INFORMATION IN ENGLISH
The Congregation of Franciscan Sisters of the Suffering was found in 1882 by Father Honorat Koźmiński, who was declared blessed by the Pope John Paul II in October 1988, and Servant of God Mother Kazimiera Gruszczyńska. The Order was approved by the Vatican in 1909. The Franciscan Sisters take care of the sick and the suffering in hospitals and at home. In 1993 Congregation organized the Social Care Home (Residential Home) in Białystok (north east part of Poland). In 1995 Congregation organized St. Francis Nursing Home in Warsaw.
At the end of the 19th century hidden religious movements were initiated by Father Koźmiński. Franciscan Sisters is one of them. They were founded mainly in the part of Poland that was under Russian occupation. The Russian government radically liquidated old Polish orders established before 1863. Father Honorat Koźmiński established 26 new religious congregations, mostly for women, out of which 15 still exist. The Congregations are hidden, their members do not wear habits.
In the last decades of foreign occupation the congregations became an important factor in the religious renewal in Poland. The idea of hidden apostolate refers – on one hand – to the hidden life of Jesus and Mary in Nazareth, and – on the other hand – is an adaptation of Christian apostolate to the social and political conditions in Poland in Times of the partitions. Thanks to the fact that habitless congregations led hidden life, their members could develop – in spite of restrictions – intensive apostolic activities in various social spheres and in different regions of Poland.
The services to the suffering are connected with the contemplation of the Holy Cross. Such interpretation of the suffering corresponds with the oldest tradition of the Franciscan spirituality. The mystics of the Cross and Golgotha became one of the most characteristic features of the Franciscan spirituality. Thanks to the blessed Honorat Koźmiński and Mother Kazimiera Gruszczyńska the Franciscan mystics of the Cross in Poland took form of the apostolic attendance to the suffering. Kazimiera Gruszczyńska interprets the bed of the sick as an offering altar, with Jesus Christ present in a suffering person as an offered Host. Every Franciscan Sister, during her act of profession, marries in Christ all the suffering and gives herself into their unconditioned service.
St. Francis Nursing Home was established in 1995 in Warsaw. Sisters look after elderly and those who can’t live unaided because of physical and mental disability and/or lack of the family. Our patients suffer from a wide range of diseases such as: neurological, orthopaedic, mental (e.g Dementia), problems with movement, physical and mental disability.
St. Francis Nursing Home provides services against payment. The amount and procedure for regulation of the payment for the stay is determined by the Management of the Nursing Home and approved by the Board of the Congregation of the Franciscan Sisters of Suffering. St. Francis Nursing Home is not profit organization. The entity’s income is used for its own statutory purposes. Financial management, income and cost records are kept in accordance with applicable financial regulations.
Dollar account of the Congregation
Name of Bank: BANK PEKAO SA II oddział w Warszawie
Street Address: Krucza 6/14
City: Warszawa
Postal code: 00-537
Country: Poland
Swift Code: PKO PL PW
Bank account number: Pl 97 1240 1024 1787 0010 1805 2238
Full name of bank account Holder: Zgromadzenie Sióstr Franciszkanek od Cierpiacych
Full address of Bank account Holder: 00-538 Warszawa, ul. Wilcza 7
Transfer title: donation for charity and care activities of the St. Francis Nursing Home in Warsaw, Zawrat
street 26.