Franciszka Siedliska
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Blessed Maria Franciszka Siedliska |
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| Religious | |
| Born | 12 November 1842 Roszkowa Wola, Rzeczyca, Congress Poland |
| Died | November 21, 1902 (aged 60) Rome, Kingdom of Italy |
| Venerated in | Roman Catholic Church |
| Beatified | 23 April 1989, Saint Peter's Square, Vatican City by Pope John Paul II |
| Feast | 21 November |
| Attributes | Religious habit |
| Patronage |
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Blessed Maria Franciszka Siedliska (12 November 1842 – 21 November 1902) - in religious Maria of Jesus the Good Shepherd - was a Polish Roman Catholic professed religious and the founder of the Sisters of the Holy Family of Nazareth. Siedliska was indifferent to her faith in her childhood but a local priest awakened her and she began to pursue a call to the religious life that her parents opposed. But the death of her father in 1870 allowed for her to pursue this newfound call and in 1873 she decided to found a religious congregation that received the blessing of Pope Pius IX before it was established in Advent of 1875. Siedliska expanded her congregation outside of Rome to her native Poland as well as to places such as Paris and Chicago where she both visited during her extensive travels.
The beatification cause for the late nun opened in 1941 under Pope Pius XII and she became titled as a Servant of God while the confirmation of her life of heroic virtue allowed for her to be named as Venerable on 29 April 1980; Pope John Paul II beatified her in 1989.
Franciszka Siedliska was born on 12 November 1842 as the eldest child to the nobles Adolf Adam Siedliska and Cecilia Marianna Morawska in Roszkowa Wola in Poland.
The girl in her childhood received a private education from governesses and she remained indifferent to the faith - her parents were too - until she met the zealous Franciscan Capuchin priest Leander Lendzian who prepared her for the reception of her First Communion on 1 May 1855 at which point she decided to offer herself to God. She met the priest in Warsaw at an event her grandfather was hosting in November 1854. Siedliska desired to pursue a religious vocation around 1860 but her parents opposed the idea and so she had to wait for the right time; her father said he would rather see her dead than become a nun. The denial of this dream saw her around 1860 move with her parents to Switzerland before going to the German kingdom and to France. But her frail health saw her and her mother go to Murano and then to Cannes to seek out treatment before all returned back to Poland in 1865.
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