History of Włocławek institution of the Convention of the Franciscan Sisters of the Family of Mary

Abstract

In 1919, the then parish priest of St. John the Baptist and at the same time the president of the Włocławski Society for Poor Support, priest Feliks Mikulski invited the Franciscan Sisters of the Family of Mary to Włocławek. He asked the congregation to take care of the orphans in the Orphan’s House „Providence”, in 1921 the sisters expanded their activities to include catechetical ministry. During the age of staying in Włocławek in the period 1919–1939 they ran the Orphan’s House „Providence”, and in 1939–1945 they undertook work in secret sets and spiritual care of those staying in the city under the authority of the German occupant. From 1945–1949, they ran the Orphanage House and the Spring Preschool, as well as the Caritas Parish Preschool. After the abolition of the above-mentioned church institutions, in the years 1949–1961, they ran the Kindergarten subject to the state-owned „Caritas”. All these institutions were closed by the state authorities, limiting the activities of the sisters. Throughout this period, the sisters conducted catechetical activities both at school and when the authorities removed catechesis from educational institutions within the parish. However, after 1961, the religious house essentially became the residence of the pensioners’ sisters. Later, the sisters were sent home, working in the diocesan curia, the episcopal court, and the cathedral parish office. Only when, in 1990, catechesis again returned to educational institutions, also in Włocławek, the sisters took up didactic work.