August 21, 1849
On August 21, 1849, Pauline Mallinckrodt founded the Congregation of the Sisters of Christian Charity. Pauline Mallinckrodt was born in Minden, Germany on June 3, 1817. She directed the institution for the blind in Paderborn, Germany. She founded the Congregation of the Sisters of Christian Charity on August 21, 1849. That order took charge of the school for the blind and established 20 additional houses in Germany. In 1873 sisters of the order came to the United States. Sr. Mallinckrodt came to the United States in 1873 and organized a Mother House in Wilkesbarre, Pennsylvania. She died in 1881 in Paderborn, Germany, and was beatified in 1985.
August 21, 1826
Birth of Karl Gegenbaur in Würzburg, Germany. Gegenbauer was an anatomist at the Universities of Jena and Heidelberg who demonstrated that the field of comparative anatomy offers important evidence supporting of the theory of evolution.
August 21, 1838
Death of Adelbert Chamisso in Berlin, Germany. The Chamisso family fled the terrors of the French Revolution and settled in Berlin when Adelbert was 9 years old. He became one of the most gifted writers of the Romantic period of German literature. Noted works by Chamisso include Peter Schlemihls wundersame Geschichte, Frauen-Liebe und Leben, Abdallah, and Riesenspielzeug.
