The Sisters of Saint Casimir 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 community of women founded in 1907 in

Scranton, Pennsylvania Scranton is a city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, United States, and the county seat of Lackawanna County, Pennsylvania, Lackawanna County. With a population of 76,328 as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 U ...

, by Mother

Maria Kaupas Maria Kaupas, S.S.C., (January 6, 1880 – April 17, 1940) was an American Catholic religious sister who founded the Sisters of Saint Casimir. She was born Casimira Kaupas in Ramygala, Russian Empire. At the age of 17, she emigrated to the Un ...

. It is dedicated to

Saint Casimir Casimir Jagiellon ( la, Casimirus; lt, Kazimieras; pl, Kazimierz; 3 October 1458 – 4 March 1484) was a prince of the Kingdom of Poland and of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. Second son of King Casimir IV Jagiellon, he was tutored by Johannes ...

patron saint A patron saint, patroness saint, patron hallow or heavenly protector is a saint who in Catholicism, Anglicanism, or Eastern Orthodoxy is regarded as the heavenly advocate of a nation, place, craft, activity, class, clan, family, or perso ...

of Lithuania.

Description

Mother Maria, a native of Lithuania, was found to have lived a life of heroic virtue by the Congregation of the Causes of Saints under

Pope Benedict XVI Pope Benedict XVI ( la, Benedictus XVI; it, Benedetto XVI; german: link=no, Benedikt XVI.; born Joseph Aloisius Ratzinger, , on 16 April 1927) is a retired prelate of the Catholic church who served as the head of the Church and the sovereign ...

in Rome on Thursday, July 1, 2010.Pope recognizes heroic virtues of founder of Chicago-based order
by Sarah Delaney, Catholic News Service, July 1, 2010 The community's early work focused on

Lithuania Lithuania (; lt, Lietuva ), officially the Republic of Lithuania ( lt, Lietuvos Respublika, links=no ), is a country in the Baltic region of Europe. It is one of three Baltic states and lies on the eastern shore of the Baltic Sea. Lithuania ...

n immigrants in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

. The order operates in

Illinois Illinois ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern United States. Its largest metropolitan areas include the Chicago metropolitan area, and the Metro East section, of Greater St. Louis. Other smaller metropolita ...

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania (; ( Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, ...

Washington, D.C. ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...

New Mexico ) , population_demonym = New Mexican ( es, Neomexicano, Neomejicano, Nuevo Mexicano) , seat = Santa Fe , LargestCity = Albuquerque , LargestMetro = Tiguex , OfficialLang = None , Languages = English, Spanish ( New Mexican), Navajo, Ker ...

and

Argentina Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República Argentina), is a country in the southern half of South America. Argentina covers an area of , making it the second-largest country in South America after Brazil, th ...

. Some institutions sponsored by the order are

Villa Joseph Marie High School Villa Joseph Marie High School is a private Roman Catholic all-girls high school in Holland, Pennsylvania. Background Villa Joseph Marie High School was established in 1932 by the Sisters of Saint Casimir. The school began as a small boarding ...

Holland, Pennsylvania Holland is an unincorporated area, unincorporated community in Northampton Township, Bucks County, Pennsylvania, Northampton Township, Bucks County, Pennsylvania, Bucks County, Pennsylvania, United States. It is located next to Newtown, Bucks Coun ...

, and Holy Cross Hospital and the former

Maria High School Maria may refer to: People * Mary, mother of Jesus * Maria (given name), a popular given name in many languages Place names Extraterrestrial *170 Maria, a Main belt S-type asteroid discovered in 1877 *Lunar maria (plural of ''mare''), large, da ...

, both in

Chicago, Illinois (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

. The Chicago institutions as well as the Sisters of St. Casimir Motherhouse are located just east of Marquette Park in a neighborhood where numerous immigrants from Lithuania settled in the early years of the twentieth century.

References

{{reflist

External links

Official Website of the Sisters of Saint Casimir
Lithuanian-American culture in Pennsylvania Catholic female orders and societies Lithuanian-American culture in Chicago History of women in Pennsylvania `