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The Sisters Servants of Mary Immaculate (S.S.M.I.) are a religious congregation of women in the Ukrainian Greek-Catholic Church. They were founded in 1892 in Lviv, then part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire and now in Ukraine, the first such organization of religious women in this Eastern Catholic Church. The founders were the Blessed Josaphata Hordashevska and the Servant of God, Father Jeremiah Lomnytsky, O.S.B.M.. ==Roots== The Ukrainian Catholic Church was formed in 1595 through the Union of Brest, when several bishops of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, possibly bowing to pressure from their ruler, the King of Poland, agreed to enter into full communion with the Holy See of Rome. The adherents of this union were a minority within the general Ukrainian population, with strong hostility coming from the adherents of the Orthodox Church. This often led to persecution. The entire Ukrainian people suffered greatly over the following centuries, as their national boundaries shifted from one era to another. During that time, Ukrainian Catholics retained the traditions of Orthodox Church institutions, of which one was an enclosed religious order as the sole approved option for women who wanted to live a religious lifestyle. They were, however, also in touch with the ecclesiastical developments of Western Europe. Father Jeremiah Lomnytsky, a Basilian monk, was among the first members of his religious Order trained under Polish Jesuit Fathers, which had been ordered by Pope Leo XIII due to their decline over the centuries of persecution. From his experiences with the Polish Roman Catholics, Lomnytsky conceived the idea of establishing communities of active Religious Sisters to assist the Basilian Fathers in answering the great social needs of the people, as had emerged throughout Western Europe during that era. Lomnytsky was invited in 1891 by Father Cyril Seletsky, a widowed priest, to give a parish mission at the parish of Zhuzhel (now called Zhuzheliany) where he was leaving as pastor. The mission was very well received, and he was approached by several young girls who wanted to give their lives to God. When he indicated that the usual dowry would be needed for admission to a monastery, one girl indicated that she was too poor for that. Lomnytsky was troubled by this. Michaelina Hordashevska, later to be known as Mother Josaphata, had already been discerning a religious vocation. Fr. Lomnytsky acted as her spiritual director in Lviv, and under his guidance, she made a private vow of chastity. Lomnytsky now pondered whether she could be instrumental in realizing this goal of establishing active religious communities of women in their Church, beginning with these several young women. He then invited her to become the first member of this new way of life he was proposing, which he and Seletsky would direct, advising her that there would be much work and suffering ahead. Michaelina accepted his invitation.〔Many sites indicate that Michaelina had entered a Basilian monastery first. According to her Congregation, this is incorrect. She was called in a different direction from the outset.〕 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「Sisters Servants of Mary Immaculate」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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