ABOUT US

Our communities are located in the Czech and Slovak Republics. The most important part of our spiritual mission is to pray for the Unity of Christians according to the word of Jesus: „May they all be one“ (John 17:21). We fulfill our spiritual focus in educational, pastoral and social activities.

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Archbishop Antonín Cyril Stojan intended to establish a religious congregation that would be fully involved in charitable and pastoral activities in the unifying efforts of the Church. However, after a short exposure at the Olomouc Apostolic See Stojan died in 1923.

Sister Marie Růžena Nesvadbová saw Stojan’s intention as a „sign of the times“ and God’s call waiting for a specific response. She made this answer in two characteristics of the future congregation: 1. in charitable activities and youth education; 2. in ecumenical and missionary attempts – to support the efforts of the churches of the East and West to fulfill Jesus’s last wish „May they all be one“ (John 17:21).

(Constitution – Introduction)

 

A BRIEF HISTORY OF OUR CONGREGATION

  • 1924 – establishment of the „Cyrillo-Methodějská Družina“ (=the future congregation preparatory group)
  • purchase of a chateau in Skalička near Hranice for the mentally handicapped
  • July 4, 1925 – Mental Institution in Brno, Lerchova Street (motherhouse)
  • September 28, 1925 – administration of the Stojanov Spiritual Retreat House
  • October 30, 1927 – our own house in Velehrad (institution built for mentally handicapped boys)
  • September 8, 1928 – establishment of the Congregation of Sisters of Saints Cyril and Methodius, with co-founder Jan Šrámek
  • creation of the first Constitution of the congregation by Methodius Marvan
  • August 15, 1930 – Sr. Marie Růžena Nesvadbová makes her first vows together with 15 novices
  • Marie Růžena Nesvadbová becomes the first Superior General of the new congregation
  • the number of sisters is growing rapidly: after 10 years the congregation has 110 sisters
  • workplaces expansion before the war: Ernestinum in Budeníčky, Charitas Prague
  • 1933 – starting a ministry in Slovakia: Povážské Podhradí, later in Turzovka and Žilina
  • 1949 – persecution: nationalization of the grammar school in Brno, abolition of the community
  • September 28, 1950 – 1956 – internment in Bílá Voda (47 sisters), Javorník, Krásná Lípa,

Libeč u Trutnova – textile factories

  • prohibition of opening a novitiate for 16 candidates
  • Prague – community in the Charitas Palace
  • June 19, 1961 – Sr. Marie and elderly and disabled sisters retire to Bílá Voda (Charity Home for N uns)
  • March 12, 1963 – Sr. Marie dies at the age of 85
  • March 15, 1963 – requiem in Bílá Voda – Bishop František Tomášek
  • Marie transported to Velehrad
  • March 16, 1963 – the funeral is led by Prelate František Cinek
  • totalitarianism – a ban of public admission of new memebers
  • working for mentally handicapped children and youth in Velehrad, Skalička near Hranice, in Jindřichov in Silesia and in Dolní Podluží
  • working at Retirement homes in Liberec, Krásná Lípa and Děčín
  • 1966 – Prague – working on the archbishopric – household management, consistory
  • 1969 – purchase of a family house in Bratislava, Trnávka
  • 1970 – Litoměřice – two houses bought for the community, working in the Catholic seminary for priests.
  • household management for priests – Prostějov, Vyškov, Kroměříž, Židlochovice and Blatnice pod sv. Antonínkem
  • community of sisters who have to wear civilian clothing – Bratislava, Uherské Hradiště, Prostějov, Brno, Opava, Humenné and Roztoky u Prahy; sisters work as nurses, cooks, office workers; elderly sisters take care of the households
  • 1990 – return of the sisters to Turzovka
  • new communities in Olomouc and Sereď
  • ten years ministry in the Catholic seminary for priests in Prague – kitchen management
  • September 1, 1992 – opening the Sts. Cyril and Methodius Primary Church School in Brno, Lerchova Street
  • 1993 – the division of the Congregation into the Czech and Slovak provinces
  • 1994 – community in Vyšehrad in Prague
  • September 1, 1996 – opening the Sts. Cyril and Methodius Pedagogical Secondary School and Grammar School in Brno, Lerchova Street
  • missions 1995 – 2009: 1995 – Kamyshyn in Russia, 1996-1997 – Kursk, 1997 – Melitopol in Ukraine
  • 2000 – opening the Charity Home for Nuns in Velehrad, return of the sisters from the detention border areas of Bílá Voda, Krásná Lípa, Litoměřice
  • elderly sisters from Stojanov are also moving to the Charity Home for Nuns
  • 2002 – community in Tetín
  • 2012 – opening the Sts. Cyril and Methodius Sheltered Housing in Velehrad

Today, our sisters work as teachers, educators, social workers, nurses, hospital chaplains, catechists, economists; some of them hold leadership positions in the Charity Home and in our Sheltered Housing; they work as cooks and operating employees of the Stojanov Spiritual Retreat House, parish sisters etc.

 

* The following list of our sisters’ workplaces is for guidance only. There are many more places where our sisters lived, worked and brought the Light of Christ…

Thanks be to God! +

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