Felician foundress set to be beatified by pope

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The word “Felician” has always meant joyful, and that will be especially true tomorrow, April 18. On that day, Felicians everywhere — the Sisters of St. Felix of Cantalice — will know joy as their foundress, Mother Mary Angela, is beatified by Pope John Paul II at St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome.

The several hundred Felicians in attendance will include three from St. Joseph Hospital in Bangor: Sister Mary Norberta, president; Sister Mary Fabian, vice president for human resources; and Sister Mary Edmund, director of pastoral care. Also attending will be representatives of St. Joseph Church in Brewer.

The Felicians’ beloved Mother Angela, Sophia Truszkowska, was born prematurely on May 16, 1825, to a prominent family in Kalisz, Poland. She contracted tuberculosis as a teen-ager, and believed that her time of recuperation in Switzerland brought her closer to the Lord.

Despite her privileged lifestyle, Truszkowska felt a calling to help those less fortunate, and took in orphans with no place else to go. She also joined the St. Vincent Society, which served the poor.

The Founding Day of the Felicians is considered to be Nov. 21, 1855, the day that she and cousin Clothilde consecrated themselves to the Blessed Mother according to the will of Jesus. Sophia received the Franciscan habit and the religious name of Angela on Good Friday, 1859.

The patron saint of the Felicians is a Capuchin Franciscan, St. Felix of Cantalice, patron of children and the sick. Mother Angela used to take the orphans to pray before a statue of St. Felix.

Mother Angela and her sisters worked among the peasants, and the archbishop of Warsaw asked them to give religious instruction to non-Christians.

The csar of Russia forced the Felicians to leave Warsaw in 1864, and they began a new convent in 1866 in Krakow. The sisters believed that their survival was due to the intercession of Mary, so they chose as their motto, “All through the Immaculate Heart of Mary in honor of the Most Blessed Sacrament.” Even today, every Felician has Mary as some part of her religious name.

Sisters come to U.S.

Five sisters came to the United States in 1874 to serve Polish immigrants, and there are now about 2,000 Felicians serving in the eight provinces in the United States and Canada.

Mother Angela died in 1899.

In 1967, Archbishop Karol Wojtyla — now Pope John Paul II — opened the process for the beatification of the foundress of the Felicians. In 1982, the Decree of the Heroic Virtues of Mother Angela was announced at the Vatican, and she was named Venerable.

The process of beatification involves participation by a board of physicians, theologians, cardinals and bishops. Upon her beatification April 18, Mother Angela will be known as Blessed Mary Angela Truszkowska.

Beatification requires a documented miracle, and Mother Angela’s was the case of Lillian Halasinski, a woman from Dunkirk, N.Y., who was suffering from diabetic neuropathy, a painful condition of the leg. She thought she was dying, and no therapy improved her condition.

Given a prayer card while she was hospitalized, Halasinski began to pray every day that Mother Angela would intercede to ask God to cure her condition.

Her cure came suddenly — the pain and swelling were gone, her skin turned pink and healthy, and she could walk again.

Neurologists investigated the case over five years through 32 specialized tests. In 1992, the Consulta Medica of Rome pronounced the cure “unexplainable by natural forces or current discoveries of medical science.” Mother Angela had her miracle, and Halasinski is hoping to be present in Rome.

The Felicians in Bangor are thrilled that the beatification is finally going to take place. “I didn’t think it was going to come about,” said Sister Norberta. “She was a very humble lady. She resigned her position as superior general and took care of the flowers for the altar” in her later years, she said. Mother Angela was so modest that some of the younger sisters didn’t even know that she had founded the order.

The three sisters from Bangor will be in Rome for a total of six days. Today they will be gathering with several hundred other Felicians at their headquarters in the Italian city.

Special Mass planned

On Monday, the Felicians will attend a special Mass of thanksgiving at St. Peter’s Basilica. Afterward, they will have a “private audience” of several hundred with the pope.

They also planned a trip to Assisi to visit the grave of St. Francis. Another attraction in Assisi is the resting place of St. Clare, whose body has been preserved in its original state despite not having been embalmed. The nuns there still dress her body in a new habit once a year, Sister Norberta said.

Sister Norberta on an earlier trip also visited the Mother House of the Felicians in Krakow. “The kneeler where Mother Angela spent many hours in prayer is worn out,” she said. “It does give you a special feeling to kneel where the foundress knelt.”

Mother Angela saw the work she did in later years — arranging flowers, making vestments — as no less valuable than the more visible work she did as superior general. “Her whole charism was to be attentive to the will of God,” Sister Norberta said. “She also dedicated the order to Our Lady, and that is why everyone has to have Mary in her name.”

Sister Norberta also called Mother Angela “a lady ahead of her time. They had civil wars going on, and she had the sisters ministering to people on both sides.” Today, Mother Angela would no doubt be participating in the task of re-evaluating the mission of the Felicians — a task that will be done by local chapters this year, and by delegates to the General Chapter next year. She also spoke several languages, pointed out Sister Edmund.

The mission of the Felicians has always had an emphasis on ministry to youths, and in many areas, involves health ministry and running hospitals. In recent years, sisters have opened missions in Kenya and Brazil.

When Mother Angela began the Felicians, religious orders were largely contemplative, focusing mostly on prayer. “She was the first person that thought of blending the contemplative and active life,” Sister Norberta said. “Her idea was that you needed a solid spiritual foundation to become involved in active ministry.”

Sister Norberta has been to Rome before. “But this will be my first time across the ocean,” said Sister Fabian. There are so many things she wants to do during the brief stay in Rome. “If only there were 48 hours to a day,” she said.