Bl. Mary Angela Truszkowska

Feastday: October 10
Death: 1899
Beatified: Pope John Paul II

Blessed Mary Angela, baptized as Sophia Camille, was born in Kalisz, Poland on May 16, 1825. Her parents, Joseph and Josephine Truszkowski, from noble families of the landed gentry, were well educated, devout Catholics and loyal patriots.

Sophia was a highly intelligent, generous, vivacious but frail child. She began her education at home under a private tutor. When the family moved to Warsaw in 1837, Sophia was enrolled in the then prestigious Academy of Madame Guerin.

Because of ill health, Sophia was withdrawn from the Academy and continued her education at home where she availed herself of her father's vast library. She read extensively and, with profound insight, studied the causes and effects of contemporary social problems. Her father, in sharing his experiences as judge in the juvenile courts, broadened her knowledge of the social evils of her day. He helped to shape her sense of justice in an unjust world.

Already from her childhood, Sophia was drawn to prayer and genuine concern for others; but it was in 1848 at the age of 23 that she experienced a great change in her spiritual life which she herself called her "conversion". This was the beginning of a more intensive interior life which manifested itself in a growing devotion to the Holy Eucharist, a greater love of prayer and a more ascetic life. She seriously considered joining the cloistered Visitation Sisters but her confessor advised her not to leave her ailing father. Later, while traveling with him through Germany, Sophia was enlightened by the Lord during her prayer in the cathedral of Cologne that, despite her love of prayer and solitude, she was destined to go among the suffering poor and to serve Christ in them through prayer and sacrifice. She became a member of the Society of St. Vincent de Paul. During the day she worked zealously for the cause of the poor and at night she prayed, constantly searching for God's will for herself.

Finally, Sophia discovered her path and forged ahead independently. By this time she had a crystallized vision of her mission. Acknowledging that the evils of her day were due to broken families, a licentious social milieu and a lack of religious and moral training, she undertook the moral and religious education of poor neglected children, gradually extending her spacious heart to the downtrodden, the exploited, the aged and homeless. With her father’s financial help and her cousin Clothilde’s assistance she rented two attic rooms. This center then became the acclaimed "Institute of Sophia Truszkowska" which began to serve as a conscience of its cultural milieu.

Here, before an icon of Our Lady of Czestochowa, Sophia - now named Angela - together with Clothilde solemnly dedicated themselves on the feast of the Presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary, November 21, 1855, to do the will of her Son, Jesus Christ, in all things. Hereafter, this was recorded as the official founding day of the Congregation of the Sisters of St.Felix of Cantalice. Mother Angela determined that the aim of her Congregation was that "in all and by all, God may be known, loved and glorified".

Mother Angela was not only a deeply spiritual woman but a truly enlightened woman of her day. Her community, unique to the then traditional religious life in Poland, was innovative in pioneering nontraditional leadership roles for women and service-oriented roles to meet the needs of the times. However, she integrated these nontraditional roles with the existing forms of religious life, thereby uniting ministry and contemplation within the framework of her own charism.

Through her life, work and personal holiness, the Foundress marked out the role and destiny of this 19th century innovation in Poland. As one of the first active-contemplative communities, her sisters actualized the Gospel message in generating needed social changes, actively survived political suppression of foreign conquerors, and assumed a vital and lasting role in the mission of the Church.

Mother Angela envisioned service for God’s kingdom on earth as all-embracing. When the Church called, the Felician Sisters responded. The myriad of ministries in which they engaged ranged from social and catechetical centers to converted makeshift hospitals for the wounded guerrilla fighters, including Russian and Polish soldiers - the oppressors with the oppressed - with a charity that made no distinctions.

For three successive terms, Mother Angela was elected as superior general of the Congregation. Her desire to multiply herself a thousand times and travel to all parts of the world, to live God’s love and teach his merciful love to all living souls was realized in God’s own way. At the age of 44, at the peak of human competency, the Foundress moved aside and placed her Congregation in the hands of another. She abandoned herself to God’s will and for 30 long years she lived in complete hiddenness suffering progressive deafness, malignant tumors, and excruciating headaches.

