As a teenager, Michaelina Hordashevska, of Lviv (now in Ukraine), attended several
retreats given by a Byzantine
Catholic congregation, the Basilian Fathers, inspiring her to become a religious. At the age of eighteen, she entered a
convent of contemplative Basilian nuns, then the only women's congregation of the Byzantine Rite. Recognizing the need for an active women's congregation, the
Basilians assigned to Michaelina the task of founding the Sisters Servants of
Mary Immaculate to fill this need. In preparation, Sister Michaelina spent
time with an active Roman Rite congregation, the Felician Sisters. She became mother
superior of the Sisters Servants, taking the name Josaphata in honor of the Ukrainian martyr, Saint Josaphat. This congregation, with an active apostolate, later grew to become the largest institute of women religious for
Byzantine Rite Ukrainian Catholics. Mother Josaphata exercised her
zeal in teaching, nursing the sick, and visiting the needy, as well as in the promotion of Byzantine chant and the fitting adornment of churches. She died of bone cancer on April 7, 1919.
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