On February 13, 2018, the second group of the Sisters from the Przemysl Province participating in the retreat came to Krakow for a pilgrimage of thanksgiving. The entire day was filled with encounters with Mother Mary Angela, the Blessed Foundress of the Felician Sisters. The Sisters came for the thanksgiving pilgrimage on the occasion of the 25th Anniversary of the Beatification of their Foundress.

The day began with the common experience of Transitus in the cell from which Mother Angela was called to the Father?s House. A special and cherished moment of the day was the Eucharist celebrated at the altar of Blessed Mary Angela?s relics in the church of the Immaculate Heart of Mary in Krakow.

As before, the retreat Father in his homily referred to the words spoken during the beatification ceremony in Rome by John Paul II. Among other things, he quoted:

Her (Mother Angela?s) greatest desire was to become a ?victim of love?.  And she always understood love as a free gift of herself.  ?Loving means giving.  Giving everything that love asks for.  Giving immediately, without regrets, with joy, and wanting even more to be asked of us.  These are her own words in which she summed up the whole program of her life.

On January 30, 2018, Felician Sisters from the Przemyśl Province arrived with a Pilgrimage of Thanksgiving to the “Mother’s House”, that is to the Relics of Mary Angela Truszkowska, the Blessed Foundress of the Felician Sisters which are located in the Immaculate Heart of Mary Church in Krakow. This year marks the 25th Anniversary of the Beatification of Mary Angela Truszkowska, which has become an opportunity for pilgrimage. It was a time of thanksgiving for the life, vocation and holiness of Blessed Mary Angela, for calling the Felician Congregation to life, for vocation of each Felician Sister, for all good that for the past 25 years has been a share of both the Sisters and those to whom the Lord has sent them.

The Sisters participated in Transitus in Mother Angela’s cell where she completed her earthly pilgrimage, visited special places inside the convent, which were important for Mother, and participated in the Eucharistic Liturgy at the altar with her relics. During the homily, Father recalled the words of Saint John Paul II from the beatification ceremony:

I salute you, Mother Mary Angela Truszkowska, Mother of the great Felician family.  You were a witness of the difficult history of our country and of the Church which there fulfilled her mission. 

Christ led Mother Angela by a truly exceptional path, causing her to share intimately in the mystery of his cross.  He formed her spirit by means of numerous sufferings, which she accepted with faith and a truly heroic submission to his will: in seclusion and in solitude, in a long and truing illness and in the dark night of the soul.

On January 27, 2018, our Museum and Archives was visited by Fr. Józef Knap, the pastor of All Saints Parish in Brzeziny, Kielce Diocese, together with a four-person delegation.  All Saints Parish in Brzeziny is trying to spread the devotion to the Saints and Blessed. Their church is full of images of Patrons. On this day, the Pastor and the delegation came to Krakow to invite Blessed Mary Angela Truszkowska by receiving her relics. The pilgrimage to the relics of Bl. Mary Angela and for the relics of the Blessed to be taken to the parish, was enriched by visiting the Museum dedicated to her, in which the parish representatives could get to know better her life, work and spirituality, as well as deepen their relationship with the new Patron Saint of the parish. The pilgrimage, thanks to the Pastor, was held in an atmosphere of prayer and spiritual preparation for the encounter with Blessed Mary Angela.

On Saturday, January 20, 2018, our Museum and Archives hosted the Regional Meeting for the Historians and Archivists. Sister Historians and Archivists from various Congregations gathered for their Spring Meeting. The chairperson of this group is Sister PhD Agata Mirek, professor at KUL. The main topic of the meeting was the process of writing the history of the Congregations from the post-war period until 1989. The Sisters had the opportunity to share the fruits of their research, and at the same time to get some guidance and tips for their further historical work.

The Sisters toured both the Museum and the Archives, got to know better the life and spirituality of Blessed Mary Angela Truszkowska  as well as the history of the Felician Congregation.

On January 14, 2018, after a long break, there was held an encounter with Blessed Maria Angela. The theme of the meeting was the Constitutions of the Felician Congregation. Sister Blazeja outlined the history of the formation of this important document in the life of the Congregation. Starting from its first version as of 1866, through shortened and corrected versions from 1874, until 1899, when the Holy See finally approved the Congregation and their Constitutions for a period of 7 years.

On December 2, 2017, the participants of the Walks as part of the program Achieving a token of a Friend of Krakow organized by the Grodek PTTK Circle under the patronage of Fr. Karol Wojtyla, took part in the discovery of the Mysteries of Mikołajska Street. They visited on that day, among other places, also our Museum and Archives of Mary Angela Truszkowska, Blessed Foundress of the Felician Sisters. The vast majority of visitors visited our Museum for the first time. Many of them have promised to visit the Museum again to get to know Mother Angela and her Congregation better.

From November 17 to 19, 2017, all the temporary professed Sisters of the three Polish Provinces of the Felician Congregation arrived to Cracow for a formation meeting. The meeting took place at the Provincialate in Cracow, however, prior to the official opening of the meeting, the Sisters came to the Museum and  Archives of Mary Angela Truszkowska,  Blessed Foundress of the Felician Sisters, to draw from the wealth of history and spirituality of Mother Foundress and the first Felician Sisters by visiting the Museum enriched with new exhibits.

Even though the Sisters spent in the Museum almost two hours, it was too short to absorb all the spiritual wealth that has been bestowed on us by our Blessed Foundress and the first Felician Sisters.

The Conference of the Responsible for the Ongoing Formation in the Felician Congregation was held in Cracow from November 4 to 9, 2017. The participants were: the Sisters from the General Administration and all the Administrations of the three Polish Provinces of the Congregation, together with the Sisters belonging to the Formation Team. The Sisters participated in a series of lectures and meetings while deepening the spirtuality of religious life and drawing from the wealth of the Felician heritage.

On November 8, the Sisters came to the Museum and Archives of Mary Angela Truszkowska, Blessed Foundress of the Felician Sisters, where they took part in the Lectio Epistuli and visited the renovated museum exhibition.

It was an unforgettable occasion to re-appreciate the wealth of the heritage bestowed on us by our Blessed Foundress and the first Felicians.