Religious Orders of Polish Origin

Some religious orders came to this country from Poland or from other countries but were Polish in their origin, their composition, administration and the control of their objectives. Felicians, or the Order of St. Felix of Cantalice, Holy Family of Nazareth, Immaculata Conception, St. Joseph and Sisters of the Holy Family are convents and orders belonging to this group.

The Felician Sisters was founded by Zofia Wanda Truszkovska in 1855 in Poland (born in Kalisz on May 16, 1825 in Warsaw). They were first interested in the misery of neglected children. Wanda Truszkowska organized "Truszkowska Institute" in Warsaw to teach and guide them. Then with the help of Bishop Francis Benjamin Szymanski and a spiritual director, Reverend Honorat Kozminski, OFM Cap, appointed by him, a congregation was established. This was a religious community of the Third Order of St. Francis of Assisi approved by Pope Pius IX and Leo XIII under the name, the Felician Sisters from St. Felix of Cantalice. Its aim was "to render service to humanity through acts of charity and to educate the younger generation". They were suppressed by the Russians and restored in Cracow (the Austrian part of Poland) where the general motherhouse was established.

With permission from Bishop Joseph Melcher of Green Bay, Father Dabrowski invited the first group of Felician Sisters to the United States. Five were selected by Mother Mary Magdalena Borowska "to go to the missions in the New World"-- Sister Mary Monica, Mary Wenceslava, Mary Cajetan, Mary Vincentia and Mary Raphael. Sister Mary Monica became the first Mother Provincial of the Felician Sisters in America.

They came to this country on November 13 and to Polonia on November 20, 1874. They were needed and the results of their labor contributed to their quick growth and visible expansion.

In 1881 they established their motherhouse in Detroit, Michigan, where they moved in the last part of September 1882. Father Dabrowski was appointed their chaplain and also moved to Detroit on that date.

The convent in Polonia was converted into an orphanage for boys, and the girls were transferred to Detroit. There Father Dabrowski installed his printing press on the ground floor of the convent. When a rectory was built, he also had a physics and mechanical laboratory there and worked on various experiments and on educating future teachers. He remained an ardent mathematician, chemist and physicist, emphasizing those fields in curricula.

Soon the Felician Sisters had an enormous influx of candidates to the order. They were scattered over five states, conducting schools in Illinois, Michigan, Indiana, New York and Wisconsin. In 1900 a new province with 150 sisters was created in Buffalo, New York. Zn 1913 this province was subdivided into Lodi, New Jersey, and Buffalo, New York. In 1934 another province was established in Infield, Connecticut. The Detroit province was divided into Detroit and Milwaukee in 1910, and later, Chicago. In 1920 a province was established in Pennsylvania (Coraopolis). By 1949 the Detroit province of the Felician Sisters alone had 700 members. They had in that province 2 orphanages, 41 centers for religious instruction for children in public schools, 44 elementary schools, 12 high schools and 1 college, Madonna. By 1950, they comprised six provinces.

In 1953, the Felician Sisters reported a membership of 3,620 sisters. Their number continued to increase in the l950’s, and at the beginning of the 1960’s they had nearly 4,000 sisters throughout 30 states and the District of Columbia, Ontario, Canada and Brazil. They operated 265 elementary schools, 162 preschool institutions, 32 high schools, 4 colleges totaling 85,000 students, as well as 302 catechism centers, 15 orphanages, 9 hospitals, 4 asylums for old people and 29 clinics. From 1874 until 1953 they offered a temporary home to more than 87,400 children in their orphanages and other institutions.

Since the 1960’s there has been a general decline in vocations, which was reflected, in a general reduction of their activities and programs. It would be premature, however, for a historian to try to assess this new trend.

Attention should also be given to the Polish Sisters of St. Joseph’s. This order developed as a result of conflicts with the German Sisters in the Franciscan Order. Tension and misunderstandings contributed to a division. In 1901 the Sisters of St. Francis decided to withdraw from teaching in the Polish parish schools, the justification being a need for more sisters in Milwaukee and in-hospital service.