Despite the fact that she retired into the background, her concern for the sisters remained very much alive. As foundress and mother of the Congregation, she was the inspirator in the writing of the Constitutions, the initiator of new ministries and, above all, mother and guide to her spiritual daughters. She exerted her influence through letters, petitions, and even confrontations to bring to fruition the vision she had for her Congregation of Felician Sisters. She heartily endorsed the plan to send sisters to America and personally blessed the five pioneers as they left in 1874.

Her submission to God’s will gradually brought her to a complete union with Him in the long mystic experience of her annihilation. Hers was a spirituality of essentials. There were no extraordinary forms of prayer, no visions, ecstasies, or divine revelations. Her lasting legacy of love is the childlike love and imitation of the virtues of Mary, and the Eucharistic spirituality which she bequeathed to her spiritual daughters as a way of life. To this day every provincial house of the Congregation of Sisters of St. Felix of Cantalice has the privilege of public exposition and adoration of the Blessed Sacrament throughout the day.

Mother Mary Angela died on October 10, 1899, at 12:45 a.m. Her face, ravaged by suffering, in death took on an expression of peace and quiet dignity. Victory over death shone in the gentle countenance of her face, and the sisters claimed that she was so beautiful and pleasing to look at that they could scarcely take their eyes off her. By special authorization of the municipality of Cracow, Mother Mary Angela Truszkowska was buried in the chapel adjoining the convent of the Felician Sisters on SmolenskStreet.

For this world today, Blessed Mary Angela Truszkowska remains an example of true femininity, a woman of conviction; a woman who has dared to be prophetic; a religious who has inspired and challenged many to action and contemplation.

Blessed Mary Angela, Foundress Chapel (1936) of the Felician Sisters in Livonia, Michigan.

The Felician Sisters, officially known as the Congregation of Sisters of St. Felix of Cantalice Third Order Regular of St. Francis of Assisi (CSSF), is a religious institute of pontifical right whose members profess public vows of chastity, poverty, and obedience and follow the evangelical way of life in common. This active-contemplative religious institute was founded in Warsaw, Poland, in 1855, by Sophia Truszkowska, and named for a shrine of St. Felix, a 16th-century Capuchin saint especially devoted to children.

History

Main article: Angela Truszkowska

Foundation

When Sophia Camille Truszkowska was twelve years of age, her family moved to Warsaw where her father took up the position of Registrar of Deeds. Initially, she wished to become a Visitation nun, but in 1854 she joined the Society of St. Vincent de Paul and began to work among the poor. With her father’s financial assistance, she rented a flat in order to care for several orphaned girls and aged women. Sophia was joined in her work by her cousin and close friend, Clothilde Ciechanowska. Later that year they became lay members of the Franciscan Third Order. On the Feast of the Presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary, November 21, 1855, while praying before an icon of Our Lady of Czestochowa, they solemnly dedicated themselves to do the will of Jesus Christ in all things. Hereafter this was recorded as the official founding day of the Congregation of the Sisters of St. Felix of Cantalice.

People began calling them "Sisters of St. Felix." in reference to the shrine of St. Felix of Cantalice at a nearby Capuchin church. They were popularly referred to as "Felician Sisters," the name by which the community is still known. In 1857, she and several associates took the Franciscan habit. Sophia took the new name of Mary Angela. In 1869 health problems caused her to withdraw from administration of the Congregation. She spent the next thirty years on assignments in the garden and greenhouse, tending flowers for the chapel and in the liturgical vestment sewing room, embroidering altar cloths and chasubles. She died at the provincial house in Kraków on October 10, 1899. Mother Mary Angela Truszkowska was beatified by Pope John Paul II in 1993.

