Sister Thecla Franz, OSB papers
Scope and Contents
This collection includes biographical information, photographs, and limited papers. Included are two passports (one German and one American), nearest of kin infomation, prayer cards, photographs, biographical notes, photocopied news articles, obituaries, correspondence and writings (some in German), and jubilee and funeral materials. Many of these materials detail her involvment in the Altar Bread Department, which closed in 1978.
Dates
- Creation: 1927-1985
Creator
- Franz, Thecla, 1902-1985 (Person)
Conditions Governing Access
Sisters' papers are restricted for 50 years after the Sister's death. Photographs, previously published, and widely distributed materials are unrestricted.
Biographical / Historical
Sister Thecla Franz, OSB was born Maria Franz on December 3rd, 1902 in Germany. She joined the Benedictine nuns at Eichstatt, where she recieved training to be sent to the American missions. Sister joined the Chicago community on August 8th, 1927, making her perpetual vows in 1932.
Sister Thecla served as cook and housekeeper at the Saint Hilary Convent, the Saint George Convent, and at Saint Scholastica in Canon City. For forty years she worked in the Chicago Altar Bread Department, baking and cutting altar breads. She also enjoyed gardening, especially growing roses.
She died after a long illness on May 24th, 1985 at the age of 82. She is buried in All Saints Cemetery.
Extent
.1 Linear Feet
Language of Materials
English
German
Metadata Rights Declarations
- License: This record is made available under an Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International Creative Commons license.
- Title
- A Guide to Sister Thecla Franz, OSB papers
- Author
- Virginia Jung, Clara Finkelstein, Mickey Smith
- Date
- 2025-10-07
- Description rules
- Describing Archives: A Content Standard
- Language of description
- English
- Script of description
- Latin
Repository Details
Part of the Benedictine Sisters of Chicago Archives Repository
Archives
Benedictine Sisters of Chicago
7430 N. Ridge Blvd.
Chicago Illinois 60645 United States
(773) 764-2413 ext. 203
archives@osbchicago.org