The Passionist nuns are an order of nuns in the Roman Catholic Church. It was the second Passionist order to be established, founded by St. Paul of the Cross and venerable Mary of Jesus Crucified in 1771.
History
In the "Life of St. Paul of the Cross" by Vincent Strambi, we have evidence of his design from the beginning of the Congregation of the Passion to found an institute in which women, consecrated to the service of God, should devote themselves to prayer and meditation on our Lord's Passion. It was not until towards the end of his life that he wrote the rules of the institute which were approved by the brief of Clement XIV in 1770.
St. Paul had as cooperatrix in the foundation of the Passionist nuns, a religious, known as Mother Mary of Jesus Crucified, whose secular name was Faustina Gertrude Constantini. She was born at Corneto, 18 August 1713. In youth she placed herself under the direction of St. Paul of the Cross, and became a Benedictine nun in her native city, awaiting the establishment of a Passionist convent. Through the generosity of her relatives, Dominic Costantini, Nicolas his brother, and Lucia his wife, a site was obtained for the first convent of the new institute in Corneto, and a suitable house and chapel were built.
On the Feast of the Holy Cross, 1771, Mother Mary of Jesus Crucified, with the permission of Clement XIV, with ten postulants, was clothed in the habit of the Passion and entered the first convent of Passionist nuns, solemnly opened by the vicar capitular of the diocese. St. Paul, detained by illness, was represented by the first consultor general of the order, Father John Mary. Mary of Jesus Crucified became the first mother superior of her order and remained so until her death in 1787.
The spirit of the institute and its distinctive character is devotion to the Passion of Christ, to which the sisters bind themselves by vows. Their life is austere, but in no way injurious to health. Postulants seeking admission must have a dowry. Their convents are strictly enclosed. The sisters chant or recite the Divine Office in common and spend the greater part of the day in prayer and other duties of piety. They attend to the domestic work of the convent, and occupy themselves in their cells with needlework, making vestments etc.
With the approbation of Pius IX a house was established at Mamers in the Diocese of Le Mans, France, in 1872, and continued to flourish until suppressed with other religious communities in 1903 by the government. There is also a Passionist convent at Lucca whose foundation was predicted by Gemma Galgani, a mystic. On 5 May 1910, five Passionist nuns from Italy arrived in Pittsburgh to make the first foundation of their institute in the United States.