WELCOME

SISTERS OF ST. JOSEPH

of Northwestern Pennsylvania

Come to the Waters, is a history of the Sisters of St. Joseph of Northwestern Pennsylvania written by Leonie Shanley, SSJ, and Mary Francis Becker, SSJ, on the occasion of the 150th anniversary of the Sisters of St. Joseph in the Diocese of Erie in 2010. Click here to explore the book.

News

Take Back the Site Vigils

| January 21, 2020

Take Back the Site Vigils were started because of the murder of Anora Manus, a mother of five children. Since then, the Sisters of St. Joseph, the Benedictine Sisters of Erie, and the Sisters of Mercy have organized numerous vigils. The three communities work together to reclaim locations where murders have occurred for non-violence. The…

TAKE ACTION: refugee resettlement numbers

| January 21, 2020

The current administration has reduced the refugee resettlement program by 80% and set this year’s refugee admissions goal at 18,000, the lowest level in U.S. history. Given that there are more than 25 million refugees worldwide, more than half of whom are children, the dismantling of the resettlement program is unconscionable. Please call your Senator…

TAKE ACTION against Human Trafficking in PA

| January 17, 2020

PA highway signage is inadequate! Support PA House Bill 1513 “An act providing for the National Human Trafficking Resource Center Hotline Notification Act, imposing duties on the Department of Labor and Industry, and prescribing penalties.” Please contact PA Representative Jim Cox and ask him to work to hold hearings on House Bill 1513. On May…

Maxims — A Modern Take

More than 360 years ago, Father Jean Pierre Médaille, SJ, composed the Maxims of the Little Institute, 100 short sayings to help the first Sisters of St. Joseph grow in virtue. We share them here, along with contemporary translations developed by Susan Wilcox, CSJ, Brentwood, and a group of her students.

MAXIM 12

ORIGINAL

Choose to bear all the evils of time rather than the least of eternity, all the evils of nature rather than the least deprivation of grace, since all kinds of reasons illumined by faith teach you to live according to this truth.

Original Maxim 12
as written by Fr. Médaille

MAXIM 26

ORIGINAL

Seek in everything God's contentment and not anything else, and the better to practice this, remember in the entire living out of your life, in desolation, in sick¬ness, etc., to desire God's greater contentment without giving a thought to your own interests.

Original Maxim 26
as written by Fr. Médaille

MAXIM 54

ORIGINAL

Empty yourself of all human respect and of the least blameworthy concession, and declare, with a generous heart, never to yield in anything that would be against God's will.

Original Maxim 6
as written by Fr. Médaille

MAXIM 81

ORIGINAL

Whatever the virtue you recognize in yourself, never turn away from a true fear of God, conscious that his judgments are unfathomable and that his appraisals are quite different from ours.

Original Maxim 81
as written by Fr. Médaille

Read all Maxims

Click Here