Editing Regina Protmann

{{Infobox saint
|honorific_prefix = [[Beatification|Blessed]]
|name = Regina Protmann
|birth_date = 1552
|birth_place = [[Braniewo|Braniewo (Braunsberg)]], [[Kingdom of Poland (1385-1569)|Kingdom of Poland]]
|death_date = 18 January 1613 (aged 60)
|death_place = Braunsberg 
|titles = 
|venerated_in = [[Roman Catholic Church]]
|feast_day = 18 January
|attributes = 
|patronage = Braniewo
|beatified_date = 13 June 1999
|beatified_place = [[Warsaw]], Poland
|beatified_by = [[Pope John Paul II]]
}}

[[Image:Braniewo - Bł. Regina Protmann.JPG|thumb|right|200px|A Regina Protmann memorial in [[Braniewo]].]]
'''Regina Protmann''' (1552 – 18 January 1613) was a [[Roman Catholic Church|Roman Catholic]] [[religious sister]]. She founded the [[Sisters of Saint Catherine]] and was a pioneer in the establishment of hospitals as well as schools for girls.<ref name=SEB>{{cite web|url=http://www.santiebeati.it/dettaglio/91460|title=Blessed Regina Protmann|publisher=Santi e Beati|access-date=6 February 2017}}</ref> Her first biographer was the [[Society of Jesus|Jesuit]] Engelbert Keilert who described her as an intelligent and well-versed woman with a deep faith and sense of conviction.<ref name=SQPN>{{cite web|url=http://catholicsaints.info/blessed-regina-protmann/|title=Blessed Regina Protmann|publisher=Saints SQPN|date=31 January 2017|access-date=6 February 2017}}</ref><ref name=EN>{{cite web|url=https://www.ewtn.com/library/MARY/bios99.htm|title=Biographies of New Blesseds - 1999|publisher=EWTN|access-date=6 February 2017}}</ref>

Her beatification was celebrated on 13 June 1999 in [[Warsaw]].

==Life==
Regina Protmann was born in [[Braniewo|Braniewo (Braunsberg)]] in 1552 and to Peter Protmann and Regina née Tingel. Her father was a merchant and local [[Patrician (post-Roman Europe)|patrician]]. Her uncle was a councilman.<ref name=SEB/><ref>{{cite web| url = http://www.katharinenschwestern.de/mediapool/128/1281686/data/Broschuere_Regina_Protmann_-_4-2012_.pdf| title = katharinenschwestern.de}}</ref>

Protmann became familiarized with religious and political matters during the time of the [[Protestant Reformation]] and the [[Counter Reformation]]. She joined a Marian group that the [[Jesuits]] had set up and she entrusted herself to their spiritual care.<ref name=EN/> In 1571, she explained to her parents that she could not be married as expected but was devoting herself to religious studies and taking care of the sick and poor.

Despite the opposition of her parents Protmann moved out on her own and with two other women lived in an abandoned house. The group made a living in taking care of and nursing the sick and also doing housework. During a time of [[witch-hunt]] and strict counter-measures from the [[Roman Catholic Church]] it was unheard of for women to live on their own. There were no convents for women in the area at that time.<ref name=EN/> 

Protmann persevered and, inspired by Saint [[Catherine of Alexandria]], founded one which became the congregation of the Sisters of Saint Catherine. Protmann helped to nurse the sick and educated nurses while seeing to it that nurses themselves received care when it was needed. Under the government of the prince-bishops schools for males existed alone but Protmann founded schools for girls as well.<ref name=SEB/><ref name=SQPN/>

Protmann died in 1613 after a painful illness she contracted that winter while on a travel trip.<ref name=SEB/>

===World War II and after===
The Saint Catherine of Alexandria church in [[Braunsberg]] was ruined in 1945 during its capture by the [[Soviet Union|Soviet]] forces during [[World War II]]. Braniewo was assigned to Poland. During the expulsion of the inhabitants of [[East Prussia]], including the sisters of her congregation, over 100 sisters died. It was rebuilt after 1979 and in 2001 dedicated as a [[Minor Basilica]]. On 28 June 2000, Protmann was declared the patroness of Braniewo.<ref name=SQPN/>

==Beatification==
The beatification process opened in [[Warmia]] and in [[Frascati]] in an informative that opened in 1957 and closed sometime later before it received the validation needed from the [[Congregation for the Causes of Saints]] on 19 September 1991. The Congregation for the Causes of Saints approved the cause on 27 October 1992. [[Pope John Paul II]] confirmed Protmann's [[heroic virtue]] and name her as [[venerable]] on 17 December 1996. A miracle due to her intercession was a healing that originated in [[Brazil]].<ref name=SQPN/> John Paul II beatified Protmann in [[Warsaw]] on 13 June 1999. The [[postulator]] for this cause is Sr. Józefa Krause.

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
* [http://newsaints.faithweb.com/year/1613.htm Hagiography Circle]
* [http://catholicsaints.info/blessed-regina-protmann/ Saints SQPN]

{{Portal bar|Saints|Biography|Catholicism|Poland}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Protmann, Regina}}
[[Category:1552 births]]
[[Category:1613 deaths]]
[[Category:16th-century venerated Christians]]
[[Category:17th-century venerated Christians]]
[[Category:17th-century German nuns]]
[[Category:Polish beatified people]]
[[Category:Beatifications by Pope John Paul II]]
[[Category:People from Braniewo]]
[[Category:People from Royal Prussia]]
[[Category:Venerated Catholics by Pope John Paul II]]
[[Category:16th-century German educators]]
[[Category:16th-century German Roman Catholic nuns]]
[[Category:16th-century women educators]]