Ukrainian Sisters Celebrate Centennial

Sisters of St. Basil the Great (1911)
Fox Chase, Pennsylvania


Laboring among the Ukrainian Greek Catholic people in the United States are members of the Order of Sisters of St. Basil the Great, which originated about the fourth century, when founded by St. Macrina, under the spiritual direction of her brother, St. Basil the Great.

Since that period the care of the sick and the education of children has been carried on as the special purpose of the Sisters of St. Basil, whose Congregation, allied with the Order of the Basilian Fathers, was blessed and approved by successive pontiffs of the early centuries.

In 1911 three Basilian Sisters, with Mother M. Helen as Superior, left their ancient community home in Lemberg, Galicia, and came to the United States to make a foundation of their Order in Philadelphia. This was in accordance with plans of the Right Rev. S.S. Ortynsky, D.D., first Bishop of the Ukrainian Catholic diocese in the United States, who had perceived the need of Sisters of the Greek Rite to open schools and orphanages, and enkindle and preserve the faith in those of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic diocese in this country.

In 1926 the community transferred its Motherhouse from Philadelphia to the present site in Fox Chase, Pennsylvania, where Mother M. Josaphat is Superior.

The community in the United States is under the episcopal jurisdiction of Bishop Ortynsky’s successor, the Right Rev. Constantine Bohachewsky, D.D., with his episcopal residence at 815 North Franklin Street, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

SUMMARY
Sisters of St. Basil the Great.
Founded in Asia Minor about the Fourth Century A.D.
Established in the United States for the Ukrainian Greek Catholics in 1911.
Habit: The habit and veil are black, with a black scapular and girdle, and with white wimple. A rosary is worn.
Active in educational and charitable work among Ukrainian Greek Catholics in Philadelphia and Fox Chase, Jenkintown, Pennsylvania; Chesapeke City, Maryland; Chicago, Illinois; and Cleveland, Ohio.
United States Motherhouse and Novitiate: St. Joseph’s Convent, Fox Chase, Jenkintown, Pennsylvania. (Ukrainian Greek Catholic Diocese.)

Elinor Tong Dehey, Religious Orders of Women in the United States, Catholic: Accounts of Their Origin, Works, and Most Important Institutions (Indiana: W.B. Conkey, 1930).

NOTE
In 1931, St. Basil Academy, a convent boarding school for young women of Ukrainian background, opened. In 1947, the Sisters opened St. Macrina College (now Manor College), a two-year college. Today the college sponsors a Ukrainian Heritage Studies Center. Through the years, the Sisters have expanded across the United States, and are organized into different province. This particular province is named for Jesus, Lover of Humanity, and the Sisters there are celebrating their centennial this year.