The Foundress of the Sisters of the Holy Family of Nazareth is Blessed Mary of Jesus the Good Shepherd, Frances Siedliska, who started the Congregation in Rome, Italy in 1875. Though born into a family of privilege and wealth in mid 19th century Poland, Frances hungered for a deep spiritual life that expressed itself in the radical commitment of vowed religious life.

As she traveled through Europe seeking cures for her physical ailments, she eventually recognized and accepted God's invitation to found a new congregation, and traveled to Rome in 1873, to seek the blessing of Pope Pius IX. Frances established her first community in Rome to emphasize her commitment to the universal Church. Strong was her desire to bring the love of Christ to any and all, she transcended ethnic boundaries, welcoming women of many nationalities into the Congregation, and serving God's People in many different countries.

 

Rooted in Christ, in cooperation with the Church, our Congregation strives, in the diversity of its ministries, to build communities of love and hope. We recognize the family as the place where values are nurtured and persons are formed, and in the spirit of Frances Siedliska, we work throughout the world to embrace the needs of the human family as our own.

Frances took the religious name of Mary of Jesus the Good Shepherd. She was beatified in Rome on April 23, 1989 and at this time, just under 1500 Sisters in thirteen countries live with her animating spirit as their inspiration and motivation.

The Holy Family of Nazareth, our model, inspires us with the beauty of an ordinary life lived in deep faith and intimacy with Jesus, God-with-us. While externally, our life appears very ordinary and simple, each Sister strives to cultivate an interior attitude of receptivity and reverent awe at the incomparable mystery of God's love and presence with us. Nazareth spirituality, thoroughly grounded in human experience, is a 'mysticism of the ordinary', a path of living contemplatively by which we gradually become more and more able to discover and proclaim the hidden face of God to our brothers and sisters in the human family.

In addition to personal prayer, we find special nourishment for our spiritual lives in the Eucharist and the liturgical life of the Church. Trusting the dynamism of the Spirit Who guides the family of God through the ages, we pray daily for our Holy Father and cooperate in the Church's ministry of proclaiming the Kingdom of God's Love to the world.

Religious Sisters have vowed their lives to God for centuries. The vast majority of these women have no thoughts about actually giving their lives to God in martyrdom. The same was true of Sister Stella and her Ten Companions, Sisters of the Holy Family of Nazareth who lived in Nowogrodek, Poland. They lived simple, faith-filled, dedicated lives, serving the people of Nowogrodek as God had sent them to do. Never did they think that they would be asked one day to make the ultimate sacrifice to save the families of the town.

The story begins on September 4, 1929, when the first two Sisters of the Holy Family of Nazareth arrived in the small town of Nowogrodek. A few people helped them to find a place to live and in time more Sisters joined them. The townspeople were not terribly welcoming to these women of God. In the face of opposition to their presence, there was some talk of withdrawing the Sisters. Bishop Zygmunt Lozinski, who had recruited the Sisters pleaded, "Do not leave Nowogrodek; remain at your post. That is God's will and mine!" Superior General, Mother Lauretta Lubowidzka was just as forceful in her response. "You must definitely remain at your post. You are not permitted to withdraw from the home of Christ the King. He is to be victorious. We must do battle for the sake of the Kingdom. Fearlessly withstand all the difficulties because great things will take place there." Perhaps they were prophets….
 

In obedience, the Sisters stayed and were joined by others. Patiently and with love, these women reached out to the people of Nowogrodek. At first they started with a class to teach needlework to girls. Then, they began teaching religion and tutoring in French. Gradually, the townspeople came to accept and love the Sisters. The Sisters also cared for the local parish church, lovingly referred to as the Fara. At Mass and devotions, the Sisters were always seen kneeling on their prie-dieux.

For many years life in Nowogrodek was peaceful. People of different faiths lived side by side with no problems. The Fara became the place where the townspeople gathered in fervent faith and activities. The Sisters' lives centered on their prayer, care of the church, teaching religion, starting schools for the local children and enjoying their community life. The Second World War changed all of this for everyone.

