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THEODOR FLIEDNER (1800-1864)

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Originally appearing in Volume V10, Page 502 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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THEODOR See also:

FLIEDNER (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 . See also: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: THEODOR FLIEDNER (1800-1864)
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