Our Founder & Co-Founders

Our Founder & Co-Founders

Bodewig - Founder of the Society of Immaculate Conception

Fr. Antonius Maria Bodewig, a German Jesuit priest, whose passionate desire to bring the Good News of Jesus to the people of India had a unique experience of a call within the call which marked a turning point in his life. Born on 2 November 1839 in Cologne, Germany to Constantine and Elisabeth, Bodewig completed his Gymnasium at the age of age 17, and joined the Society of Jesus in Münster on 21 August 1856. He made his vows in 1858 was ordained priest on May 3, 1871.

He received the mandate to go to India as a missionary in the Jesuit Province in Bombay, during the years 1872-1874 and was engaged in teaching ministry. During this period, he felt an ardent desire to work for the proclamation of the Good News to the people in India. He dreamt of establishing a Missionary Society of priests, brothers and sisters to devote concretely for the mission work in India for the welfare of women and children.

After a prolonged discernment to know that his desire to found a Congregation was God’s will, Fr. Bodewig sacrificed everything to materialize his dream, even if that meant leaving the Jesuit Society in 1888 and being incardinated in the Archdiocese of Cologne, in Germany. He took every opportunity to communicate his dream to young men and women in Germany for the mission work in India. Many joined him, and he laid foundation for the “Missionary Society of the Immaculate Conception” in Cologne in 1894.

The first group of 14 brothers and 8 sisters were sent to India in 1895 to work in Lahore and Dacca. With several unfortunate incidences caused by particular situation of his time, the undertaking ended apparently in “failure”. Fr.Bodewig died in Rome on January 8, 1915, on the night before a private audience with Pope Benedict XV, with his vision unfulfilled!

But the plan of God is marvelous and mysterious beyond the comprehension of human mind. This plan was carried on faithfully by his loyal and dedicated coworkers Br. Paul Sonntag,Mother Xaveria Blas and Cardinal Theodore innitzer.

"Unless the grain of wheat falls to the ground and dies itself, it remains alone, but if it dies, it will bring fruit in hundredfold."(Jn.12: 24)

Fr. Paul Sonntag – Cofounder of the Society of the Queen of Apostles

Fr. Paul Sonntag, the cofounder of the Missionary Society of the Queen of Apostles was born in June 9, 1875 to Karl Friedrich Sonntag and Josepha in the district of Breslau of Silesia in Central Europe. After his basic education and skill training, he joined the ‘Catholic Journeymen’s Association’, a pious organization formed in 1851 to promote religious interest and attachment towards the Church among Catholic students. During one of his journeys in 1894 Paul Sonntag listened to the fascinating talk on ‘Wonderland India’ by Father Antonius Maria Bodewig. Impressed by the talk he made a decisive step and joined the group of young men recruited by Father Bodewig in Cologne on 9th October, 1894. From that time onwards, he became a faithful disciple, an ardent supporter and a torch-bearer of Fr. Bodewig’s vision for Indian Mission.

The vision of Fr. Antonius Maria Bodewig to establish a society to bring the compassionate love of God to the wonder land of India was not fulfilled in his life time due to various reasons and circumstances followed by his death. But it was carried on faithfully by his loyal and dedicated coworkers, Br. Paul Sonntag, Mother Xaveria Blas and Cardinal Theodore Innitzer.

The fact that Paul Sonntag was enthralled by the missionary vision of Fr. Bodewig and that he worked passionately for the fulfilment of that vision is quite evident in his writings, "All my endeavours towards founding the new Society of the 'Queen of the Apostles'’ is fully in accordance with the will, the vision and the plan of our venerable Father (Fr. Bodewig). So now I shall dedicate myself with greater eagerness and renewed interest for the faster realization of our work. Our venerable Father will surely help me to do it... We are motivated only by the spirit of our Father and the good of the Congregation."

He founded the publishing company of the Catholic Mission Friends for India in 1908 and published the magazine "Licht und Liebe" (Light & love) in 1909 to make mission of India known. This association was transformed into "Catholic Mission work for India" in 1916, under the leadership of Dr. Leo Freiherr di Pauli and Dr. Theodor Innitzer, the Professor of Theology at the University of Vienna.

