanent national capital as permitted by the U.S. Constitution....
, to found the Society of Catholic Medical Missionaries.
The “First Four” were unable to profess canonical
Canon law (Catholic Church)
The canon law of the Catholic Church, is a fully developed legal system, with all the necessary elements: courts, lawyers, judges, a fully articulated legal code and principles of legal interpretation. It lacks the necessary binding force present in most modern day legal systems. The academic...
vows because the Catholic Church had yet to approve the practice of medicine by Religious Sisters, yet they lived as Sisters just the same. Lifting this restriction had been a goal of Dengel's mentor, Agnes McLaren, who had petitioned the Vatican
Holy See
The Holy See is the episcopal jurisdiction of the Catholic Church in Rome, in which its Bishop is commonly known as the Pope. It is the preeminent episcopal see of the Catholic Church, forming the central government of the Church. As such, diplomatically, and in other spheres the Holy See acts and...
to have Church authorities do so. Finally, in 1936, after the Medical Mission Sisters had grown, the Catholic Church approved Sisters’ working in medicine and all of its branches and recognized the women as a religious congregation, now known as the Sisters of the Catholic Medical Missions. The members of the Medical Mission Sisters then made their first public vows and Sister Anna Dengel was elected the first Superior General
Superior general
A Superior General, or General Superior, is the Superior at the head of a whole religious order or congregation.The term is mainly used as a generic term, while many orders and congregations use other specific titles, notably:* Abbot general...
.
Death and afterward
Mother Anna died in RomeRome
Rome is the capital of Italy and the country's largest and most populated city and comune, with over 2.7 million residents in . The city is located in the central-western portion of the Italian Peninsula, on the Tiber River within the Lazio region of Italy.Rome's history spans two and a half...
, Italy
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
, on 17 April 1980, and a Mass of the Resurrection
Requiem
A Requiem or Requiem Mass, also known as Mass for the dead or Mass of the dead , is a Mass celebrated for the repose of the soul or souls of one or more deceased persons, using a particular form of the Roman Missal...
was celebrated for her at the Campo Santo in the Vatican
Vatican City
Vatican City , or Vatican City State, in Italian officially Stato della Città del Vaticano , which translates literally as State of the City of the Vatican, is a landlocked sovereign city-state whose territory consists of a walled enclave within the city of Rome, Italy. It has an area of...
on 21 April. Her body was buried in the Teutonic Cemetery (reserved to natives of Germanic nations serving the Catholic institutions of Rome), which is within the territory of Vatican City.