150 YEARS OF THE NAZARETH SISTERS

In the footsteps of Blessed Frances Siedliska in Rome (60)

Sr. M. Beata Rudzińska, CSFN

Via S. Susanna (1881) – searching for a new apartment

With Sister Gabriela’s departure, her chronicle comes to an end. Her successor, Sister Kolumba, begins the further history of Nazareth only nine months later, in March 1882. The source of information at that time is Frances’ correspondence with Sister Rafaela Lubowidzka, who remains in charge of the Roman house. Unfortunately, Sister Rafaela’s letters have not been preserved, but from the Foundress’s replies (15 letters) one can imagine the housing problems of her Sisters at that time.

After moving into “our apartment” in Krakow (temporary, on Wesoła Street), Frances intensely considers whether to leave her home in Rome. On August 15, she writes to Rafaela: “Wishing to know the Lord’s will through circumstances, I am not bringing you here until the last moment,” and two weeks later she asks: “Perhaps you, Rafaela, could come here with the novitiate?” However, in the same letter she writes: “The house in Rome is a great blessing from God and the greatest comfort for the soul in God (…) I know that without a clear indication of God’s will, we should not leave Rome completely.” For now, he only asks for Sister Michaela and Sister Luigi to come and help the Krakow community.

Due to the likely high cost of the apartment on Via Susanna, the four Sisters who remained in Rome began searching for new accommodation in September at the request of the Foundress, at least until the end of 1881. Frances first sends them to inquire with the manager of the house on the Quirinal, where they had recently lived, then Sister Rafaela informs them that she has found a house on Via Nazionale, then in the Maccao district, and another time on Via Quatro Fontane. In Krakow, Brother Stefan is just waiting for news of the apartment so that he can immediately set out to help with the move.

The desperate Foundress, having learned that the Sisters were walking around the city looking for a house (which was not safe at the time), ordered them to stop doing so until the Brother arrived. She even offered to pay extra and stay where they were. In the end, however, we do not know with whose help, the Sisters managed to rent an apartment on Via Giulio Romano, where they had already been living in 1875. On November 21, Frances writes to Sister Rafaela that Brother Stefan has already left for Rome. She herself will join them on December 11.

In Krakow, Frances leaves Sister Gabriela Lubowidzka, appointing her as the first superior of the new foundation. In letters sent every few days, she advises and encourages her in building Nazareth on Polish soil. This correspondence is a new “photograph” of Frances—her charisma as a foundress—full of wisdom, prudence, faith, and concern for those entrusted to her… But also her organizational and financial management skills! Where did all this come from in this sickly young lady from a good family? Perhaps it was not in vain that she was the great-granddaughter of a financial genius and the most influential Jew in 18th-century Warsaw – Szmul Jakubowicz (Józef Samuel Sonnenberg), known as Zbytkower. And grace builds on nature!

Photos: CSFN
Krakow, 13 Warszawska Street, house and chapel – photos from the early 20th century – Provincial Archives, Krakow