Reflecting on that long history, it is easy to worry about the state of vocations. After all, the German Province is getting older and has had very few vocations in the past few years. But at the celebration, the Minister Provincial Andreas Murk reminded us that this ministry has always been in God’s hands, and in that 800 years, the friars have seen other seemingly bleak times. Of note was after the Protestant Reformation, vocations were forbidden, and by 1840 only two elderly friars were left in Wuerzburg. But then the restriction was lifted, three new friars from Padua, Italy came, and the friary again flourished!