[1] In 1859, Maria and two other women founded a monastic community to care for orphans and neglected children.

On 20 July 1863 Konrad Martin, the Bishop of Paderborn, granted formal approval to the Sisters of Saint Francis of Perpetual Adoration.

During the Kulturkampf, an anticlerical reaction against the growing strength of the Catholic Church, the Sisters were forbidden to receive new candidates.

[4] The first missionaries arrived in Lafayette, Indiana, in December 1875 and began their work of caring for the sick.

The cause of beatification commenced under Pope John XXIII on 18 September 1961 which bestowed on her the title of Servant of God.

The Positio – which documented her life of heroic virtue – was submitted to the Congregation for the Causes of Saints which led to Pope Benedict XVI's declaration of Bonzel to be Venerable on 27 March 2010.