Kwartalnik Instytutu
Jana Pawła II KUL
Lublin

The year 2016 is the year of the 1050th anniversary of the Baptism of Poland, but it also saw the end of the year of consecrated life proclaimed by Pope Francis. Religious life is deeply relevant to both these events. “A Frock Made from the Habit” comprises the memories of S. Jadwiga Jóżak, a Benedictine nun and Mother Superior, which I wrote down in 1981. She shared them with me on a summer day during the recreation hours I spent with her on the patio in the Benedictine Sisters cloister in Wołów. Soon after being ordained I was serving there as a chaplain replacing the priest who was absent during the summer.

It was then that Mother Superior shared with me the story of her life. After the second world war the Armenian Benedictines, sisters practicing strict enclosure, were forced to leave their convent in Lviv due to the closure of monasteries and convents in the Soviet Russia. Departing from Lviv they deeply believed that—as Abp. Józef Teodorowicz had predicted—after the period of 70 years Benedictine Sisters would return there. Indeed, the prediction came true: in 2016, Abp. Mieczysław Mokrzycki, the Latin Rite Metropolitan Bishop of Lviv, reinstituted the Benedictine Sisters there.

S. Jadwiga Jóżak’s memories show her life in exile, her efforts to adapt to the secular reality, outside the enclosure, and her longing for the return to religious life. They show her fidelity to her vocation as well as her sacrifice which was necessary so that she could overcome the obstacles and accomplish her goal: return to the religious life.

Translated by Dorota Chabrajska

Keywords: religious life, Armenian Benedictine Sisters, post-war history of monasteries and convents in Ukraine, S. Jadwiga Jóżak, Abp. Józef Teodorowicz, Abp. Mieczysław Mokrzycki

Contact: John Paul II Institute, Faculty of Philosophy,
John Paul II Catholic University of Lublin,
Al. Racławickie 14, 20-950 Lublin, Poland

E-mail: ethos@kul.lublin.pl
Phone: +48 81 4453218