Divine Providence Directs The Way

The following item is taken from the 50th Jubilee Booklet that was published by The Sisters of The Precious Blood in celebration of their Golden Anniversary as owners of Kneipp Springs Sanitorium in Rome City, IN.

In this first excerpt, the Sisters proclaim that "Divine Providence was planning and preparing" this site for future activities as far back as 1895 (something previously expressed in articles on this site in regard to Archbishop Noll's influence) and that the "magnetic mineral springs" possessed well-known curative properties (something that has also been previously expressed by numerous others in their personal testimonials on this site).

What are we dealing with here? Certainly not a concoction of a group of people who are attempting to use the Our Lady of America apparitions in an attempt to lead faithful people astray. Through the historical testimony of this fine group of devoted Sisters we see the truth. That truth is that Divine Providence has been at work here since 1895 preparing the way for the future work this Holy Ground has been consecrated to carry out.

The Kneipp Springs Sanitorium, as such, is an ethical, non-sectarian institution for the scientific treatment of patients broken in health and suffering from excessive physical or mental activity, and for those who are in need of general medical care, and for the convalescent.

The method of treatment practiced is none other than that popularized by the Right Reverened Monsignor Sebastian Kneipp of Woerishofen, Bavaria. In 1895, two years before the death of the aging Monsignor, Sister Margaret Schlachter was sent to Woerishofen to take treatments and to study the Kneipp System. As might be expected, after her return to the Motherhouse at Maria Stein, Ohio, "kneipping" became the "cure-all-remedy" for all ailments of the Sisters.




It so happened that during Sister Margaret's stay in Europe, Divine Providence was planning and preparing the site of her future sphere of activities. It was during the same year, 1895, that Dr. W.G. Geiermann, who had studied the Kneipp Cure in Woerishofen, purchased eighty acres of Hillside Springs near Rome City, Indiana from Mr. Buker with the intention of building thereon a sanitorium and a Sister's home.




In 1897, he erected what is known as the hollow block building and began practicing hydrotherapy according to the principle and methods discovered and used by Msgr. Kneipp, utilizing the magnetic mineral springs, the curative properties of which were already known.