The importance of trained deaconesses in times of war is now well understood by the military authorities at Berlin. In the winter of 1887, when war seemed imminent, the directors of the German deaconess houses were summoned by the government to a conference at the German capital to take measures for supplying nurses in case war should be declared.
Deaconesses are now thoroughly incorporated into the religious and social features of the German national life, as must be admitted by any one who has weighed the facts that have been given.
The example of Kaiserswerth has been far-reaching; the mission of Fliedner, that simple-hearted, true-souled, practical, energetic pastor, has been wonderfully successful.
In this rapid sketch I have said but little of the095/91 hinderances he met, nothing of the ridicule which at first attacked him unsparingly. He paid no heed to these obstacles, and why should we waste time in detailing them? Steadfastly and undeviatingly he went forward toward the end he had in view; that is, to restore in all its aspects the devoted disciplined services of Christian women to the Church. He passed away from life October 5, 1864, leaving the great establishment that he had watched over in the charge of his son-in-law, Pastor Disselhoff, and other members of his family.
The institution has become an imposing mass of building, forming an almost absurd contrast to the little garden house, the cradle of the whole establishment, which is still standing in the parsonage garden.
When the fiftieth anniversary of the rise of the deaconess cause was celebrated in 1886 the Kaiserswerth sisterhood put their mites together and purchased the little house, to hold it in perpetuity as a monument of God’s providence.
The symbol of Kaiserswerth is a white dove, carrying an olive branch, resting against a blue ground. The blue flag floats from the old windmill tower on the river-bank, attracting the attention of the traveler as he floats up the Rhine.
Other flags bear messages of conquest, of victory, of battles fought and won, of storm and stress and endeavor in the conflict of man against his fellow-man. But only peace and good-will, the victory of goodness and of love—these alone are the messages that are waved forth to the wind by the blue flag of Kaiserswerth.
[1] Haus Ordnung und Dienst-Anweisung für die Diakonissen und Probeschwestern des Diakonissen Mutterhauses zu Kaiserswerth.