Dominican Sisters of the Immaculate Conception

Two New Brides of Christ On April 29, after a year of novitiate, two Sisters in our community took their first religious profession of chastity, poverty and obedience. As a sign of profession they received black veils. On this day on Church’s calendar is the feast of the Dominican mystic, St. Catherine of Siena. Sr. Maria Vianney Kysely making her profession. Sr. Maria Rosaria Freeland making her profession.

Our beautiful chapel formed the backdrop of the profession ceremony. The Novice puts her hand on the book of the Constitutions and says the formula of profession:

For the greater glory of God I, Sister —, desire to more perfectly abandon myself to God and, with my whole life, imitate Jesus Christ more faithfully. I vow to God to live for one year in chastity, poverty, and obedience according to the Constitutions of the Congregation of the Sisters of Saint Dominic. With my whole heart I entrust myself to our religious family and, with the grace of the Holy Spirit and through the intercession of Our Lady, Saint Dominic and Saint Catherine of Siena, I resolve to pursue perfect love in the service of God and the Church. The Dominican Constitutions and candle portray our charism. Deep colors shining through the huge stained glass window set the mood.

Reflection of One of the Newly Professed Sisters

In the ordinary silence of the convent life, an excitement began to reverberate through the hallways as family and friends from near and far traveled to witness the wedding day of two new brides of Christ. After an early morning of silence, prayer and reflection with the Lord Jesus and with our community, we dressed in our brand new bridal gowns—the black and white Dominican habit. Mother Provincial came to our quarters to adorn our heads with a wreath of greens upon our white novice veils. She and Mother Mistress of Novices prayed a decade of the Rosary with us kneeling before our crucifix and gave us her blessing. Our Mother Superiors led us down the stairs and through the long corridor of the convent to a private room to greet our parents and receive their blessing before the Holy Mass of Profession.

With tears and excitement, our proud parents glowed as we all made our way to the chapel to begin Mass. Words cannot express the joy, intimacy and gratitude of the day I made my First Profession of Vows to the Lord Jesus. I am His bride now, and He is my faithful heavenly Husband. I am so grateful for the gift of my vocation, to the Lord Jesus Christ who called me. I live for Jesus, my most intimate friend, in the Holy Eucharist. May the grace of my First Profession continue to touch the hearts of all my loved ones who celebrated that special feast with me in presence and in spirit. I offer it up as a gift in service to Holy Mother Church and to the Order of Preachers. May Jesus Christ be praised!

It was a happy day for the newly professed sisters, celebrants and Dominican friars.

St. Thomas Aquinas: Christ’s Passion shows us how much God loves man.

As Good Friday approaches, we are reminded of Christ’s redemptive Passion, death and Resurrection. St. Thomas Aquinas, a Dominican and the chief theologian of the Church, sheds some light on this great mystery.

Is there any more suitable way of delivering the human race than by Christ’s Passion? This question is asked by the 13^th century theologian St. Thomas Aquinas, who gives answers in his Summa Theologica. [1]

We often say without thinking that Our Lord died on the cross to redeem us from our sins. But there is much more to it than that. St. Thomas points out that in Christ’s Passion, “many other things besides deliverance from sin concurred for man’s salvation.”

In the first place, man knows thereby how much God loves him, and is thereby stirred to love Him in return, and herein lies the perfection of human salvation; hence the Apostle says (Romans 5:8): “God commendeth His charity towards us; for when as yet we were sinners . . . Christ died for us.”

St. Thomas also tells us that, “He set us an example of obedience, humility, constancy, justice, and the other virtues displayed in the Passion, which are requisite for man’s salvation.”

There are other reasons pointed out by the angelic doctor:

• Christ suffered for us, “leaving you an example that you should follow in His steps.”
• “Because Christ by His Passion not only delivered man from sin, but also merited justifying grace for him and the glory of bliss.”
• “Because by this man is all the more bound to refrain from sin, according to 1 Corinthians 6:20: ‘You are bought with a great price: glorify and bear God in your body.’”
• “Because it redounded to man’s greater dignity, that as man was overcome and deceived by the devil, so also it should be a man that should overthrow the devil; and as man deserved death, so a man by dying should vanquish death.”

St. Thomas concludes, “Hence it is written (1 Corinthians 15:57): ‘Thanks be to God who hath given us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.’ It was accordingly more fitting that we should be delivered by Christ’s Passion than simply by God’s good will.”

The sisters' chapel in Wielowies. "Feverish adorations of the Eucharistic Jesus"

As Holy Thursday approaches, we recall that the Last Supper was the event of the institution of the Holy Eucharist. In this article, we look at the love for the Eucharist held by Mother Kolumba Białecka, foundress of the Dominican Sisters of the Immaculate Conception.

There is no doubt as to the reverence Mother Kolumba had for the Eucharist and the Blessed Sacrament. One of her biographers relates how she would make night visits to the Blessed Sacraments, which were occasions of “feverish adorations of the Eucharistic Jesus.” [1]

In 1870, Mother Kolumba and her small community arranged for the beginning of their Dominican community in Wielowieś, which is presently a suburb of Tarnobrzeg, in southeast Poland. After a solemn consecration of their chapel and cloister, the sisters moved into the new cloister, after they first, upon the example of Mother Kolumba, asked forgiveness of each other for their transgressions.

Then with “great tenderness,” as her biographer recalls, “our Most Reverend Mother took the processional cross and began to sing a Psalm, ‘Mercy surrounds those who trust the Lord.’” They then went to the new monastery leading the congregation.

“Having arrived there she accompanied us to the chapterhouse, and with tears in her eyes she told what gratitude the Lord deserves from us, what life we must initiate since from now on we will be living under one roof with the Lord Jesus. Oh, Lord! You who behold the deepest mysteries of the human heart, You know best what feelings filled our souls that evening!” [2]

The same biographer relates, “We thought many times and told that love of our Beloved Mother towards the Holy Eucharist is seraphic. … She also treasured much the Sacrifice of Holy Mass and she never missed it, in spite of weak health. [3]

In a letter to her sisters, she says, “Oh, implore with tears the Lord Jesus when visiting the Most Holy Sacrament so that He would capture you more and more towards Him – then your greatest happiness would be if you could visit Him – unite with Him spiritually and in the Sacrament. Thank Him for this appeal as His greatest favor, as it is a kind of a prologue to your inner life.” [4]

1. Sr. Benwenuta, Life of Rev. Mother Róża Kolumba Białecka (Krakow, Poland: Publishing House of the Discalced Carmelites, trans. into English 2007), p. 3.

2. Ibid., p. 39.

3. Ibid., p. 81.

4. Letter to Sister Dominika in Lvov, Archive of Dominican Sisters in Biała Niżna, ref. file no II Bk 197, in Letters to Sisters, Mother Kolumba Białecka (Krakow, Poland: Publishing House of the Discalced Carmelites), pg. 6.