Bl. Maria Katherina Scherer

Katharina Scherer was born in 1825 in the canton of Lucerne, Switzerland. Her father died when she was young. On a pilgrimage to the Benedictine abbey of Einsiedeln she felt called to religious life. In 1844 she met the Capuchin friar Theodosius Florentini and joined his new community of teaching sisters, taking the name Maria Theresia.

Florentini also wanted sisters to care for the sick, orphans and the poor, and she followed him into this work. She became superior general of the Sisters of Mercy of the Holy Cross at Ingenbohl and led them for decades, through political pressure and serious debts left at the founder's death. The congregation spread well beyond Switzerland. She died in 1888 and was beatified in 1995.

Maria Katherina Scherer was beatified in 1995.

Beatification allows public veneration, usually in a particular region or religious family. Canonization extends it to the whole Church.