Sisters of Christian Charity

In 1839 Pauline's father retired from government office. From that time onward her family spent the winters in their home in Paderborn and the summers in an outlying village at an estate in Boeddeken. Every morning Pauline walked four miles in order to attend Mass in Wewelsburg. On her way home from church, the poor people in the village often stopped her and asked her to visit them at home and to care for their sick. During the winter at Paderborn, Pauline became an active member of the Ladies' Auxiliary which had been organized for the care of the sick poor in their homes. In the course of this work, she recognized another pressing need - the children of the sick women were often neglected because their mothers could not care for them. At an Auxiliary meeting, Pauline proposed a plan to open a nursery where children between the ages of two and six, whose parents were unemployed or poor laborers, could be fed and cared for during the day. The plan was accepted and, within a year's time, Pauline had 100 children in her care!

In 1842 Bishop Ledebur donated several rooms of a former Capuchin monastery to Pauline for the day nursery project. With the additional room, Pauline decided to take in blind children at the request of a family friend and physician. Pauline also converted part of the old monastery into a home for the blind children, who were often abandoned as infants by parents who could not afford to care for them.

Pauline had often thought of becoming a Sister. However, no religious community would accept both her and the blind children toward whom she felt a great responsibility. The years passed; in 1845 Pauline received a message that the monastery was to be turned into a seminary in 1847. Meanwhile Pauline had been put in charge of the newly-created institute of the blind in Paderborn. During her search for a religious community to take over the management of the institute, Pauline was repeatedly advised to found her own congregation which would minister to the blind. At the advice of Mother Clara, Pauline presented her dilemma to Bishop Claessen of Cologne. He also told her to found a religious congregation.

In September 1846 Pauline was able to procure a home for the blind children and a place for her nursery: a small house and its garden just outside the city gate. A few months later she was able to purchase a nearby, larger house and its garden into which she moved her institute.