SAINT OF THE DAY: 29 May 2018
Feast day of St. Ursula Ledochowska
St. Ursula Ledochowska please pray for us.
Daughter of Count Anthony Ledochowska, a Polish noble, and an Austrian mother. One of five children in a pious family; sister of Saint Theresa Ledochowska. Due to financial failure, the family moved to Saint Poelten, Austria in 1873. Her father died of smallpox in February 1885, and Julia’s uncle Cardinal Lebo assumed responsibility for them.
Julia felt a call to religious life, and became an Ursuline nun, taking the name Ursula. Founded the Ursulines of the Sacred Heart (Ursuline Sisters of the Agonizing Heart of Jesus, Gray Ursulines) in 1906 with the motherhouse in Pniewy, Poland. Missionary to Russia in 1907 by order of Pope Pius X. Expelled during the Communist Revolution, she continued her work throughout Scandanavia. Translated and published a catechism in Finnish. At the request of Pope Benedict XV, she moved to Rome. From there she administered her Order, and inspired others. A noted orator, she frequently spoke before royalty and national leaders. Called for, and defended the right of Polish independence. The Gray Ursulines continue their work today in Poland, Italy, France, Canada, Brazil, Argentina, Finland, Germany, Tanzania, Belarus, and Ukraine.
Born: 17 April 1865 at Loosdoor, Austria as Julia.
Died: 29 May 1939 in the Gray Ursuline convent, Via del Casalet, Rome, Italy of natural causes incorrupt body transferred to the Gray Ursuline motherhouse in Pniewy, Poland on 29 May 1989.
Venerated: 14 May 1983 by SAINT JOHN PAUL II.
(decree of heroic virtue)
Beatified: 20 June 1983 by SAINT JOHN PAUL II at Poznan, Poland
Canonized: 18 May 2003 by SAINT JOHN PAUL II at Vatican Basilica.
