Un altro francescanesimo: Francescane missionarie da Gemona a New York tra immigrazione e servizio sociale (review)

Often church historical studies paint a glowing picture of the growth of religious orders from the founding idea to institutional development, glossing over details of challenges faced. Un altro francescanesimo is not one of those works.

The Congregation of the Franciscan Missionary Sisters of the Sacred Heart was canonically erected in 1861 in the Italian town of Gemona, founded by the Servant of God, Father Gregorio Ludovico Fioravanti, and funded by Laura Leroux, duchess of Bauffremont. Through Fioravanti’s guidance, these Franciscan tertiary sisters took a decidedly missionary turn. At the invitation of the Franciscan priests working among the Italian immigrants in New York City, the first group of Missionary Sisters of the Sacred Heart arrived in North America in 1865, establishing themselves in Peekskill, New York, to begin their work among the immigrants, orphans, and impoverished. The sisters continued expanding their efforts: in 1871 they spread their apostolate to New Jersey; in 1872 they began a mission in the Middle East, educating poor and abandoned youth; in 1874 they entered Pennsylvania; in 1879 they began work for abandoned and neglected children at St. Joseph’s Home in Peekskill; in 1885, they opened a mission in Italy itself, to counter the effects of growing anticlericalism and to continue working with the poor; in 1900, they began Ladycliff Academy in Highland Falls, New York; in the 1960s the sisters expanded their educational labors and social work to Bolivia and Chile.

This book is a study of the order and its faithfulness to its original charism, while it developed and adapted to the changing realities of the modern world. It is an interesting work, combining an understanding of religious life with sociological principles and statistics, as the authors delve into the life of the Franciscan sisters from the small town of Gemona to the big city of New York, moving from immigrant work to social services for the poor in the name of the Gospel.

In preparation for the Third Plenary Council of Baltimore, the sad state of Italian immigrants was tackled. Bishop Thomas Becker of Wilmington wrote to Cardinal James Gibbons on December 17, 1884:“Ignorance of their religion and a depth of vice little known to us yet, are their prominent characteristics. The fault lies far higher up than the poor people. The clergy are sadly remiss in their duty.” Although harsh, Becker’s comments were correct. But they also posed the question of the Church’s long-term response to the needy, not just to Italian immigrants. The Church’s initial work for immigrants was the establishment of national parishes to foster the immigrants’ faith, schools to educate, and religious orders of men and women to assist them. Of these, religious women had the greatest effect. Immigrants trusted nuns more than priests, as Mother Cabrini observed in a letter to Archbishop Michael Corrigan of New York; among these were the Franciscan Missionary Sisters of the Sacred Heart. Their first pastoral responses to immigrants established the foundation for their pastoral response to all types of needy persons.

This book outlines their development from a small group of generous women inspired by Il Poverello in a small town in Italy to their growth as an institution in the world, looking beyond the years of mass immigration to their responses to contemporary needs and social works, bringing the Gospel and the Church to a changing, global society.