| Recent |
- As of January 1, 2004 membership in the Congregation of the
Felician Sisters consists of 2,028 Professed Sisters, 35 Novices,
and 23 Postulants who share the charism of Blessed Mary Angela
in twelve countries on the continents of Africa, Europe and North
and South America: Brasil, Canada, England, Estonia, France, Italy,
Kenya, Mexico, Mozambique, Poland, Ukraine and United States
|
| 1855 |
- On November 21, the feast of the Presentation of the Blessed
Virgin Mary, before an icon of Our Lady of Czestochowa, Blessed
Mary Angela, who was known as Sophia Truszkowska at the time,
and her cousin Clothilde Ciechanowska, solemnly dedicated themselves
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.
|
| 1860 |
- The Congregation is divided into two branches: the strictly
contemplative and the contemplative active.
|
| 1864 |
- The entire Congregation is solemnly consecrated to the Immaculate
Heart of Mary.
- The government disbands the sisters and suppresses the Congregation
and all its missions in areas under Russian rule.
|
| 1865 |
- The Austrian government officially sanctions the Congregation
and authorizes it to settle in southeastern Poland. The sisters
reestablish the Congregation in a provisional motherhouse on Mikolajska
Street in Krakow.
|
| 1869 |
- Mother Angela resigns from the office of superior general. Her
term of office is completed by Mother Mary Anna Bielska.
|
| 1870 |
- The Immaculate Heart of Mary Provincial House is transferred
from its provisional location on Mikolajska Street to the newly
constructed motherhouse on Smolensk Street.
|
| 1871 |
- Mother Mary Magdalen Borowska is elected as superior general
and reelected to successive terms in 1874, 1883, 1885 and 1907.
- The contemplative branch of the Felician Sisters becomes a separate
congregation and receives official Church approval in 1924 under
the name of Capuchin Nuns.
|
| 1874 |
- The Holy See grants the Felician Sisters a Decree of Praise,
the first-step in the approval of the community's constitutions.
- Five sisters leave for America in response to the request of
Father Joseph Dabrowski who invited the Felician Sisters to teach
in his parish school in Polonia, Wisconsin. Nineteen years after
the foundation of the community in Warszawa, the pioneer sisters
to America arrive in Polonia on the eve of the feast of the Presentation
of the Blessed Virgin Mary, the beginning of the Felician Sisters'
American foundation.
|
| 1882 |
- The motherhouse of the Presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary
Province in Polonia, Wisconsin is transferred to Detroit, Michigan.
|
| 1883 |
- The Felician Sisters are given the privilege of daily exposition
of the Blessed Sacrament at the provincial house of the Immaculate
Heart of Mary in Krakow. In later years this privilege was granted
to all provincial houses of the Congregation.
|
| 1899 |
- The Felician Sisters receive final approbation of the Congregation
and temporary approval of the constitutions.
- On October 10, Blessed Mary Angela Truszkowska is called to
her eternal reward.
|
| 1900 |
- The second American province, Immaculate Heart of Mary, is officially
established in Buffalo, New York.
|
| 1907 |
- The Holy See grants a decree of final approbation of the Congregation
and approval of the constitutions.
|
| 1909 |
- The generalate of the Felician Sisters, which had been situated
in the provincial motherhouse on Smolensk Street, in Krakow is
transferred to new quarters on Batory Street in the same city.
|
| 1910 |
- The second Polish province, Our Lady of Czestochowa, is established
in Lwow, Poland.
- The third American province, Mother of Good Counsel, is established
in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
|
| 1913 |
- The fourth American province, Immaculate Conception, is established
in Lodi, New Jersey.
|
| 1915 |
- Mother Mary Magdalen Borowska, third superior general, dies
in Poland. Because a general chapter of elections could not be
convened during World War I, Mother Mary Honorata Kummer, vicar
general, assumes responsibilities of the superior general for
the next five years.
|
| 1920 |
- Mother Mary Bonaventure Stawska is elected as fourth superior
general.
- The Congregation's constitutions were modified in accordance
with the new code of canon law and were duly approved.
- The fifth American province, Our Lady of the Sacred Heart, is
established in McKeesport, Pennsylvania.
|
| 1922 |
- The third Polish province, Our Lady Queen of Poland, is established
in Wawer, a suburb of Warszawa.
|
| 1927 |
- The Mother of Good Counsel Province is transferred from Milwaukee,
Wisconsin to Chicago, Illinois.
|
| 1932 |
- Mother Mary Pia Schweda of Chicago is elected as the fifth superior
general and the first American to fill this position.
