Sisters of St Joseph, Third Order of St Francis, WI

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The SSJ-TOSFs have a very interesting history, and I recommend it highly, especially Volume I (of 2), by Sister Josephine Marie Peplinski, a remarkable woman and scholar. This community broke off from the School Sisters of St. Francis in 1900, due to ethnic differences. Basically, 50 Polish-American Sisters secretly agreed to “elope” one night, with the help of some Polish-American priests and the then-bishop of Green Bay, Wisconsin. I’ve been to their archives and read a number of the first-person accounts (translated by Josephine). Amazing!

In 2013, the SSJ-TOSFs and the SSSFs had a reconciliation. While they are still separate congregations, a great deal of healing has occurred.

The SSJ-TOSFs should not be confused with another Polish-American community with a similar name: the Franciscan Sisters of St. Joseph (in New York).
 
Ah, Mother Collette. She was demoted by the prelates and lived the end of her life in obscurity. She was a very interesting woman. If she’s being acknowledged, I’m all in favor!
 
nunsuch said:
She was demoted by the prelates and lived the end of her life in obscurity
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Sounds a lot like St. Therese Couderc of the Religious of the Cenacle – demoted by the local Ordinary, and a laywoman made superior. Of course, the convent crashed but didn’t burn. In St Therese’s final days, she was alarming the faithful who prayed in her convent chapel by wailing in prayer up in the infirmary gallery.
 
Oh, there are so many of these! I’ve written extensively about them.
 
Oh, heavens no! The “laywoman” part is unusual, but more founders than I can name were put under interdict, temporarily excommunicated, etc. Really scandalous. One of the more famous cases in the US was Mother Theodore Guerin, now Saint, founder of the Sisters of Providence. But the removal part was actually pretty common.
 
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