HISTORICAL AND EDUCATIONAL ASPECTS OF THE SISTERS SERVANTS OF MARY IMMACULATE CONGREGATION ACTIVITY IN THE 30–80s OF THE XXth CENTURY IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

Abstract

The Sisters Servants of Mary Immaculate is a religious congregation of women in the Ukrainian Greek- Catholic Church, founded in 1892 in Zhuzhel, Ukraine.

Bishop Soter Ortynsky first asked the Sisters Servants of Mary Immaculate to work among Ukrainian immigrants in the USA as early as the 1910’s. However, with only 19 members in Canada, it was impossible for them to fulfill this request.

Sister Elizabeth Kassian, at that time Provincial Superior of Sisters Servants of Mary Immaculate – Canada (the Christ the King Province), was a woman of deep faith, foresight, courage, and conviction. She agreed to the request of Bishop Constantine Bohachevsky, Bishop Soter’s successor, and in 1935 sent five sisters to minister in the Philadelphia Eparchy. As their initial ministry, the sisters would cook for the seminarians and priests at the newly-established St. Basil Ukrainian Catholic Seminary in Stamford.

Within a short time, they opened schools, academies, began parish work and their ministry to the sick and needy. They helped the Ukrainian immigrants, both urban and rural, to adjust to their new homeland and educated their children, teaching them to appreciate and love their rich spiritual and cultural heritage.

The role of Sisters Servants of Mary Immaculate in the birth and development of Ukrainian schooling in the USA, has been illustrated by the example of different types of educational institutions where nuns worked. The statistical data describing the development of the educational process have been provided: types of educational institutions and the number of pupils studying in them are given. The article contains new and important information about the beginnings and formation of Ukrainian education in the USA and the role of the Sisters Servants of Mary Immaculate in this process.