150 YEARS OF THE NAZARETH SISTERS

In the footsteps of Blessed Frances Siedliska in Rome (55)

Sr. M. Beata Rudzińska, CSFN

Quirinal (1880) – in the Nazareth community

In the Chronicle of the house from the time of their stay at the Quirinal, we find the first detailed descriptions of the Sisters’ daily life. Let us read at least some of them:

„We spent our days in prayer and housework, and twice a day we had recreation (meals were eaten in silence). Mother was very keen to instill in us a love for the Holy Church, always having in her soul the desire to offer our lives and all our deeds and prayers for the Church. That is why, during these recreations, she told us about Rome and its monuments, about the saints, about the Holy Father, and read us excerpts from newspapers concerning the Church. On Fridays, we did not have recreation, and instead we celebrated the Stations of the Cross or had half an hour of meditation on the Passion of Christ.

At home, we wore our religious habits. We had secular clothes for when we went out. Since we wore what we had brought with us from the world, after a few years our old-fashioned clothes naturally stood out from the rest, and we often heard snide remarks from passersby on the street. But we didn’t care. Anyway, we rarely went out.

Our food was very modest. We observed poverty very strictly. Above the bed was a picture of Our Lady of Loreto, on the table a cross, a prayer book with at most two pictures and the Holy Gospel—that was all we were allowed to have in our cell.

Each of us had her own duties: Sister Michaela was in charge of the black vestry (i.e., the sewing room) and sewing for the sacristy, and she also did most of the shopping. Sister Nina had the white vestry, Sister Rafaela had the sacristy and painting, Sister Gabriela usually had something to write, Sister Józefa was busy with the kitchen and housekeeping, Sister Luigia with laundry and making religious shoes, and Sister Salomea with cleaning. Mother instructed Sister Gabriela to always have catechism and sacred history with the sisters on Sundays and holidays. Sister Rafaela was to have the same with the Italian Sister (i.e., Luigia).”

It was a time that the Foundress once summed up in this way: “If we do not yet have external work, then we are doubly obliged to work internally on ourselves. After all, a soul that does not work internally on itself will certainly not be capable of external work in God’s house, because its work will bear no fruit.”

The Foundress took great care to provide assistance to the Sisters in such internal work. Many priests passed through the Nazareth Sisters’ house. And so, in just one year spent at the Quirinal, Sister Gabriela mentions the Jesuits from the American College and the Capuchins who came for daily Mass, Canon Folchieri, who celebrated Benediction on Sunday afternoons, Father Feliński, a Resurrectionist, confessor to the Sisters, Father Laurençot, a Jesuit, extraordinary confessor, and Father Semenenko, General of the Resurrectionists. Also present were the General of the Capuchins, Benigno da Genova, Cardinal Dunajewski from Krakow, and the Vicar of Rome himself, Cardinal Monaco la Valletta. In the house on the Quirinal, the Sisters had their first Easter Triduum in their chapel, as well as a retreat led by Father Feliński (until then, the retreats had been led by Frances herself).

Certainly, all this testifies not only to Frances’ concern for the spiritual life of the Sisters, but also to the kindness of many people towards the young congregation, and perhaps even more so to the personality of the Foundress, who attracted people like a magnet. “Cardinal Monaco,” writes Sister Gabriela, “was very kindly disposed towards our Congregation, but he had great respect and friendship especially for our Mother.”

Pictures:
Resurrectionists who served the Nazareth Sisters: seated second from the left – Fr. Piotr Semenenko, standing second and third from the left: Fr. Julian Feliński, Fr. Walerian Przewłocki (Resurrectionist Chapter – 1872).