Rome (Italy). September 22, 2025 marks the anniversary of the birth of the Servant of God Sister Antoinetta Böhm, Daughter of Mary Help of Christians. This year, in addition to celebrating her 118th birthday, we commemorate the centenary of her meeting with the FMA in the Oratory of Essen, Germany.
Sister Antonietta Böhm was born in Bottrop, Germany on 22 September 1907. Her father, Hermann, died in 1916, and her mother in 1920. Antoinette and her sister Elizabeth, who would also become an FMA, went to live in Essen with their brother. There she met the FMA in the newly inaugurated oratory in 1922.
The chronicles of the house of Essen allow us to learn about the environment that Sister Antoinette breathed in the oratory, and which fascinated her to the point of becoming a Daughter of Mary Help of Christians.
Many decades later, in 2003, Sister Antoinetta would recall that moment, saying, “The Salesian characteristic that struck me most was the amiability of the Sisters. They played in the courtyard; they sang like angels; they were simple and spontaneous; they showed profound joy; they felt their Superior like a friend; they pointed us to the cross of Jesus, but always with a smile.”
There were about six hundred girls and boys in that yard. They ran, played, sang, and laughed. What confusion! But it was a fun and attractive confusion. With them, six or seven Sisters went from place to place. Sisters playing? That was a real surprise for her.
Many years later, as a missionary in Argentina, she worked creatively to promote oratories by organizing theaters, trips, and various surprises. In Junín de los Andes, Argentina, she invited the girls to bring a friend to the oratory the following week. The chronicle of 17 February 1942 narrates, “In accordance with the wishes of the Reverend Superior, the Oratorians undertook to bring other companions to the oratory and so we arrive at the number of 64.”
And the Cronaca of 16 August 1942, says that “after catechism and the Blessing, the girls are held back with a pleasant little theater improvised by the intern girls, who present evangelical and comic scenes. At the end, the Reverend Superior proposes the foundation of the Society of Cheerfulness, charged with preparing merry entertainments for the Oratorians. They clap their hands with enthusiasm for this beautiful initiative.”
As Provincial, she will also invite the Sisters to work in the oratory. The chronicle of March 1965, of Callao, Peru, reports, “Reverend Mother Provincial gives us the gift of a much-desired visit with a truly maternal heart. She attends the theatre at the close of the Oratory. She addresses her maternal word to the 150 participants. She urges them to continue attending the Oratory faithfully, to prepare theatrical performances saying that, ‘Oratory and theater are two sisters who always have to go together’.”
Furthermore, in the chronicle of 22 March 1966, of Cusco, Peru, it is related that a Circular is read in which Mother recommends to work enthusiastically in the Festive Oratory which “is our main work”. In the chronicle of Muyurina, Bolivia, it is remembered that Mother Antoinette, as Provincial, was concerned with looking for beautiful gifts for the Oratory girls.
In the chronicle of 24 December 1967, we read, “In preparation for holy Christmas, many hearts of the little girls are made happy, since today the prizes are distributed to the oratorians who were assiduous in their assistance during the year. There are around a hundred winners. They joyfully take away their beautiful package containing clothes, aprons, blouses, linen, pieces of fabric, etc. all donated by Reverend Mother Provincial and the Sisters of Villa Victoria.”
The day and month in which Mother Antoinetta met the FMA is not known, but in her writings, she says it was 1925. On the occasion of her birthday, remembering the centenary of Mother Antoinetta’s meeting with the FMA is an opportunity to discover the origin of a great and fruitful educational vocation.
The heart of the young Antonietta not only vibrated with the Salesian Charism, but contagioned many girls and young people with that joy, that evangelical radicality, that Marian devotion which were the characteristics of her spirituality.
The deputy postulator, Sister María Guadalupe Chávez and the office of the Cause propose a video that recalls this moment, with several languages available:
