150 YEARS OF THE NAZARETH SISTERS

In the footsteps of Blessed Frances Siedliska in Rome (63)

Sr. M. Beata Rudzińska, CSFN

Via Giulio Romano – First Sunday of Advent, December 2, 1883

Despite the successful purchase of the house, the autumn of 1883 was full of inner turmoil for Frances, the painful traces of which can be found in her diary, letters, and spiritual notes. Her stay in Loreto with several Sisters was a time of “pleading and begging through the intercession of the Blessed Mother to give us the guidance we so desperately needed. Just when the lack of this light weighed most heavily on us, when we felt it most acutely,“ writes Frances in the aforementioned Report to the Chapter, “we met Father Antoni Lechert at the end of November 1883.”

Father Antoni Lechert, a priest of the Diocese of Gniezno since 1870, joined the Resurrectionists in Rome in 1878. At the time he met Frances Siedliska, he was the rector of St. Claudius Church. Some of the Sisters, especially those who did not know Italian, went there for confession. Frances herself met Father Antoni during his first visit to the house on Giulio Romano, which, according to Sister Gabriela, was due to the altar donated to the Resurrectionists, and according to Father Antoni himself, was due to a request from a Polish woman to attend a retreat at the Nazareth Sisters. The second visit, on the first Sunday of Advent, was related to the illness of one of the Sisters, a penitent of Fr. Lechert, to whom he came to administer the sacraments. Frances herself also took advantage of the opportunity to go to confession. “It must have been the first ray of light after a long time,” recalled Sister Gabriela, who had already returned from Krakow to Rome, “because after that confession I saw her uplifted and no longer so depressed.” And Frances herself wrote in her diary: “The Lord Jesus has given me a little light, peace, calm, and trust, and my soul is beginning to emerge from darkness and sorrow.” Each subsequent weekly confession reinforced these initial experiences. However, Frances was only able to truly appreciate the importance of getting to know Father Lechert after a long period of time had passed. A year later, she wrote in her diary: “The anniversary of one of the greatest graces that God has given me in His mercy: a grace that was the beginning of a series of other gifts and divine graces. This grace was the holy confession I made a year ago for the first time before our Father (…).” This gift was not only for her. Already on January 7, 1884, by decree of the Cardinal Vicar of Rome, Fr. Lechert was approved as confessor of the community. “With the arrival of our Father in our poor little house,” she wrote 12 years later, “our life was renewed, the darkness disappeared, God illuminated everything with His light, and the Congregation began to stand on solid ground.” With his help, the process of approving the Congregation, organizing its internal and external life, writing its constitution, rules, etc., began. The following year, 1884, was called by the Foundress “the year of grace.”

Frances never lost her conviction that her meeting with Father Lechert was not only a turning point for her, but also determined the very existence of the Congregation. That is why she chose the first Sunday of Advent to celebrate the anniversary of the spiritual founding of Nazareth, which took place for the first time in 1887… and so it remains to this day!

Photos: AG CSFN Archives
M. Franciszka Siedliska (1885)
Fr. Antoni Lechert CR