Daughters of the Immaculata

I recently came across the Daughters of the Immaculata when I was looking at some pictures of Paul (Thoughts of a Regular Guy) taken from a campaign appearance that were on his Facebook page. (right) I decided to check them out & needless to say, I was very impressed with these daughters of St. Maximillian Kolbe who were living out his vision of being a "Bride of Christ": "To win as many souls as possible for the Immaculate is our life, our breath, our every heart beat."

Since these Daughters follow the lead of St. Maximillian Kolbe & since he was a Franciscan, I thought today, 4 Oct, the feast of St. Francis of Assisi, would be the perfect day to look at these holy women. For the most part, I will let them speak for themselves using quotes from their website. (Why reinvent the wheel?) I will add my comments where I feel they are needed.

"We are the Daughters of the Immaculata, a recently founded community of Catholic Sisters who have St. Maximilian Kolbe as our patron and spiritual father. We were founded as an Association of the Christian Faithful established under Canon 215 of the Code of Canon Law to live, in today’s challenging and difficult times, the charism of St. Maximilian: joyful acceptance of God's Will; carrying of the Cross; imitation of Our Lady; generous self-surrender; love of our neighbor, even unto death."

So how do they live this call out? "Under the mantle of Our Lady, the Immaculata, and after the example of St. Maximilian Kolbe" they work "to extend as far as possible the blessed Kingdom of the most Sacred Heart of Jesus to every soul in the world." Their "particular mandate is to be carried out in a trinity of “P’s”:
1. Prayer: for ourselves, our community, our families, our country, our world, and our Church, with a special remembrance of priests;
2. Promotion: of Marian Consecration in the Militia Immaculata. We are personally consecrated and we encourage others to do likewise by disseminating information through the various venues of the media;
3. Participation: “rendering to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s and to God the things that are God’s” (Matthew 22:21), we follow and participate in current events and make the voice of the Church heard in matters affecting our country and the world. We are active in the public forum."

Naturally, they are very active in the Right to Life movement. Many of them were also at the 4th of July Tea Party in Washington DC. (pictures here) The "Don't Tread on Me" flags go well with their habits. In other words, they are definitely living out their call to active participation. & in a way that is consistant with authentic Catholic teaching.

They are: "based at the National Shrine of St. Maximilian Kolbe (“Marytown”) in Libertyville, IL. The Shrine was founded and is serviced by the Conventual Franciscan Friars" They work with them "to spread the ideals of Marian Consecration: bringing all souls to the Sacred Heart of Jesus through the help of His Mother." They "assist in many aspects of the Shrine (media, music, housekeeping, e.g.)" They feel that they perhaps give their "greatest witness to a hungering modern Church by our presence attired in traditonal dress." As they explain: "We wear religious garb in order to make public our witness to Jesus Christ and we take religious names, bringing to the world an orthodoxy which has disappeared in many places over the last 4 decades." (As I was saying about "good habits". . . . ) They "live and pray in community endeavoring to live Religious Life and its three vows authentically and radically as was lived by generations of holy and self-sacrificing Sisters for generations in the Church."

As a part of that radically lived lif the Sisters spend time each day before the Blessed Sacrament in prayer. "Our Sisters adore before Our Lord in the Blessed Sacrament each day. Prayer furnishes the basis and strength for all of our other activities." " We also pray daily for priests, knowing they are special targets of the Enemy."

"We have a special emphasis on combatting the enemies of the Catholic Church. This is demonstrated in prayer groups which bring the People of God together to pray and actively work toward the victory of Christ, and in using modern media techniques to evangelize.. "

As they point out on their vocations page: "Because we are a new community and in the process of seeking diocesan approval, our candidates and members must be women of strong pioneering spirit and great flexibility! This is new ground and a true challenge, though immensely exciting and rewarding to those who can contribute their talents and efforts."

Once again we can see that there are some true "Brides of Christ" out there that are willing to live in a way that is truly pleasing to God. Clearly they are following in the footsteps of their spiritual fathers, St. Maximilian Kolbe & St. Francis of Assisi as well as their spiritual mother, St. Clare. In Nazi Germany the Lord raised up St. Maximilian to battle the evils of his day. Now his daughters are following in his footsteps to battle the biggest evils of today, esp the "culture of death". They may be a young order, but I feel they will be arround for a long time.

For more info, check out their website or contact them at:

Daughters of the Immaculata

Sacred Heart Convent

30097 Providence Drive

Libertyville, IL 60048

847-816-3472

maxandfrancis@comcast.net

PS: Not surprizingly, they are members of the Council of Major Superiors of Women Religious.