Josaphata Hordashevska

Who was Josaphata Hordashevska?

Blessed Josaphata Hordashevska, S.S.M.I., born Michaelina Hordashevska, a Ukrainian Greek-Catholic Religious Sister, was the first member of the Sisters Servants of Mary Immaculate.

In 1869, Michaelina Hordashevska was born in Lviv, then part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire and now Ukraine, into a family who were members of the Ukrainian Catholic Church. At the age of 18, she considered consecrating her life to God in a contemplative monastery of the Basilian nuns, then the only Eastern-rite women's religious congregation. She attended a spiritual retreat which was preached by a Basilian monk, Father Jeremiah Lomnytsky, O.S.B.M., whose spiritual guidance she sought. With his permission, Michaelina took a private vow of chastity for one year. She was to renew this vow twice.

At that time, Father Jeremiah, seeing that there was a need of active Religious Sisters to meet the social needs of the poor and needy faithful of the Church, had decided to establish a women's congregation which would follow an active life of service. He did so in conjunction with Father Cyril Seletsky, pastor of the village of Zhuzhelyany. Lomnytsky felt that Michaelina would be an appropriate candidate to found such a congregation. Thus she was asked to be the foundress of such a group, rather than follow the monastic life she had been considering. When she agreed, she was sent in June 1892 to the Polish Roman Catholic Felician Sisters to experience the life of community which followed an active consecrated life.