The conflict centered in St. Peter’s School in Stevens Point. The pastor of that parish in 1901, Father Luke Pescinaki, could not find other sisters to substitute for those who withdrew from teaching in that school. (These pupils were to be grandparents of many students here today.) He found compassion and understanding from Bishop Messmer of Green Bay who proposed that the Polish sisters withdraw from the Sisters of St. Francis and create a new order of Polish teaching sisters.

Forty-six sisters left the Milwaukee order and created a new congregation of Sisters of St. Joseph on July 1, 1901. They selected Stevens Point as their motherhouse. At their first general chapter presided over by Bishop Messmer, Sister Mary Felicia was elected the first Mother General and Sister Mary Clara, her assistant. The need for Polish teaching sisters was visible everywhere. They were invited to come to La Crosse, Detroit and Chicago. The Holy See approved this new order on April 9, 1902.

This new order increased in number and in tasks, which they assumed. By 1936 they already had three provinces, and it became necessary for them to move their motherhouse to a better location, which they did in 1943. They moved their center that year to South Bend, Indiana. In 1966 the Sisters of St. Joseph had 1,246 sisters in five archdioceses and 14 dioceses in the United States. This revealed the beginning of some decline in vocations, experienced recently by this and many other orders, as well as in the clergy in general.

The order of Sisters of Nazareth (Siostry Nazaretanki) was founded in 1875. The first Sunday of Advent of that year is considered the official date of the founding of the order (Sister Mary De Chantal, Out of Nazareth). The sisters of that order worked in schools, hospitals and orphanages. They were active in the United States, England, Italy, and after 1953, in Australia and a certain time in Peru. In Poland they were intensively active in the Resistance Movement; ten of the sisters near Novogrodek in Poland were executed by the Nazi occupants in a mass execution.

The order of the Sisters of St. Nazareth was founded by Miss Francisaka Siedliska who accepted the name of Mary of Jesus the Good Shepherd. Later she became a superior of this order and was called Mother Mary of Jesus the Good Shepherd. She was born near Warsaw in 1842 into a family of landowners. Her mother Cecylia Morawaka was related to well-known families established in various fields of national life in Poland. Miss Franciszka Siedliska grew up in a religious and patriotic atmosphere although her father was indifferent to religious matters at the time. She witnessed the January 1863 Uprising and its consequences.

Her decision to enter an order vas postponed at the request of her father who fervently turned to religion at the end of his life but did not want his daughter to enter a convent. He died in 1870. Under the advice of her spiritual father, Reverend Leander Lendzian, she decided to take her vows in 1873 and to prepare for the foundation of a new order. This order was finally founded in Rome in 1875. The organization of this order over the territory of Russia was by that time impossible since the Russian authorities would not permit it.

The Resurrectionist Fathers were supporters and acted as guardians of this order. Since they worked in some parishes in Chicago and felt a need for the help of the sisters, they were instrumental in sponsoring the arrival of the first ten Sisters of Nazareth to Chicago at the end of the 1870’s.

This was the time when Polish immigrants began coming here in greater numbers to build their parishes and schools. Consequently, the sisters were in demand. The order attracted young women in the United States and vocations multiplied. The need-for them in schools, orphanages and hospitals was apparent.

Mother Mary of Jesus the Good Shepherd died in 1902 at the age of 60. Sister Lauretta Lubowidzka was elected the new superior, and she remained as head of that order until 1942. From 1942-46 the superior was Clara (Klara Netkowska); from 1946-59, Bozena Staczynska; from 1959-71, Neomizja Rutkowska.

By 1963 they had 115 convents in America; 16 in Poland; 5 in Australia (since 1953); a few in Italy, England and Puerto Rico. At that time they were teaching in 98 parish schools, 16 high schools, 2 colleges and 3 nursing schools. They directed 10 hospitals and taught in the catechetical centers. In total, the order had 2,400 sisters in that year.

After 1971 a decline became visible. Seventeen convents were closed because of lack of new candidates. They also withdrew from some hospitals.