Społeczno-edukacyjna działalność Zgromadzenia Sióstr Felicjanek w Warszawie w latach 1854–1864

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Społeczno-edukacyjna działalność Zgromadzenia Sióstr Felicjanek w Warszawie w latach 1854–1864

Journal Title: Przegląd Historyczno-Oświatowy - Year 2018, Vol 0, Issue 1

Abstract

The mid-nineteenth century in the territories of the Kingdom of Poland, especially in Warsaw, was a period of great contrasts; the confrontation of the political crisis, economic collapse and the progressive pauperization and demoralization of Polish society with the phenomenon of religious revival in the Catholic Church. The center of this rebirth became Warsaw – harlot and penitent at the same time, as Ignatius Baranowski described it in his Memoirs. An important role during this renaissance of Polish Catholicism was played by the Congregation of the Sisters of St. Felix of Cantalice (the Felician Sisters), founded by Bl. Maria Angela – Zofia Truszkowska who, by organizing in autumn of 1854 a shelter for several orphaned girls and older women on the New Town Square in Warsaw, initiated the wide-range social and educational activities of the new religious family. The multiplicity and diversity of all charitable activities presented in this article and undertaken by the Felicians in the first decade of their existence in Warsaw resulted from the diversity of the most urgent social needs. These included, among others, the struggle to improve women’s position, starting with the situation of orphan girls who had to be provided with care, upbringing and education, to elderly, ill, often disabled women who needed medical assistance and company to live the last stage of their lives with dignity. Based on the statistical data from the Institute of St. Felix, into which was transformed in 1856 a modest “Institute of Miss Truszkowska”, it can be proved that in the period from 1859 to 1863 one-third of all female orphans in Warsaw were taken care of there. These actions were clearly in line with, as Fryderyk Skarbek used to describe, spreading religion in deeds, which in practical terms was expressed in raising the elementary level of education, fighting illiteracy and counteracting the misery of Warsaw streets, basements and attics. The effectiveness of the Warsaw initiatives of the Congregation of the Sisters of St. Felix increased the interest in the activities of the Felicians in the environment of the landowners gathered around the Agricultural Society, which entered into cooperation with the Congregation in the creation of rural centers for work on the rural people. The tsarist decree of 1864, dissolving the Congregation of the Felician Sisters in the Kingdom of Poland for their involvement in the January Uprising, put an end to these activities.

Authors and Affiliations

Małgorzata Janas

Keywords

Church woman education religious congregation

EP ID EP495711
DOI 10.17460/ PHO_2018.1_2.11
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