Albertine Sisters
18 Carlton Road MANCHESTER
M16 8BB
ENGLAND
tel.:
0044/161/ 226-18-36

Albertine Sisters
52 Fixby Road HUDDERSFIELD
HD2 2JQ
ENGLAND
tel.:
0044/148/ 445-18-50
 God calls each person to live out of love and towards love

The Albertine vocation is a way of experiencing God’s love and loving Him in return, such that a person gives back to Him her whole life, serving the least fortunate, the poor, and the abandoned.

This vocation must be discerned. What can you do, if you feel that God is calling you on such a path ?

* Pray to discern God’s will

* Attain more information about the religious life and the life of the Albertine Congregation

* Take up a deeper spiritual life – approaching the Sacraments, meditating on Holy Scripture, conversing with a person experienced in the Divine life.

Get to know us better: contact us (call, write, or come)
The Sisters profess vows of chastity, poverty, and obedience in order to shape their life according to the earthly life of the Lord Jesus. They take up their mission of serving the poor in a community of sisters. They prepare for several years to embrace this form of life in all its fullness.
Aspirancy, Postulancy: Over a period of several months the young woman enters more deeply into the Christian life and gets to know our community.
Novitiate: for two years the candidate prepares to profess her first vows (temporary).
Juniorate: for se- veral years the Si- ster carries out the Albertine aposto- late becoming strengthened in
her vocation and preparing to pro- fess perpetual vows.
Perpetual vows: throughout her life the Sister strives for greater union with God and tries to serve her neigh- bour better and better making use
of various means
of formation.
About The Congregation :
The Congregation of Albertine Sisters Serving the Poor (CSAPU) – a religious congregation with distinctive habit.
Charism
Serving Christ in our neighbors, especially the poorest and most rejected, through the witness of Christian mercy shown to them.
Coat-of-arms
Franciscan coat-of-arms, crossed hands on the background of a crucifix, - supplemented by the symbol of bread, an expression of the goodness which should distinguish every Albertine sister.
Date and place of founding
January 15, 1891 in Kraków (Poland).
Founder
St. Brother Albert – Adam Chmielowski
Co-Foundress
Blessed Sister Bernardina – Maria Jabłońska
Superior General
Sister Katarzyna – Danuta Krzystoń
The Congregation of Albertine Sisters belongs to the Franciscan family of congregations, which strive to carry out the radical ideal of the Gospel. It is marked by devotion to the mystery of the Incarnation, most eloquently expressed in the signs of the Crib, the Cross, and the Eucharist as well as the love of poverty
and service to the poor. St. Brother Albert was deeply imbued with the love of the Suffering Savior, and full of gratitude for the pain of His Passion, he gave his life in service to the least of Christ’s brothers and sisters.

The Albertine Sisters see their charism reflected in the icon painted by their Father-founder entitled Ecce Homo. In this painting, Christ is depicted as despised, scourged, and spat upon....Behold the Man. The rent garments, concealing the wounded bosom of Jesus, nevertheless seem to reveal the mystery of the Sacred Heart, which challenges us to discover the Divine image and likeness in each person. The Albertine Sister is called to serve the most needy of her neighbors, and this in an ever more sacrificial way, the more the image of Divine filiation seems to be disfigured or completely effaced, according to Brother Albert’s words: the more one is abandoned, the greater the love with which we must serve that person, since it is the wounded Lord JesusHimself whom we salvage in the person of the poor.

Christ manifests this attitude of sacrificial love most fully in the Eucharist: since He becomes Bread – so the Father of the Poor teaches – so let us be bread. [...] Let us give of our very selves. The Albertine Sister should therefore be marked by the type of goodness of which bread is the model. We should be good like bread, which is set on the table for all, so that each, when he is hungry, may cut off a piece for himself, and so be nourished.

The Sisters likewise seek to become like Christ, Who became poor for our sake. The Albertine Sisters do not have personal possessions, and their simple way of living and working draws them close to those whom they serve. In accord with their charism, they combine the fulfillment of their mission with a deep and genuine life of prayer.

The Congregation is devoted to the Sacred Heart of Jesus, and following in St. Brother Albert’s footsteps, recognizes our Lady of Częstochowa as its Foundress.
Always keep in mind, that
The Blessed Virgin of
Częstochowa is your Foundress.
           
(St.Brother Albert)
Following the example and teaching of St. Brother Albert and Blessed Sister Bernardina, the Albertine Sister nurtures a special devotion and childlike affection for the Mother of God, seeking her aid and imitating her virtues.The spiritual
treasure of the Congregation is the example and intercession of St. Brother Albert and Blessed Sister Bernadina, who before her death directed her sisters: Do good to all.
The Congregation of Albertine Sisters was founded by St. Brother Albert in Kraków (Poland) for the purpose of bringing help to the poorest of the poor and the most abandoned. His first assistant was Anna Lubańska – Sister Frances,
 
who came from the Podlasie region of Poland. The first reception of the habit on the part of seven sisters took place on January 15, 1891 in the Kraków Bishops’ Chapel in the presence of St. Brother Albert and Cardinal Albin Dunajewski.

The Sisters initially resided in Kraków at the shelter for the homeless on Skawinska Street, where they took care of homeless women. As the Congregation grew more and more in number, the Sisters opened new homeless shelters throughout Poland. The oldest of those preserved is the home at #47 Krakowska Street,the location to which St. Brother Albert tranferred the main homeless shelter for women in 1908.

Initially, St. Brother Albert placed the Congregation under his direct guidance. Then, on April 7, 1902, he appointed Sister Bernardina – Maria Jabłońska, as the first official Superior General , who guided the community for 38 years, until her death in 1940. During her time of service, she faithfully guarded the charism of the Founder. After his death, she wrote down the Constitutions, which assured the legal foundation of the Congregation. At the time of her death, the Albertine Sisters were in charge of 56 foundations and numbered about 500 sisters.
Presently, the Congregation conducts its activity in 69 foundations – 53 in Poland and 16 outside the country: in England, Argentina, Bolivia, Russia (Siberia), Slovakia, the United States of America, the Ukraine, the Vatican, and Italy.

This is the account number of our Order for those who would like to support our ministry
Kredyt Bank S. A. II o/Kraków ul. Kapelanka 17
30-347 Kraków
PL 28 1500 1487 1214 8002 4563 0000 KRDBPLPW

Albertine Sisters
Saint Brother Albert (Adam Chmielowski, 1845-1916). Courageous Patriot, Talented Painter, Father and Servant of the Poor, Founder of Religious Congregations of Brothers and Sisters (Albertins and Albertines)
Blessed Sister Bernardina ( Maria Jabłońska  1878 -1940 ) Co-founders of the Congregation of Alberine Sisters
In accord with their charism, following their Founder’s example, the Albertine Sisters serve the poorest of the poor and the most abandoned.
The fields where the Sisters serve are:
  • shelters for the homeless
  • soup kitchens for the hungry
  • nursing homes for the lonely and elderly
  • charitable homes for adults and children
  • nurseries and shelters for children from dysfunctional families
  • hospices for the terminally ill
  • homes for retired priests
  • parish foundations
  • work in the missions