Mother Frances Streitel

On March 27, 2010, Mother Frances Streitel, foundress of the Sisters of the Sorrowful Mother, was declared "Venerable" by Pope Benedict XVI. This ecclesastical decision to bestow the title of "Venerable" on Mother Frances confirms that she followed in the footsteps of Christ in an heroic degree. This also means that she can be presented as a "candidate" for beatification, which the congregation is in the process of doing.  Already as a little girl, known then as Amalia, she was drawn to Christ, wanting to unite herself with the suffering Christ. She would look for ways to suffer with Him but more importantly, as a nine year old,  she pondered the Scripture passage: "And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all things to myself" (John 12: 32).