Marcelina Darowska

She was inspired to co-found the Sisters of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary, a congregation in Poland, Belarus and Ukraine.

Troubles and worries accompanying the upbringing of sickly Karolcia, as well as the family's opposition to her plans related to religious life.

While managing the estate in Żerdz, she started social and educational work, helping peasants to become independent after the enfranchisement.

She opened a convent and a middle school for girls, Jazłowiec College, in the donated Poniatowski palace close to the ruins of the local fortress.

In 1904, the Polish writer Henryk Sienkiewicz wrote: "Praise for your wise work and honour to your merit and goodness".

… to extend the kingdom of God in human souls and bring it into the world - this was the programme for her apostolic activity, born in the silence of a heart immersed in prayer.

Together with her sisters, she generously laboured in the exhausting task of building the kingdom of Christ, paying particular attention to the religious training of the young generation, especially girls, to the growth of catechesis and to educational.

She assigned a particular role in life to the Christian woman as wife, mother and citizen of her country … The new blessed is an example of an apostolic faith that creates new ways for the Church to be present in the world and forms a more just and human society which abides and bears fruit in Christ."