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The Servants of St. Joseph ((スペイン語:Siervas de San José)) (who use the postnominal initials S.S.J.) form an international congregation of Religious Sisters in the Roman Catholic Church. It was founded by Mother Bonifacia Rodríguez-Castro on January 7, 1874, with the support and guidance of a Catalan Jesuit, Fr. Francesc Xavier Butinyà i Hospital, S.J., in Salamanca, Spain. ==Foundation== Rodríguez was born in Salamanca on 6 June 1837, in a small home on Las Mazas Street near the ancient University. Her father was a tailor and the family was very poor, frequently having to move because he was unable to pay the rent. From a very young age, Bonifacia helped her father with his craft, by sewing some of the work he was able to get, as well as caring for her younger siblings. After completing a basic schooling, Bonifacia began to work as a ropemaker. Later, in 1865, after the marriage of her sister, she was able to set up her home as a factory for rope, lace and various other items. In this way, Rodríguez lived a quiet life in which she was able to grow and deepen her faith, meditating and praying throughout the daily routine. After five years as an independent artisan, in 1870, Bonifacia meets a newly arrived priest from Catalunya, Francesc Butinyà, S.J.. Butinyà was from a family of factory owners, but he had a vision of responding to the needs of the growing working class which had arisen from the Industrial Revolution, one which was far ahead of the Church leaders of the day. He preached that work was a way for all to become more free equal in society, and also to give witness to the teachings of the Gospel. Rodríguez frequently attended the Masses at which Butinyà preached and decided that he had an answer to her spiritual searching. Bonifacia opened her workshop as a meetingplace for gatherings for working women like herself, both for socializing and for times of reflection on the themes and issues of the day. They invited Father Butinyà to these gatherings, and, under his guidance, they established themselves as the Association of the Immaculate Conception and St. Joseph. Gradually Rodríguez felt herself called to religious life in a convent, and finally decided to enter a local one. Butinyà, however, saw in her the model he envisioned of someone who could imitate the quiet life of service and prayer which Christ Himself had followed in his home in Nazareth, with Mary, His mother, and Joseph. He therefore proposed to her that she take a radically different path, one in which a community of religious women could respond to the situation of poor, working women. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Servants of St. Joseph」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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