Saint Katharina Kasper: How one woman’s dedication changed the framework of a city
Bailey Gerber | Saturday, May 24, 2025 | Originally posted on InputFortWayne.com
The roots of Fort Wayne’s healthcare can be traced back to a German woman who grew up in poverty in the early 1800s.
Katharina Kasper, who would later become a canonized saint in the Catholic Church, worked labor-intensive jobs to support her parents when she was young, but felt called to a deeper life of service. In 1851, she founded the Poor Handmaids of Jesus Christ, a community of women dedicated to caring for the poor, elderly, orphaned, and widowed.
Though the Poor Handmaids originated in Dernbach, Germany, where many sisters still reside, Kasper’s commitment to go where needs were greatest meant the women were not confined by borders.
A high population of German-speaking immigrants had settled in Fort Wayne, so Bishop John Luers, whose own family had emigrated from Germany when he was a teen, wrote to Kasper in 1868. He requested the Poor Handmaids’ help in caring for German immigrants, widows, and orphans. Kasper agreed, and more than 200 women volunteered to cross the ocean….