Albertine Sisters
| Zgromadzenie Sióstr Albertynek Posługujących Ubogim | |
| Abbreviation | CSAPU (United States) |
|---|---|
| Formation | January 15, 1891 |
| Founder | St. Albert Chmielowski and Blessed Bernardina Jabłońska |
| Founded at | Kraków, Poland |
| Type | Roman Catholic religious institute |
|
Superior General
|
Sister Krzysztofa (Maria Babraj) |
| Website | http://www.albertynki.pl/english.php |
The Sisters of the Third Order of St. Francis Serving the Poor, commonly known as simply the Albertine Sisters, are a Roman Catholic religious institute of nuns.
The founder, born Adam Chmielowski (1845-1916), came from an aristocratic Polish family. Orphaned at a young age, he grew up expecting to take responsibility for the family estates and studied agriculture to this end. The young student, however, was a strong Polish nationalist and took part in the January Uprising of 1863, in the course of which he lost a leg.
Chmielowski was forced to flee Poland due to the repressive response of the Czarist authorities and moved to Belgium to continue his studies. During that period, he discovered that he had artistic talent, and began to develop that ability. By the time of his return to Poland in 1874, he was an accomplished painter, who became successful in Kraków.
When he returned to his homeland, though, Chmielowski was struck at the degree of poverty he saw among the people of the country. He began to help at homeless shelters run by the city, where he grew to know the poorest segment of the population at first-hand. Over the next decade, he continued this service, while maintaining his artistic career, though he increasingly turned to religious themes.
By 1887, Chmielowski had decided to abandon his career, to live among the poor and needy and to accept a beggar's life and lifestyle. On 25 August of that year, the feast of the patron saint of the Order, Saint Louis, King of France, he became a member of the Third Order of St. Francis, publicly wearing the traditional gray habit of the Order and took the name Brother Albert. He began to live in the shelters where he served, giving himself fully to the poor around him and working to give them hope.
Upon the completion of his year of novitiate on the same feast in 1888, Albert Chmielowski was allowed to profess religious vows. At that time, he gathered other men who had expressed interest in sharing his commitment and established the Brothers of the Third Order of St. Francis, Servants of the Poor, in 1888. In the next couple of years, he worked on organizing a congregation for women to serve the poor in conjunction with his Brothers. The first woman to dedicate herself to the cause was Anna Lubańska of the Podlachia region of Poland, later known by her religious name as Sister Frances.
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Wikipedia