Congregation of the Sisters of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary (in

Polish Polish may refer to: * Anything from or related to Poland, a country in Europe * Polish language * Poles, people from Poland or of Polish descent * Polish chicken *Polish brothers (Mark Polish and Michael Polish, born 1970), American twin screenwr ...

''Zgromadzenie Sióstr Niepokalanego Poczęcia Najświętszej Marii Panny'') are a female

religious congregation A religious congregation is a type of religious institute in the Catholic Church. They are legally distinguished from religious orders – the other major type of religious institute – in that members take simple vows, whereas members of religio ...

di diritto pontificio In Catholicism "of pontifical right" is the term given to ecclesiastical institutions (religious and secular institutes, societies of apostolic life) either created by the Holy See, or approved by it with the formal decree known by the Latin nam ...

: the members of this congregation add the initials CSIC to their name''Ann. Pont. 2007'', p. 1616.

History

The congregation was founded in

Rome , established_title = Founded , established_date = 753 BC , founder = King Romulus (legendary) , image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg , map_caption ...

on November 25, 1857, by Józefa Karska with the collaboration of

Marcelina Darowska Marcelina Darowska (16 January 1827 – 5 January 1911) was a Polish religious sister who was beatified by Pope John Paul II in 1996. She was inspired to co-found the Sisters of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary, a congregat ...

(1827–1911). The widow Darowska was yet to make her solemn vows. Referred by

Aleksander Jełowicki Aleksander Jełowicki (18 December 1804 in Hubnyk - 15 April 1877 in Rome) was a Polish writer, poet, translator and publisher. He was a veteran of the November Uprising, deputy to the Sejm of Congress Poland for the Haisyn powiat and political ...

to Hieronim Kajsiewicz, co-founder of the

Resurrectionist Congregation The Resurrectionists officially named the Congregation of the Resurrection of Our Lord Jesus Christ ( la, Congregatio a Resurrectione Domini Nostri Jesu Christi), abbreviated CR is a Catholic clerical religious congregation of Pontifical Right ...

, the latter drafted the first rule for the sisters, inspired by that of the Resurrectionist Congregation. Further to the untimely death of the sickly first Mother General, Karska, in 1860, on January 17, 1863, Pope

Pius IX Pope Pius IX ( it, Pio IX, ''Pio Nono''; born Giovanni Maria Mastai Ferretti; 13 May 1792 – 7 February 1878) was head of the Catholic Church from 1846 to 1878, the longest verified papal reign. He was notable for convoking the First Vatican ...

granted her successor, Darowska, the right to move the headquarters of the congregation to

Jazłowiec Yazlovets ( uk, Язловець, Yazlovets; pl, Jazłowiec; russian: Яблуновка, Yablunovka; yi, יאַזלאָוויץ, Yazlovits; he, יאזלובייץ, Yazlovits) is a village in Chortkiv Raion, Ternopil Oblast, Ukraine. It is a ...

, in the Western

Austrian Austrian may refer to: * Austrians, someone from Austria or of Austrian descent ** Someone who is considered an Austrian citizen, see Austrian nationality law * Austrian German dialect * Something associated with the country Austria, for example: ...

-occupied part of her native

Podolia Podolia or Podilia ( uk, Поділля, Podillia, ; russian: Подолье, Podolye; ro, Podolia; pl, Podole; german: Podolien; be, Падолле, Padollie; lt, Podolė), is a historic region in Eastern Europe, located in the west-central ...

n region of Poland, in the

Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Lviv The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Lviv (of the Latins) ( la, Archidioecesis Leopolitana Latinorum) is a Metropolitan archdiocese of the Latin Church of the Catholic Church in western Ukraine. Its Cathedral archiepiscopal see is a Minor Basilica an ...

, where she received the charitable gift of an estate.DIP, vol. IV (1977), coll. 1648–1650, voce a cura di C. Zambelli. The original rule was revised in 1872 by Darowska, which highlighted the specificities of the congregation. Pius IX granted the Sisters of the Immaculate Conception a

decretum laudis The ''decretum laudis'', Latin for “decree of praise”, is the official measure with which the Holy See grants to institutes of consecrated life and societies of apostolic life the recognition of ecclesiastical institution of pontifical right. ...

on May 22, 1863, and approved the congregation on July 29, 1874. During her generalate, Darowska organised the following houses: *

(1863),

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 ...

where currently there is a retreat house named for Blessed Marcelina Darowska. *

Jarosław Jarosław (; uk, Ярослав, Yaroslav, ; yi, יאַרעסלאָוו, Yareslov; german: Jaroslau) is a town in south-eastern Poland, with 38,970 inhabitants, as of 30 June 2014. Situated in the Subcarpathian Voivodeship (since 1999), previ ...

(1875) * Niżniów (1883), now in Ukraine *

Nowy Sącz Nowy Sącz (; hu, Újszandec; yi, Tzanz, צאַנז; sk, Nový Sonč; german: Neu-Sandez) is a city in the Lesser Poland Voivodeship of southern Poland. It is the district capital of Nowy Sącz County as a separate administrative unit. It has ...

(1897) *

Słonim Slonim ( be, Сло́нім, russian: Сло́ним, lt, Slanimas, lv, Sloņima, pl, Słonim, yi, סלאָנים, ''Slonim'') is a city in Grodno Region, Belarus, capital of the Slonimski rajon. It is located at the junction of the Ščar ...

(1907), now in

Belarus Belarus,, , ; alternatively and formerly known as Byelorussia (from Russian ). officially the Republic of Belarus,; rus, Республика Беларусь, Respublika Belarus. is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe. It is bordered by R ...

* Szymanów (1908), which has been the Mother house since 1933. The co-founder, Marcelina Darowska was

beatified Beatification (from Latin ''beatus'', "blessed" and ''facere'', "to make”) is a recognition accorded by the Catholic Church of a deceased person's entrance into Heaven and capacity to intercede on behalf of individuals who pray in their nam ...

John Paul II Pope John Paul II ( la, Ioannes Paulus II; it, Giovanni Paolo II; pl, Jan Paweł II; born Karol Józef Wojtyła ; 18 May 19202 April 2005) was the head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 1978 until his ...

in 1996.

Activity and diffusion

The Sisters of the Immaculate Conception dedicate themselves to the Christian education of youth, especially girls and young women, and to parish work. In addition to Poland, the order is present in

and

. The order is headquartered in Szymanów, where the sisters are custodians of the shrine to

Our Lady of Jazłowiec Our Lady of Jazłowiec is an iconic representation in Carrara marble of Mary, mother of Jesus, commissioned in 1883 in Rome for the convent of the Sisters of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary in the historic village of Yazlov ...

. As of December 31, 2005, the congregation had 225 nuns in 13 houses.

References

External links

The official site of CSIC (in polish)
{{Catholic religious institutes Catholic religious institutes established in the 19th century Catholic female orders and societies Catholic teaching orders

History

Activity and diffusion

See also

References

External links