Prayer for vocations from the American Alexian Prayer Book

The Alexian Brothers in America celebrated the 159th anniversary of the founding of the American Mission on June 12. The 19th century was a time of great migrations, with many leaving their homeland for the "New World", the land of opportunity, America. At the beginning of 1866, Brother Bonaventure Thelen, in Aachen, Germany from Aachen arrived in New York. According to European practice, the brothers went out to the houses, ministering to their patients in their own homes, cared for the peoples in their own homes. It is likely that at that time, in Europe, people did not put much trust in the predecessors of our hospitals, the isopotyls. But in America the practice was different, and Brother Thelen soon saw the advantages of this and on 12 June he founded the first Alexandrian hospital in Chicago, in a small wooden house with 12 beds. He himself carried his first patient, in his arms, into the hospital in his arms.