150 YEARS OF THE NAZARETH SISTERS

In the footsteps of Blessed Frances Siedliska in Rome (57)

Sr. M. Beata Rudzińska, CSFN

Quirinal (1880) – move to Via Feruccio

At the end of 1880, due to changes in the management of the Pallavicini Palace, Frances Siedliska’s community had to leave their previous residence. On December 14, the sisters temporarily moved into a small house on Via Ferrucio, hoping to find a “permanent” home in the near future. The Cardinal Vicar of Rome himself participated in the search, as we know from the diary of Father Piotr Semenenko, who wrote on December 28: “I visited and congratulated Miss Siedliska, where I met Cardinal Monaco; with him and Miss Siedliska, we visited a few newly built houses in Esquilino, and the Cardinal advised us to buy a house at 1 Ferrucio Street. The proposed house was most likely in close proximity to the one where the sisters had already been living for two weeks.

Esquilino is one of the seven hills of Rome, located in the central-eastern part of the city, on which the city of Rome was built. Today, the Esquilino district covers the area from Termini Station and the Basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore to the Basilica of the Holy Cross in Jerusalem. The first property owned by the Sisters of Nazareth on Via Merulana was also located in this district, as is the current house on Via Machiavelli. After 1871, when Rome became the capital of a united Italy, the undeveloped areas of Esquilino became a huge construction site. A few years later, it was already possible to purchase a new house here.

However, December 1880 went down in the history of Nazareth not only because of the forced relocation. On December 22, Frances gathered the Sisters and asked them to “spend the three days preceding Christmas in greater spiritual concentration, preparing for such a great feast.” Contemporary Nazareth Sisters will easily find here the source of the beautiful tradition of three days of silence and reflection before the celebration of the Nativity.

But the Foundress had another, even bigger surprise for her Sisters. Let us give the floor, or rather the pen, to Sister Gabriela: “Yesterday’s Midnight Mass (the Shepherds’ Mass) in our little chapel will never leave our memories and hearts. When we had all gathered, our dear Mother approached each of the Lubowidzki Sisters before the Mass began, removed their white novice veils, and placed black veils and silver crosses around their necks. She moved the cross over Nina Zatorska’s head and covered the two postulants, Maria Ziętkiewicz and Maria (Alodia) Malentynowicz, with white novice veils. We did not expect such attire from our Mother, and what was going on in our souls is known to the Lord, whom we welcomed today as the Newborn.”

Without diminishing the importance of this act before God, it is worth mentioning here that, while awaiting legal recognition from the Church, the investiture and profession in the congregation were private in nature. It was not until 1884 that both the Foundress and the first Sisters began to make their profession according to the provisions of canon law. According to the biographer and postulator of Frances’ beatification case, the blame for this state of affairs lay with her first advisor, Fr. Piotr Semenenko, General of the Resurrectionists, who delayed dealing with these matters… Perhaps he still hoped that Frances would head the Resurrectionist Sisters, whom he so much wanted to bring into being… However, Miss Siedliska, while maintaining her friendship and gratitude towards Father Piotr, consistently pursued the goal she had discovered as God’s will for her. She had already gained this clarity after several months of acquaintance with Father Piotr, to whom she wrote on August 28, 1875: “Apart from my most sincere friendship with my dearest Father, I never thought that through our acquaintance our little House would come under the care of the Resurrectionist Fathers—for that would be contrary to our intentions and to what we should do in God. (…) Not only our little house, but also my person is in the hands of my Lord. Having once placed myself in His care, I am at peace about everything, as long as my heart always stands before Him in truth and simplicity.”

At this point, I can only think of one (youthful!) word to comment: Respect!

Photos: CSFN
House on Via Feruccio – current view