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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