Sisters Servants Begin Jubilee Year Celebrating Congregation’s Unification
In 2024, the Congregation of the Sisters Servants of Mary Immaculate celebrates the 90th anniversary of the convocation of the First General Chapter and the legal formation of three provinces: the maternal European Province of the Compassion of Our Lady, the Provinces of St. Michael the Archangel in Brazil, and Christ the King in Canada.
The opening ceremony of the Jubilee Year took place, at the Archdiocesan and Metropolitan Cathedral of the Resurrection of Christ in Ivano-Frankivsk, on July 1, 2024. The Divine Liturgy on this occasion was presided over by the Father and Head of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church, His Beatitude Sviatoslav, in concelebration with a large number of UGCC bishops from Ukraine and around the world.
During the sermon, the Head of the Church noted that at the congregation’s chapter, which took place in 1934, the sisters made a prophetic gesture. They took off their wedding rings and melted them into a single Eucharistic chalice, thus showing: “We are in Christ a single family of sisters of the global Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church.”
“Perhaps this event of 1934 was a decade ahead of the unification of Ukrainians in their single Church,” the bishop emphasized, “because there was no other institution that would serve as the foundation, basis, and core of the global Ukrainian community.”
Therefore, the Head of the UGCC introduced the General Superior of the SSMI, Sr. Sofia Lebedowicz: “Today, we place in your hands the gratitude to God for the Sisters Servants all over the world, who, in addition to Ukraine, serve in Kazakhstan, Poland, Slovakia, Germany, Bosnia, Serbia, France, Brazil, America, Canada, and Argentina. Thank you for your service, because you are the ‘nerves’ that unite our Church into one single body,” said His Beatitude Sviatoslav.
Sister Sofia expressed her gratitude to everyone who came to the church today to thank the Lord God for the great gift of the congregation’s unification.
“Today we wish to thank the Lord God for the sisters, their wisdom and sacrifice, for their desire to be one family. What united them was their faith, their love for the Church and their people. And today we ask the Savior for the great gift of unity, so that we may grow in it and in ever greater love for the Ukrainian people. We thank God for You, dear Patriarch Sviatoslav. Thank You for the deep word of God,” said Sister Sofia, and then added: “Seek first the Kingdom of Heaven. Do not worry about anything, just seek His justice. Thank you, Your Beatitude, for your love and support, which we constantly feel.”
Afterwards, Sister Sofia Lebedowicz read out a special letter with a special Apostolic blessing from Pope Francis to Sister Khrystofora Burshtyn and the entire community of the Congregation of the Sisters Servants of Mary Immaculate of the Province of the Compassionate Mother of God in Ukraine on the occasion of the 90th anniversary of the formation of the European Province.
Reference
The Congregation of the Sisters Servants of Mary Immaculate was founded in 1892 in Galicia and had expanded to Canada and Brazil by 1911. However, due to distance and the First World War, the connection between the sisters was lost.
In 1932, Pope Pius XII approved new statutes that unified the congregation and divided it into three provinces with a single general superior, emphasizing both centralization and unity.
The final stage of the unification of the congregation was the convening of the chapter in Lviv on July 4–6, 1934. This brought together sisters from Galicia, Canada, and Brazil and elected Sr. Veronica Gargil as the Superior General for the entire congregation, as well as superiors for each province.
Thus, 1934 marked the spiritual unification of the congregation, which was active on three different continents, enabling it to function independently and more effectively.
The UGCC Department for Information
Photo: Department of Information, Ivano-Frankivsk Archeparchy, UGCC
