The Congregation of Albertine Sisters Serving the Poor, or commonly known as the Albertine Sisters, are a
Roman Catholic
Roman or Romans most often refers to:
*Rome, the capital city of Italy
*Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD
*Roman people, the people of ancient Rome
*'' Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a lette ...
religious institute
A religious institute is a type of institute of consecrated life in the Catholic Church whose members take religious vows and lead a life in community with fellow members. Religious institutes are one of the two types of institutes of consecrate ...
of sisters.
History
Foundations
The founder
Adam Chmielowski
Albert Chmielowski (20 August 1845 – 25 December 1916) - born Adam Hilary Bernard Chmielowski - was a Polish nobleman, painter, disabled veteran of the Uprising of 1863, a professed religious and founder of both the Albertine Brothers and Albe ...
(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. The young student, however, was a strong
Polish nationalist and took part in the
January Uprising
The January Uprising ( pl, powstanie styczniowe; lt, 1863 metų sukilimas; ua, Січневе повстання; russian: Польское восстание; ) was an insurrection principally in Russia's Kingdom of Poland that was aimed at ...
of 1863, in the course of which he lost his leg.
Chmielowski was forced to flee Poland due to the repressive response of the
Czarist
Tsarist autocracy (russian: царское самодержавие, transcr. ''tsarskoye samoderzhaviye''), also called Tsarism, was a form of autocracy (later absolute monarchy) specific to the Grand Duchy of Moscow and its successor states th ...
authorities and moved to
Belgium
Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. The country is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, France to th ...
to continue his studies. During that period, he discovered that he had artistic talent, and began to develop that ability. By the time of his return to Poland in 1874, he was an accomplished painter, who became successful in Kraków.
When he returned to his homeland, Chmielowski was struck at the degree of poverty he saw. He began to help at
homeless shelter
Homeless shelters are a type of homeless service agency which provide temporary residence for homeless individuals and families. Shelters exist to provide residents with safety and protection from exposure to the weather while simultaneously r ...
s 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.
By 1887, Chmielowski had decided to abandon his career, to live among the poor and needy and to accept 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, publicly wearing the traditional gray habit of the Order and took the name Brother Albert. He began to live in the shelters. He gave himself fully to the poor.
The Congregation
Upon the completion of his year of
novitiate
The novitiate, also called the noviciate, is the period of training and preparation that a Christian ''novice'' (or ''prospective'') monastic, apostolic, or member of a religious order undergoes prior to taking vows in order to discern whether ...
on the same feast in 1888, Albert Chmielowski was allowed to profess
religious vows
Religious vows are the public vows made by the members of religious communities pertaining to their conduct, practices, and views.
In the Buddhism tradition, in particular within the Mahayana and Vajrayana tradition, many different kinds of re ...
. 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.
The first woman to dedicate herself to the cause was Anna Lubańska of the
Podlachia
Podlachia, or Podlasie, ( pl, Podlasie, , be, Падляшша, translit=Padliašša, uk, Підляшшя, translit=Pidliashshia) is a historical region in the north-eastern part of Poland. Between 1513 and 1795 it was a voivodeship with the c ...
region of Poland, later known by her religious name as Sister Frances.
The founding date of the Albertine Sisters was 15 January 1891, when the first seven sisters, including Anna Lubańska, received their
habits
A habit (or wont as a humorous and formal term) is a routine of behavior that is repeated regularly and tends to occur subconsciously. in the
Kraków
Kraków (), or Cracow, is the second-largest and one of the oldest cities in Poland. Situated on the Vistula River in Lesser Poland Voivodeship, the city dates back to the seventh century. Kraków was the official capital of Poland until 1596 ...
Bishops' Chapel, in the presence of Brother Albert Chmielowski and
Cardinal
Cardinal or The Cardinal may refer to:
Animals
* Cardinal (bird) or Cardinalidae, a family of North and South American birds
**''Cardinalis'', genus of cardinal in the family Cardinalidae
**''Cardinalis cardinalis'', or northern cardinal, the ...
Albin Dunajewski
Albin Dunajewski (born 1 March 1817 in Stanisławów - 19 June 1894 in Kraków) was a Bishop of Kraków, Poland, as well as charitable patron and high-profile social activist.
Highlights
In 1882, Albin Dunajewski ordained Brother Raphael Kalin ...
.
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.
Initially, Chmielowski had kept the congregation under his direct leadership.
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
A superior general or general superior is the leader or head of a religious institute in the Catholic Church and some other Christian denominations. The superior general usually holds supreme executive authority in the religious community, while t ...
.
Born Maria Jabłońska, she was invested on March 6, 1897. She wrote the basis of the
Constitution
A constitution is the aggregate of fundamental principles or established precedents that constitute the legal basis of a polity, organisation or other type of Legal entity, entity and commonly determine how that entity is to be governed.
When ...
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.
