VISION
Mother Irmina Hoelscher (Anna Maria Hoelscher) was born on 16thJune 1835 as the seventh child of Jacob Hoelscher and Juliana Theresia at Koblenz, Germany. She grew up in a family, where a great stress was given to traditional catholic faith. She lost her mother in 1841 and so brought by her father. She was always moved with a deep love for the poor from the very childhood. On many festive occasions, she collected money from the rich co-citizens to contribute to social needs. Fr. Philipp de Lorenzi, the then Parish Priest of the church of Our Lady in Koblenz noticed her deeds of charity and piety. Hence, he inspired Anna Maria to start a new congregation to serve the poor and needy in a more specific way. Accordingly,she along with 3 more like minded young girls started the first community on 4th June 1857. Along with her companions she made her initiation to religious life on 5th February1858, the religious name Sr. Irmina Hoelscher. She couldn’t make all her dreams realised and serve the Lord for long as she died on 28th April 1858, due to excessive work and poverty.
CHARISM
Sisters of the Holy Spirit follow the Rules of St. Augustine. The Charism of our congregation is ‘to be a living community in the Holy Spirit, and to make the working of the Holy Spirit in this world tangible to the people through us.’ This charism is lived out by serving the humanity in ‘love and compassion’.
The Charism enables the sisters to commit themselves to work intensely for building up a new community of love. The model of such community is the first Christian community in Jerusalem that was constituted by the Holy Spirit and was fully charismatic. The Holy Spirit brought people together on Pentecost and gave them an experience of oneness. It is the duty and challenge for us today to build such communities, especially in India where there are differences of race, religion, caste, culture, custom and a gulf between rich and poor. By our pledge to serve the humanity, we are called to be the voice for the voiceless, signs of unity, agents of transformation and channels of goodness to others by our being and doing, hence to implant the values of a perfect community where love reigns supreme and service give chances. As the Spirit is for freedom, flexibility, change and newness, we are challenged for a constant movement towards truth and new ways. Therefore our constitution demands of all a continual formation and enduring readiness to remain open to fresh insights.
SPIRITUALITY
The special aim of Sisters of the Holy Spirit is, “to be and to become agents of love & compassion”. It calls all the members to bear witness to this ideal. This spirituality leads all to have deeper and true love for God and a divine communion with all God’s creation especially the fellow brothers and sisters. It enables the members to be moved with compassion for the suffering humanity and channel God’s assistance in all possible ways to the needy and deserving, making our invisible God visible through our doing and being.
THE CONSTITUTION
The constitution of the Sisters of the Holy Spirit had been drafted based on the Rules of St. Augustine. It gives a great emphasis on community life. Constitution is a guideline for all members to live in a community according to the evangelical counsels and serving people by being truthful to God’s saving mission. On 1897 the constitution was revised and it was approved by the Holy See in 1903. Further it was redrafted and the new version was approved on 8thJune 2014.