Archives Offer Serendipity Experience for a Retreatant at St. Francis Spirituality Center
Sisters of St. Francis of Tiffin, Ohio
Archives are frequently used for genealogy requests and can lead to meaningful discoveries and connections, such as this one experienced by the archivist at the Sisters of St. Francis in Tiffin, Ohio.
In 2021, an 84-year-old woman had intended to make a retreat near her home in Cleveland, Ohio, but nothing caught her interest. She googled Catholic Retreat Centers and discovered St. Francis Spirituality Center in Tiffin, Ohio.
Upon calling to inquire about individually directed retreats, she shared that she was quite sure her father had been an orphan on the St. Francis grounds. The present archivist, Sister Judy Leibengood, found a full-page record on the woman’s father, who, along with three siblings, was raised by the Sisters. Their father brought the children in 1918 to St. Francis Orphanage following the death of their mother. Jean’s father was only six years old.
She was thrilled to see where her father’s early years were spent. After he graduated from university, he moved in 1933 to Cleveland and became an investment banker.
The Retreat Director showed her parts of the building where the children were raised. Through periodic renovations over the Community’s past 154 years, the original three-story brick building presently includes the receptionist area, Community Leadership and staff offices, chapel, library, a small archives area, two guest rooms and one floor of Sisters in assisted living.