As the Sisters grew in number, they opened more
homeless shelter
Homeless shelters are a type of homeless service agency which provide temporary residence for homeless individuals and families. Shelters exist to provide residents with safety and protection from exposure to the weather while simultaneously r ...
s. The oldest remaining is the shelter at 47 Krakowska Street, which Chmielowski had elevated to the main shelter in 1908.
By 1916, they were active in the cities of Kraków,
Jaroslaw,
Przemyśl
Przemyśl (; yi, פשעמישל, Pshemishl; uk, Перемишль, Peremyshl; german: Premissel) is a city in southeastern Poland with 58,721 inhabitants, as of December 2021. In 1999, it became part of the Subcarpathian Voivodeship; it was pr ...
,
Zakopane
Zakopane ( Podhale Goral: ''Zokopane'') is a town in the extreme south of Poland, in the southern part of the Podhale region at the foot of the Tatra Mountains. From 1975 to 1998, it was part of Nowy Sącz Voivodeship; since 1999, it has been par ...
, and
Kandielce in Poland, and
Lviv
Lviv ( uk, Львів) is the largest city in western Ukraine, and the seventh-largest in Ukraine, with a population of . It serves as the administrative centre of Lviv Oblast and Lviv Raion, and is one of the main cultural centres of Ukraine ...
and
Sokal
Sokal ( uk, Сокаль, romanized: ''Sokal'') is a city located on the Bug River in Chervonohrad Raion, Lviv Oblast of western Ukraine. It hosts the administration of Sokal urban hromada, one of the hromadas of Ukraine. The population is appro ...
in
Ukraine
Ukraine ( uk, Україна, Ukraïna, ) is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the second-largest European country after Russia, which it borders to the east and northeast. Ukraine covers approximately . Prior to the ongoing Russian inv ...
.
At the time of Sister Bernardina's death, the Albertine Sisters numbered 500 and ran 56 institutions.
On June 19, 1926, the Albertine Sisters' leadership met with
Prince-Bishop Adam Stefan Sapieha
Prince Adam Stefan Stanisław Bonifacy Józef Cardinal Sapieha (; 14 May 1867 – 23 July 1951) was a senior-ranking Polish prelate of the Catholic Church who served as Archbishop of Kraków from 1911 to 1951. Between 1922 and 1923, he was a se ...
as part of the approval process for the Congregation. Three days later, Sapieha approved the Sisters a
congregation of diocesan right
A Congregation of diocesan right (or Institute of diocesan right) is a type of religious congregation codified by the laws of the Catholic church, wherein the congregation is under the authority of a particular local bishop, rather than that of t ...
.
On June 15, 1928, the Sisters established a new
motherhouse
A motherhouse is the principal house or community for a religious institute. It would normally be where the residence and offices of the religious superior
In a hierarchy or tree structure of any kind, a superior is an individual or position at ...
in Kraków. It held a large chapel, and a
postulate
An axiom, postulate, or assumption is a statement that is taken to be true, to serve as a premise or starting point for further reasoning and arguments. The word comes from the Ancient Greek word (), meaning 'that which is thought worthy or f ...
and
novitiate
The novitiate, also called the noviciate, is the period of training and preparation that a Christian ''novice'' (or ''prospective'') monastic, apostolic, or member of a religious order undergoes prior to taking vows in order to discern whether ...
for young entrants to the Congregation.
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
The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, ...
rule than Poland, a very Catholic country. On September 17 1955, the
Holy See
The Holy See ( lat, Sancta Sedes, ; it, Santa Sede ), also called the See of Rome, Petrine See or Apostolic See, is the jurisdiction of the Pope in his role as the bishop of Rome. It includes the apostolic episcopal see of the Diocese of Rome ...
approved the Albertine Sisters a
congregation of pontifical right, moving them from under the authority of the
Archbishop of Kraków
The Archbishop of Kraków is the head of the archdiocese of Kraków. A bishop of Kraków first came into existence when the diocese was created in 1000; it was promoted to an archdiocese on 28 October 1925. Due to Kraków's role as Poland's politic ...
to the direct authority of the
Pope
The pope ( la, papa, from el, πάππας, translit=pappas, 'father'), also known as supreme pontiff ( or ), Roman pontiff () or sovereign pontiff, is the bishop of Rome (or historically the patriarch of Rome), head of the worldwide Cathol ...
. Ten years later, the Holy See gave official approval of the Constitution of the Albertine Sisters.
Recent times
At the present time, the Albertine Sisters administer 69
foundations
Foundation may refer to:
* Foundation (nonprofit), a type of charitable organization
** Foundation (United States law), a type of charitable organization in the U.S.
** Private foundation, a charitable organization that, while serving a good cause ...
. Poland holds 53 of these, and the other 16 are distributed in Argentina, Bolivia, Italy, Russia (Siberia), the United States, Ukraine, and Vatican City.
Superior General
# First Superior General: Blessed Sister Bernardina (1902–1940)
References
1891 establishments in Poland
Catholic religious orders established in the 19th century
[{{Cite web, url=https://albertinesisters.org/about-us/, title = About Us]