Nowogrodek was occupied first by the Russians and later by the Germans. With the Russian occupation, the school was taken from the Sisters. Their religious habits disappeared. They were forced to leave their convent and live in the homes of parishioners. They were together only for Mass and devotions in the Fara. Within two years the town came under German occupation. The Sisters were encouraged to return to their convent and to go back to wearing their distinctive garb. The Sisters continued doing all kinds of work to provide for their needs. It was a trying time for everyone, but it would get worse.
 

Twelve Sisters resided in the convent in the summer of 1943. The Germans had become more forceful in their treatment of the citizens. Jews were rounded up and killed right in the town. Priests in the area were killed. 120 people, including fathers and other members of Polish families were arrested from July 17 - 19, 1943. The women of the town came to the Sisters and begged them to pray for their release. The Sisters prayed that if a sacrifice was needed, that they be sacrificed and the men be returned to Nowogrodek. On Sunday, August 1, 1943, after spending the night in the basement of the commissariat, Sisters Stella Mardosewicz, Imelda Zak, Kanizja Mackiewicz, Rajmunda Kukolowicz, Daniela Jozwik, Kanuta Chrobot, Sergia Rapiej, Gwidona Cierpka, Felicyta Borowik, Heliodora Matuszewska, and Boromea Narmontowicz were driven into the woods a few miles from the town. There, they were shot and thrown into a mass grave. God accepted their sacrifice and the men were spared. By the power of His grace, these seemingly weak women witnessed to the strength of true love to the point of martyrdom. We take inspiration and courage from their lives.

Shortly before her 21st birthday, Ludwika Banas, entered the Congregation of the Sisters of the Holy Family of Nazareth. Ludwika, born April 10, 1896, in Klecza Dolna near Wadowice, Poland, had worked with the Sisters at a hospital in Wadowice. At the time of her entrance into the novitiate, she received the name, Maria Malgorzata. When she professed her final vows, as is the custom in the Congregation, Sister Malgorzata added to her name the mystery of the Sacred Heart of Jesus in Agony in the Garden.
 

Sister's parents had schooled her in the ways of piety, faith, and love of God above all else. These gifts matured through her religious formation and sustained her in her ministry as a religious. In 1934, Sister Malgorzata was assigned to the convent in Nowogrodek in the eastern part of Poland, where she worked at the local hospital. The Sisters of Nowogrodek suffered through Russian and German occupation of their village, sharing the hardships of the people and depending on their generosity during these times for a place to live. 
 

As difficult as life was for the Sisters and the people of Nowogrodek, greater sorrow and sacrifice would be asked of the twelve Sisters who served the people with great dedication and love. On the evening of July 31, 1943, the Gestapo issued an order to Sister Stella that she and all the sisters were to be taken to police headquarters. On the way, they met the twelfth member, Sister Malgorzata, who was returning from work at the hospital and was dressed in lay clothes. Sister Stella told her to return to the house and take care of the priest and the Fara. Sister Malgorzata never saw her sisters again. On August 1, 1943, they were taken to the woods by the Nazis, shot, and buried in a mass grave. 
 

In time, Sister Malgorzata, with the help of the villagers, discovered the Sisters' grave in the woods and committed herself to care for and protect their burial site until such time as the bodies could be brought to the Fara, the parish church,for a proper burial in the parish cemetery. Sister came to believe that as the only survivor, her mission was to look after the people of Nowogrodek and the Fara.

During the years of Communism in Nowogrodek, Sister lived in the tiny sacristy of the Fara, and she continued to prepare children for the sacraments. When the parish priest was in hiding for his own safety, Sr. Malgorzata maintained the presence of the Blessed Sacrament in the church, and helped keep the peoples' faith alive. The townspeople referred to her as the Guardian of the Tabernacle.
 

Sister Malgorzata was heard to say many times, "Spiritual martyrdom is a slow death – that is what I desire". She died April 26, 1966, and her Cause for Beatification as a spiritual martyr began February 19, 2003. We wait, now, for the miracle needed for her Beatification.