90th of the affiliated Brotherhood of St. Joseph at the Monastery of St. Trudpert

On 24 March 1877 the bishop of Strasbourg, Andrea Raess, founded the Brotherhood of Saint Joseph based in the Saint Marc monastery. He did so at the request of Father Engelke, spiritual father of that monastery, and placed it in the chapel of the monastery, "taking example from the one that exists in Beauvais, based in the chapel of the pensioner of the Frères des Ecoles Chrétiennes, and with the desire that he join her." The aggregation took place on 24 July 1877. The Archconfraternity, based in Beauvais, was founded by Pope Pius IX in 1861. The document of the foundation of Bishop Raess, as well as the document of the aggregation in Beauvais, are preserved in the monastery archive.
In 1888 the religious of Beauvais, like those of all the other Congregations, were expelled from the country on orders of the anticlerical government of France. it is probable that for this reason and through the mediation of Bishop Adolf Fritzen, the Confraternity based in Saint-Marc was aggregated on 28.12.1891 to another Archconfraternity, that is, to the Pious Union of Saint Joseph Spouse of the Immaculate Virgin Mary (Erzbruderschaft des Heiligen Josef, Bräutigam der Unbefleckten Jungfrau Maria). This was founded on 19 March 1862 by the Pope, Blessed Pius IX, and elevated on 10 September of the same year to an Archconfraternity with headquarters in the parish of San Rocco in Rome. This change in membership was probably desired by the bishop of Strasbourg. For what reasons? Perhaps there were also political reasons: since 1870 Alsace had become German and the Prussian administration did not like a link with France.
In 1913, by the Roman priest Don Guanella, a new brotherhood of San Giuseppe was founded with the title: "Pia Unione del Transito di San Giuseppe" with its headquarters in Rome, in the parish church of San Giuseppe al Trionfale, later elevated to a basilica . In 1914, this brotherhood was elevated to Archconfraternity by Pope St. Pius
In February 1918 a change took place: As if such a brotherhood did not already exist, on February 23, Bishop Fritzen approved the statutes for a "Canonically Erected Brotherhood of St. Joseph" on February 27, 1918.
Subsequently, on 8 April 1918, the director of the Pious Union sent the document of the aggregation. The covering letter is found in the archive, but not the document.
The difference with the Archconfraternity of San Rocco is worth noting: true to its name, the Pious Union of the Transit of San Giuseppe places the emphasis on Joseph as the patron saint of a good death and also on the commitment to prayer for the dying.
The Archconfraternity of Saint Joseph in Beauvais continued to exist in 1888 in the chapel, despite the suppression of the pension of the Frères des Ecoles Chrétienne, and in 1914 it joined the Pious Union of the Transit of Saint Joseph in Rome. After the return of Alsace to France, which took place in November 1918, with a letter dated 3 September 1919, Rome asked whether, given the new situation, Beauvais should now be considered the center for all of France or whether it was Saint-Marc for Alsace-Lorraine. On 10 September 1919, the response of the then superior Sommereisen was: Saint-Marc remains the headquarters for Alsace-Lorraine and for Germany the headquarters should be planned in St. Trudpert.
The aggregation of the confraternity of Saint-Marc to the Pious Union, which took place in 1918, was again confirmed in a letter from the director to the Mother Superior of Saint-Marc (April 1985): "From our records it appears that the Pious Union of the Transit of Saint Joseph was founded in the Saint-Marc monastery in March 1918... Once a branch of the Pious Union has been erected, it remains so forever, barring a revocation or change of headquarters, but this is not the case." We do not know how the mother general's question was formulated.
As regards the foundation and aggregation of the brotherhood of Saint Joseph of Saint-Marc, obscurity has prevailed for years with the consequence that in correspondence and publications, different dates are cited due to lack of clarity in the archives, both in monastery of Saint-Marc, as well as in the bishopric of Strasbourg.

St. Trudpert Monastery
At the request of Mother Eutropia, the Archbishop of Freiburg (im Breisgau) founded the "Fromme Bruderschaft vom Tode des Heiligen Josef zur Hilfe der Sterbenden" on 12 January 1920 and appointed the Rev. as rector. Superior Strohmeyer (document in the St. Trudpert Archive). Shortly afterwards the aggregation to the Pious Union in Rome should have taken place, the documents should be in the Archive.
In the past, each headquarters of the Pious Union was presided over by a rector. Every change was confirmed by Rome, as can be seen from pre-war correspondence found in the Saint-Marc archive. The statutes were changed at this point. In a letter from the director of the Pious Union to the Mother General of Saint-Marc, we read: "Since the branch of the Pious Union was founded in the Mother House of her Congregation, the Mother General, for the role of the director of the Pious Union of Transit of Saint Joseph, can nominate a person from case to case - even a sister" (Letter of April 1985).

(Translation from German by Elvira Hofenbach)