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FLIEDNER, THEODOR (1800-1864)

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Originally appearing in Volume V10, Page 502 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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FLIEDNER, THEODOR (1800-1864) , See also:German See also:Protestant divine, was See also:born on the 21st of See also:January ,boo at Epstein (near See also:Wiesbaden), the small See also:village in which his See also:father was paston He studied See also:theology at the See also:universities of See also:Giessen and See also:Gottingen, and at the theological See also:seminary of Herborn, and at the See also:age of twenty he passed his final examination. After a See also:year spent in teaching and See also:preaching, in 1821 he accepted a See also:call from the Protestant See also:church at See also:Kaiserswerth, a little See also:town on the See also:Rhine, a few See also:miles below See also:Dusseldorf. To help his See also:people and to provide an endowment for his church, he undertook journeys'in 1822 through See also:part of See also:Germany, and then in 1823 to See also:Holland and See also:England. He met with considerable success, and had opportunities of observing what was being done towards See also:prison reform; in England he made the acquaintance of the philanthropist See also:Elizabeth See also:Fry, The German prisons were then in a very See also:bad See also:state. The prisoners were huddled together in dirty rooms, badly fed, and See also:left in See also:complete idleness. No one dreamed of instructing them, or of See also:collecting See also:statistics to See also:form the basis of useful legislation on the subject. Fliedner, at first singly, undertook the See also:work. He applied for permission to be imprisoned for some See also:time, in See also:order that he might look at prison See also:life from the inside. This See also:petition was refused, but he was allowed to hold fortnightly services in the Dusseldorf prison, and to visit the inmates individually. Those interested in the subject banded themselves together, and on the 18th of See also:June 1826 the first Prison Society of Germany (Rheinisch-WestfalischerGefdngnisverein) was founded. In 1833 Fliedner opened in his Qwn parsonage See also:garden at Kaiserswerth a See also:refuge for discharged See also:female convicts. His circle of See also:practical philanthropy rapidly increased.

The state of the sick poor had for some See also:

Lime ex-cited his See also:interest, and it seemed to him that hospitals might be best served by an organized See also:body of specially trained See also:women. Accordingly in 1836 he began the first See also:deaconess See also:house; and the See also:hospital at Kaiserswerth. By their ordination vows the deaconesses devoted themselves to the care of the poor, the sick and the See also:young; but their engagements were not final—they might leave their work and return to See also:ordinary life if they See also:chose. In addition to these institutions Fliedner founded in 1835 an See also:infant school, then a normal school for infant school mistresses (1836), an orphanage for See also:orphan girls of the See also:middle class (1842)•, and an See also:asylum for female lunatics (1847). Moreover, he assisted at the See also:foundation and in the management of similar institutions, not only in Germany, but in various parts of See also:Europe. In 1849 he resigned his See also:pastoral See also:charge, and from 1849 to 1851 he travelled over a large part of Europe, See also:America and the See also:East —the See also:object of his journeys being to found " See also:mother houses," which were to be not merely training See also:schools for deaconesses, but also centres whence other training establishments might arise. He established a deaconess house in See also:Jerusalem, and after his return assisted by counsel and See also:money in the erection of establishments at See also:Constantinople, See also:Smyrna, See also:Alexandria and See also:Bucharest. Among his later efforts may be mentioned the See also:Christian house of refuge for female servants in See also:Berlin (connected with which other institutions soon arose) and the " house of evening See also:rest " for retired deaconesses at Kaiserswerth. In 1855 Fliedner received the degree of See also:doctor in theology from the university of See also:Bonn, in recognition rather of his practical activity than of his theological attainments. He died on the 4th of See also:October 1864, leaving behind him over See also:loo stations attended by 430 deaconesses; and these by 1876 had increased to 150 with an attendance of 600. Fliedner's son FRITZ FLIEDNER (1845-1901), after studying in See also:Halle and See also:Tubingen, became in 1870 See also:chaplain to the See also:embassy in See also:Madrid. He followed in his father's footsteps by See also:founding several philanthropic institutions in See also:Spain.

He was also the author of a number of books, amongst which was an auto-See also:

biography, Aus meinem Leben. Erinnerungen and Erfahrungen (See also:tool). Theodor Fliedner's writings are almost entirely of a practical See also:character. He edited a periodical, Der Armen and Kranken See also:Freund, which contained See also:information regarding the various institutions, and also the yearly See also:almanac of the Kaiserswerth institution. Besides purely educational and devotional See also:works, he wrote See also:Buch der Martyrer (1852) ; Kurze Geschichte der Entstehung der ersten evang. Liebesanstalten zu Kaiserswerth (1856) ; Nachricht fiber das Diakonissen-Werk in der See also:Christ. Kirche (5th ed., 1867) ; See also:Die evangel. Martyrer Ungarns and Siebenburgens; and Beschreibung der Reise nach Jerusalem and Constantinopel. All were published at Kaiserswerth. There is a See also:translation of the German life by C. Winkworth (See also:London, 1867). See also G.

Fliedner, Theodor Fliedner, kurzer Abriss seines Lebens and Wirkens (3rd ed., 1892). See also on Fliedner and his work Kaiserswerth Deaconesses (London, 1857) ; See also:

Dean See also:John S. See also:Howson's Deaconesses (London, 1862); The Service of the Poor, by E. C. See also:Stephen (London, 1871) ; W. F. See also:Stevenson's Praying and Working (London, 1865).

End of Article: FLIEDNER, THEODOR (1800-1864)

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