The long-cherished dream of Sonntag to become a priest to serve God and His people became a reality when he was 59 years of age. He was ordained a priest at Klosterneuburg, the Monastery of the Augustinians by His Excellency Most Rev. Franz Kamprath, Auxiliary Bishop of Vienna on June 29, 1934.

He and the male members of the Missionary Society of the Queen of the Apostles had to undergo much suffering by the dissolution of the male branch. but he offered everything and prayed for the welfare of souls in Silberwald where he built a church 1953 in honour of St. Nicholas of Flűe.

On January 31, 1958, at the age of 83, after a brief period of illness, Fr. Paul Sonntag, left this world for eternal rest. His personality was characterized by his priority in fulfilling the vision of Fr. Bodewig to bring the compassionate love of God to the wonder land of India, his courage to witness to the power of the cross in face of opposition and struggle, his commitment to a life of prayer and sanctity, tremendous trust in the Divine providence, and his resignation to the will of God. Every pulse beat in the heart, every moment of his life, every activity was motivated by the desire to establish the Kingdom of God and Proclaiming the Gospel to those who do not know Jesus.

Cardinal Theodore Innitzer

As a young priest and later as a university professor Dr. Theodore Innitzer noticed the zeal and enthusiasm of the members of the Queen of Apostle Society for the Indian mission and cooperated enthusiastically with Paul Sonntag and his coworkers. It was with his assistance that Br. Paul Sonnatag was able to establish in 1908 the “publishing agency for India” which later in 1916 became an “Association for the Catholic mission work for India”. Professor Innitzer was elected as the vice president of this association. On 12 October 1919 encouraged by Dr. Innitzer

Br. Sonntag took the initiative to establish the Zanana mission for women. The sisters of the early foundation who were working as nurses in Mariaveld, Rome, Trieste, Naples and Venice in Italy and some parts of Germany joined the Zanana mission sisters. Professor Innitzer became their spiritual guide and fully supported the Society in their missionary endeavor. In 1919 the Zanana Mission sisters was amalgamated with Catholic mission work for India. Dr. Innitzer cooperated in the effort of transforming the catholic mission work for India into a missionary congregation of priests, brothers and sisters. He was appointed as the Superior of the newly found Missionary society of the Queen of Apostles in 1923. He was consecrated Archbishop of Vienna in 1932, yet he continued to be the Superior of the female branch of the society.

Mother M. Xaveria Blas SRA, Cofounder, First Superior General

Mother Xaveria Blass was born on February 20, 1871 in Duisburg, Rhineland, Germany. In 1890 she came to know of the Missionary Society founded by Fr. A. M. Bodewig and joined in his work. In the year 1895 she left with Fr. Bodewig and other members for Mariaveld in Belgium. She was in charge of a hospital the society had in Rome for some years. In 1915 it was Mother Xaveria who accompanied Fr. A.M Bodewig to Rome in hope of having audience with the Holy Father, but where he died the day before his audience.

At the close of the war she joined the Zanana Mission Association, then established in Vienna. On 25 March 1920 the association of Zanana mission for women was formally founded in St. Blasien in Schwarzwald south West Germany and Mother Xaveria Blas became its first Superior.

As soon as the Congregation of the Missionary Sisters of the Queen of Apostles was canonically erected in Vienna, Sr. Xaveria joined the first group of sisters to make their canonical novitiate. After her First Profession in January 1925, she became the superior of the community at Krankenhaus der Barmherzigen Brüder Vienna, and later of the Hospital "Goldenes Kreuz".

When the present Mother House was acquired by the Congregation in 1928 Mother Xaveira was appointed Superior General, at first on a temporary basis. After her final vows in 1931, this appointment was confirmed. Mother Xaveria as one of the first members to join this missionary undertaking is considered Co-foundress as she along with Br. Sonntag, kept the flames of the original vision of Fr. Bodewig burning in their hearts, transmitted the spirit to the early members of congregation and worked painstakingly on the constitutions of the Congregation.