The Congregation of Albertine Sisters Serving the Poor | |
| Abbreviation | CSAPI (United States) |
|---|---|
| Formation | 15 January 1891 |
| Founder | St. Albert Chmielowski and Blessed Bernardyna Maria Jabłońska |
| Founded at | Kraków, Poland |
| Type | Roman Catholic religious institute |
| Headquarters | Krakow, Poland |
| Website | https://albertinesisters.org |
The Congregation of Albertine Sisters Serving the Poor, or commonly known as the Albertine Sisters, are a Roman Catholic religious institute of sisters.
The founder Adam Chmielowski (1845-1916), later known as Saint Brother Albert, came from an aristocratic Polish family. Orphaned at a young age, he grew up expecting to take responsibility for the family estates and studied agriculture. However, the young student was a strong Polish nationalist and participated in the January Uprising of 1863, during which he lost his leg. [1]
Chmielowski was compelled to flee Poland due to the repressive response of the Czarist authorities and moved to Belgium to continue his studies. During this period, he discovered his artistic talent and began to develop it. By the time of his return to Poland in 1874, he had become an accomplished painter and achieved success in Kraków. [1]
When he returned to his homeland, Chmielowski was struck at the degree of poverty he saw. He began to help at homeless shelters run by the city, where he grew to know the poorest segment of the population at first-hand. Over the next decade, he continued this service, while maintaining his artistic career, though he increasingly turned to religious themes. [1]
By 1887, Chmielowski had made the decision to abandon his career and live among the poor and needy, adopting a beggar's life and lifestyle. On 25 August of that year, the feast of the patron saint of the Order, Saint Louis, King of France, he became a member of the Third Order of St. Francis. He publicly wore the traditional gray habit of the Order and took the name Brother Albert. He began to reside in shelters and dedicated himself entirely to serving the poor. [1]
Upon the completion of his year of novitiate on the same feast in 1888, Albert Chmielowski was allowed to profess religious vows. At that time, he gathered other men who had expressed interest in sharing his commitment and established the Brothers of the Third Order of St. Francis, Servants of the Poor, in 1888. In the next couple of years, he worked on organizing a congregation for women to serve the poor in conjunction with his Brothers. [1] The first woman to dedicate herself to the cause was Anna Lubańska of the Podlachia region of Poland, later known by her religious name as Sister Frances. [2]
The founding date of the Albertine Sisters was 15 January 1891, when the first seven sisters, including Anna Lubańska, received their habits in the Kraków Bishops' Chapel, in the presence of Brother Albert Chmielowski and Cardinal Albin Dunajewski. [3] Officially called the Sisters of the Third Order of St. Francis Serving the Poor, the first Sisters resided in a shelter for homeless women that they founded, located in Kraków on Skawinska Street. [2]
Initially, Chmielowski had kept the congregation under his direct leadership. [2] However, as both the Brothers and Sisters grew, it is likely that this method of leadership became inadequate. On 7 April 1902, he appointed Sister Bernardina the congregation's first Superior General. [2] [3] Born Maria Jabłońska, she was invested on March 6, 1897. She wrote the basis of the Constitution of the Albertine Sisters in 1917–1918, and presided over a time of significant growth. Sister Bernardina led the congregation for 38 years, until her death on September 23, 1940. [3]
As the Sisters grew in number, they opened more homeless shelters. The oldest remaining is the shelter at 47 Krakowska Street, which Chmielowski had elevated to the main shelter in 1908. [2] By 1916, they were active in the cities of Kraków, Jaroslaw, Przemyśl, Zakopane, and Kandielce in Poland, and Lviv and Sokal in Ukraine. [2] At the time of Sister Bernardina's death, the Albertine Sisters numbered 500 and ran 56 institutions. [3] On June 19, 1926, the Albertine Sisters' leadership met with Prince-Bishop Adam Stefan Sapieha as part of the approval process for the Congregation. Three days later, Sapieha approved the Sisters a congregation of diocesan right. [3] On June 15, 1928, the Sisters established a new motherhouse in Kraków. It held a large chapel, and a postulate and novitiate for young entrants to the Congregation. [3]
In 1947, the gradual socialization of private healthcare and other charitable institutions began. Soon, the Sisters in Poland were left with little control over many of their ministries. By now, the congregation had left Ukraine, which was much more hostile under Soviet rule than Poland, a very Catholic country. On September 17 1955, the Holy See approved the Albertine Sisters a congregation of pontifical right, moving them from under the authority of the Archbishop of Kraków to the direct authority of the Pope. Ten years later, the Holy See gave official approval of the Constitution of the Albertine Sisters. [3]
At the present time, the Albertine Sisters administer 69 foundations. Poland holds 53 of these, and the other 16 are distributed in Argentina, Bolivia, Italy, Russia (Siberia), the United States, Ukraine, and Vatican City. [2]
The Order of the Visitation of Holy Mary, abbreviated VSM and also known as the Visitandines, is a Catholic religious order of Pontifical Right for women. Members of the order are also known as the Salesian Sisters or, more commonly as the Visitation Sisters.