- The Our Lady of the Sacred Heart provincial house is transferred
from McKeesport to Coraopolis, Pennsylvania.
- The sixth American province, Our Lady of the Angels, is established
in Enfield, Connecticut.
|
| 1936 |
- The Presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary provincial house
is transferred from Detroit to Livonia, Michigan.
|
| 1937 |
- The Immaculate Heart of Mary Province, Buffalo establishes a
mission in Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
|
| 1946 |
- Mother Mary Simplicita Nehring of Buffalo is elected as the
sixth superior general.
- A central house, which was to become the Our Lady of Czestochowa
provincialate, is established in Przemysl for the sisters of the
Lwow province who were expelled from their provincial house and
missions by the Russians in the aftermath of World War II.
|
| 1950 |
- The generalate is transferred from Krakow, Poland to a temporary
location in Ponca City, Oklahoma.
- The Congregation begins a mission in Niteroi, Rio de Janeiro,
Brasil.
|
| 1953 |
- The Congregation's first extraordinary general chapter is convened
in Ponca City, Oklahoma.
- The generalate is transferred to Rome, Italy under the title
of Our Lady Mediatrix of Graces.
- The mission in Canada becomes a provincial commissariat under
the jurisdiction of the Buffalo province.
- The mission in Brasil becomes a general commissariat subsidized
by the generalate.
- The seventh American province, the Assumption of the Blessed
Virgin Mary, is established in Ponca City, Oklahoma.
|
| 1956 |
- A revised edition of the Constitutions of 1920 is approved.
- The motherhouse of the provincial commissariat in Canada is
transferred from Toronto to Mississauga, Ontario.
|
| 1958 |
- Mother Mary Alexander Kucharska of Buffalo is elected as the
seventh superior general and reelected for a second term in 1965.
|
| 1965 |
- The General Chapter of 1965 raised the general commissariat
in Brasil to the status of Our Lady of the Assumption Vice Province.
- The General Chapter raised the status of the provincial commissariat
in Canada to the Holy Name of Mary Vice Province.
- The motherhouse in Niteroi, is transferred to Curitiba, Parana,
Brasil.
|
| 1966 |
- The Annunciation of the Blessed Virgin Mary Vice Province is
established in Saginaw, Michigan under the jurisdiction of the
Livonia province.
|
| 1968 |
- The Special General Chapter of 1968 issues the Interim Constitutions
and Decrees to activate on an experimental basis "the
renewal and adaptation of the life of the Congregation in accordance
with the Council documents and post conciliar norms."
|
| 1970 |
- Mother Mary Virginette Chlebowska of Lodi is elected as the
eighth superior general.
- The Annunciation of the Blessed Virgin Mary Vice Province is
dissolved and reverts to the juridical domain of the Livonia province.
|
| 1971 |
- The continued period of experimentation witnesses the evolution
of the Constitutions of 1971 in which the enactments of the General
Chapters of 1968 and 1970 are incorporated.
|
| 1976 |
- Mother Mary Amadeus Lewicka of Lodi is elected as the ninth
superior general and reelected to a second term in 1982.
- The new Constitutions of 1976, Response to Love, are approved
by the Holy See for a period of twelve years.
- The Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary Province is transferred
from Ponca City, Oklahoma to Rio Rancho, New Mexico.
|
| 1983 |
- The Our Lady Queen of Poland Province of Warszawa begins a Felician
mission and novitiate in Kenya, Africa.
|
| 1988 |
- Sister Mary Cynthia Strzalkowski of Livonia is elected as the
tenth minister general and is reelected to a second term in 1994.
- The General Chapter of 1988 grants provincial status to the
Canadian vice province now called Holy Name of Mary Province.
- The general chapter grants provincial status to the Our Lady
of the Assumption Vice Province in Curitiba, Parana, Brasil with
a change of its name to Nossa Senhora Aparecida Province, thereby
honoring the patroness of Brasil under this new title.
|
| 1989 |
- The revised Constitutions, Response to Love, receives
final approval from the Holy See.
|
| 1993 |
- His Holiness John Paul II beatifies Mother Mary Angela Truszkowska
on April 18 at the Basilica of St. Peter in Rome. The Foundress
of the Felician Sisters is now known as Blessed Mary Angela.
|
| 1999 |
- A Felician Formation House under the jurisdiction of the Rio
Rancho Province is opened in Nueva Rosita, Coahuila, Mexico in
the wake of the province's first Mexican foundation established
in 1992.
|
| 2000 |
- Sister Mary Raymond Kasprzak of Buffalo is elected as the eleventh
minister general.
|