Expansion

The Felician sisters came to the United States in 1874, at the invitation of Rev. Joseph Dabrowski, pastor of St. Joseph Parish in Polonia, Wisconsin. There they taught in the parish school. Eventually some relocated to Detroit, MI, where they taught school starting in 1880 at St. Albertus's school. By 1900, they were responsible for the teaching of two-thirds of all Polish Catholic children in Poletown as they staffed St. Albertus, St. Casimir, St. Josaphat, and St. Stanislav.

In 1947 Felician Sisters of Our Lady of the Angels Province, Enfield, Connecticut, accepted an offer to purchase the Paine Private Hospital located in Bangor, Maine; the name of the facility was changed to St. Joseph Hospital.

Eventually, their work spread to Canada and Haiti.

Religious habit

Most Felician Sisters maintain the religious garb of their Foundress, Blessed Mary Angela Truszkowska, consisting of a brown habit (beige during summer months), scapular, (jacket at specified times), headdress, black veil, collar, Felician wooden crucifix suspended on tape or cord, and simple ring received at final profession. This remains a discipline in the Kraków, Przemyśl and Warsaw provinces in Poland, and a treasured tradition in the former Livonia and Enfield provinces in North America. At the 1994 General Chapter, a proposal passed allowing the sisters to wear an alternate habit consisting of a brown, black, beige or white skirt, blazer, suit or jumper along with a white blouse. Sisters wearing the alternate habit wear the Felician Crucifix along with the ring received at final profession and may wear it with our without a veil.

Ministry

The Felician Sisters have always sought to harmonize a deep spiritual and community life with dedication to diverse acts of mercy. As of 2014, there were 1,800 professed members of the Felician Sisters, with about 700 in the North American Province. They use the abbreviation/post-nominal C.S.S.F. (Congregation of the Sisters of St. Felix).

They remain active in education, operating, among other facilities, the St. Mary Child Care Center in Livonia, Michigan; Immaculate Conception High School, founded in 1915 in Lodi, New Jersey; and Villa Maria College in Buffalo, New York. Built on the site of a former Felician orphanage, Our Lady of Grace Village in Newark, Delaware is a 60-unit affordable housing community. The St. Felix Centre in Toronto, Canada offers Respite services. In Holly, Michigan, they run the Maryville Retreat Center.

Volunteers in Mission Program

As part of the Catholic Volunteer Network, the North American Province has a Felician Volunteers in Mission (VIM) program which offers both short and long-term service opportunities to lay men and women interested in partnering with the Felician Sisters to serve, with compassion, mercy and joy, the disadvantaged and underserved.

Provinces

• Immaculate Heart of Mary, Kraków, Poland (1861)
• Our Lady of Czestochowa, Przemyśl, Poland (1910)
• Our Lady Queen of Poland, Warsaw, Poland (1922)
• Nossa Senhora Aparecida, Curitiba, Paraná, Brazil (1950)
• Our Lady Mediatrix of Graces, Rome, Italy (1953) (Generalate)

In North America, the Felician Sisters have ministered primarily to Polish Americans since their arrival from Poland in 1874. The sisters provided social mobility for young Polish women. Although the congregation was involved in the care of orphans, the aged, and the sick, teaching remained its primary concern.

• Our Lady of Hope, North America (2009), an amalgamation of the following eight provinces:
  • Presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Livonia, Michigan USA (1874)
  • Immaculate Heart of Mary, Buffalo, New York USA (1900)
  • Mother of Good Counsel, Chicago, Illinois USA (1910)
  • Immaculate Conception, Lodi, New Jersey USA (1913)
  • Our Lady of the Sacred Heart, Coraopolis, Pennsylvania USA (1920)
  • Our Lady of the Angels, Enfield, Connecticut USA (1932)
  • Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Rio Rancho, New Mexico USA (1953)
  • Holy Name of Mary Mississauga, Ontario Canada (1964)