Blessed Marcelina Darowska – Feast Day – January 5

Blessed Marcelina Darowska was born around 28 January 1827 in Poland, Europe. She worked in Lviv, Ukraine and died around 5 January 1911 in Jazlowiec, Poland. Her Feast Day is celebrated on January 5.

Blessed Marcelina Darowska Date of birth

Bl Marcelina Darowska was born on 28 January 1827 at Szulaki, Poland (now in Ukraine) as Marcelina Kotowicz.

Place of Birth

Bl Marcelina Darowska was born on 28 January 1827 at Szulaki, Poland (now in Ukraine) as Marcelina Kotowicz.

Family Background

She was born to a land-owning Polish family, Marcellina was a pious child with a love of prayer. Though she would have preferred a religious life, she promised her dying father that she would marry and raise a family. Married Karol Darowski in 1849, and sanctified her marriage “by living only in God and for God.”

Karol died less than 3 years later, leaving her a widowed mother of two. Her son died a year later, and she wrote, “The way of the world was not chosen for me by God’s will; the way of the convent was, indeed, my destiny.

Profession

Bl Marcelina Darowska traveled to Rome, Italy in 1854 for reasons of health, and there met Father Hieronim Kajsiewicz, a Resurrectionist who became her spiritual director. Through him, she met Josephine Karska, who wished to found a religious community dedicated to the overall formation of women. The result was the Congregation of the Sisters of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary.

Josephine suffered from typhus for years, and died in 1860, leaving Marcelina as Superior of the new religious family, which numbered no more than four.

In 1863 Marcelina moved them to her homeland. At Jazlowiec, Archdiocese of Lviv, Ukraine, she opened her first school for girls. It soon became an important spiritual and cultural center.

Marcelina approached women’s education believing that on it depends on the re-birth of the family, the foundation of a morally healthy society. She stressed the following to sisters and students: the primacy of God over everything, truth, mutual trust, and unselfishness.

She offered help to the poor, working for tuition-free elementary schools at every convent. During her 50 years as Superior, she opened seven convents with formation institutes and schools for children.

Blessed Marcelina Darowska Date of Death

Bl Marcelina Darowska died on 5 January 1911 at Jazlowiec, Poland (now in Ukraine) of natural causes.

Blessed Marcelina Darowska Place of Death

Bl Marcelina Darowska died on 5 January 1911 at Jazlowiec, Poland (now in Ukraine) of natural causes.

Blessed Marcelina Darowska Feast Day

Bl Marcelina Darowska is among the famous Saints whose feast Day is celebrated on January 4 every year.

Beatification

Bl Marcelina Darowska was beatified by 6 October 1996 by Pope John Paul II.

Canonization

Bl Marcelina Darowska was canonized by Pre Congregation.

Patron Saint of

There is no information based on who was her Patron Saint but we are keeping tabs and soon we will update this information.