Albert Chmielowski - born Adam Hilary Bernard Chmielowski - was a Polish Franciscan tertiary, painter, disabled veteran of the Uprising of 1863, and founder of both the Albertine Brothers and Albertine Sisters servants of the homeless and destitute.
The Third Order of Saint Francis is a third order in the Franciscan tradition of Christianity, founded by the medieval Italian Catholic friar Francis of Assisi.
Paulists, or Paulines, is the name used for Roman Catholic orders and congregations under the patronage of Paul of Thebes the First Hermit. From the time that the abode and virtues of Paul of Thebes were revealed to Antony the Abbot, various communities of hermits adopted him as their patron saint.
The Little Brothers of St. Francis were members of a Roman Catholic institute of Religious Brothers founded in the Archdiocese of Boston on September 8, 1970, by Brother James T. Curran, L.B.S.F..
The Order of Saint Paul the First Hermit, commonly called the Pauline Fathers, is a monastic order of the Catholic Church founded in Hungary during the 13th century.
The Albertine Brothers are a Catholic congregation of Religious Brothers of the Third Order Regular of St. Francis, called the Servants of the Poor. They were founded in 1888 by Albert Chmielowski in Kraków, Poland.
The Congregation of Saint Michael the Archangel abbreviated CSMA, also known as the Michaelites, is a Catholic clerical religious congregation of Pontifical Right for men founded by the Blessed Father Bronisław Markiewicz, a Polish priest from Miejsce Piastowe, Poland. The Congregation of Saint Michael the Archangel is one of the 30 officially recognized groups of the Salesian Family of Don Bosco.
The Poor Brothers of the Seraphic St. Francis, abbreviated C.F.P. are a Catholic lay religious congregation of Pontifical Right for men of the Third Order Regular of St. Francis, instituted for charitable work among orphan boys and for youth education. They commonly also use the title of Brothers of the Poor of St. Francis.
Tadeusz Bohdan Isakowicz-Zaleski was a Polish Roman Catholic and Armenian Catholic priest, author and activist. He was a leader of the anticommunist student opposition in Kraków in the late 1970s, became a Solidarity chaplain in Kraków's Nowa Huta district in the 1980s, and later an avid supporter of the lustration of the Polish Church. On 3 May 2006, he was awarded the Commander's Cross of the Order of Polonia Restituta, one of Poland's highest orders. Subsequently, in 2007, he was awarded the Order of the Smile and the Polish Ombudsman's Order of Paweł Włodkowic.
A religious brother is a member of a religious institute or religious order who commits himself to following Christ in consecrated life of the Church, usually by the vows of poverty, chastity and obedience. He is usually a layman and usually lives in a religious community and works in a ministry appropriate to his capabilities.
The Missionary Sisters of the Immaculate Conception of the Mother of God are an institute of religious sisters in the Roman Catholic Church. The congregation belongs to the Third Order Regular of St. Francis. They were founded in 1910 in Santarém, Brazil, by Armand August Bahlmann, OFM, and Mother Immaculata, both natives of Germany, to educate the children of the poor throughout the world.
Maria Jabłońska - in religious Bernardyna - was a Polish Roman Catholic professed religious and the co-founder of the Sisters Servants of the Poor (1891) that she founded alongside Albert Chmielowski.
The Bishop's Palace in Kraków is the seat of Kraków metropolitan Curia, Poland, and the traditional residence of Kraków bishops since the late 14th century. It is the second largest palace in the city after Wawel, former seat of the Polish monarchs. It is part of a monastery complex of the Franciscan religious order. Bishop's Palace is best known for being the residence of Pope John Paul II during his stays in the city. He used to give his blessings and talk to his followers from a window above the main entrance at night.
The Franciscan Hospitaller Sisters of the Immaculate Conception are members of a Roman Catholic religious institute of consecrated women, which was founded in Portugal in 1871. They follow the Rule of the Third Order Regular of St. Francis. and, as the term “hospitaller” indicates, focus their ministries on a spirit of medical care. Their charism emphasizes hospitality and service under the model of the Good Samaritan. In this congregation, the postnominal initials used after each sister's name is "F.H.I.C."
Ignacy Posadzy, SChr was a Polish Catholic priest who ministered to Polish migrants from the interwar period, through World War II and during the rule of Communist Poland. At the direction of Cardinal August Hlond, he co-founded an order dedicated to serving Polish migrants, the Society of Christ.
Jazłowiec was a Polish language Catholic lyceum founded in 1863 by the Congregation of the Sisters of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary, expressly for the education of girls and young women. It took its name from its location at the time, Jazłowiec, on the Olchowiec river, a tributary of the Strypa, 16 km south of Buchach, Tarnopol Voivodeship, Galicia, now in Ukraine. During its 80-year existence it acquired great prestige for an institution of its kind and led to the order's educational expansion across land which is now Poland, Belarus and Ukraine.