FRANCISCAN SISTERS

OF TRANSFIGURATION

HISTORY

 

The history of the Institute is closely linked to the history of the Foundress. His life has left an important mark in the Church by incarnating the charism received from the Holy Spirit by giving good and good testimony of life. She has her way of living and working together with the Sisters who joined her, they were very luminous and edifying.

 

This is the simple and rich history of Mother Chiara Biagiotti, Foundress of the Franciscan Sisters of the Transfiguration.

         Maria Teresa Biagiotti was born in Campi Bisenzio (Florence) on April 24, 1849. She is the daughter of spouses Stefano Biagiotti and Teresa Donzelli. She was baptized on the same day of her birth, in the Pieve Santo Stefano in Campi Bisenzio (Florence).

         Her family and acquaintances were called Mariina. He spent the first thirty years between Campi and Florence, since his family often changed his home according to the work of his father Stefano or the wishes of Mother Teresa.

         Little is known of Mariina's life in this time of hidden life. He did not attend public schools. The first elements learned from the mother's knowledge, assisted by some of her friends. At the first communion, it was probably prepared by the Sisters of the Sorrowful Mother.

         It is known that at this time he lived in Campi Assuntina Biagiotti (who was not a relative of Mariina, despite the surname), infirm, immobilized in bed, but with an extraordinary charm. A group of girls had formed around her bed, to whom she was guiding. Perhaps from his charisma, two communities of religious life were born.

Assuntina died in 1870. Two years later one of the girls in the group, Teresa Manetti called Bettina, welcomed two companions to her house, thus beginning the Congregation of the Carmelite Sisters of St. Teresa of Florence. Bettina, today is the Santa Teresa Maria della Croce.

This event had an influence on Marina. She too had an inspiration to do something similar, and at the age of twenty, she spoke to her confessor, who advised her instead to enter an existing Congregation. Even in the family, Marina meets a strong opposition, so as to exclaim to a friend of the family: << not "Mariina", call it "Martirina" >>.

 

 

In 1879 the definitive transfer of the entire family took place in Florence. The family moved several times in different homes. They were difficult years on every aspect. The father and mother had remained adamant.

         After the death of her father in 1889, Mariina was able to welcome her first companions. With them, from 1890 to 1908, he had to move from house to house six times, to find a permanent home in Via Luigi Lanzi, where today is the headquarters of the Mother House.

         At that time Mariina was headed by a Franciscan Father from the Church of All Saints. In 1889, the tiny community obtained the faculty to erect the Via Crucis stations in a room adapted to Cappellina.

In 1892, the Mother Foundress with the first Consorelle wore the habit of the Secular Franciscan Third Order and the year after they issued the Profession. The aspirants are welcomed. In addition to them the "poor orphan girls" are also welcomed to be educated and educated.

         From this moment the bud grows and develops slowly but constantly.

         From the year 1894 he resumed the pilgrimage from one district to another, in search of a house suitable for new needs.

         As the work grows, the Mother Foundress meets people who affect her work: the various Franciscan confessors, Father Elpidio Rocchetti OFM and Mons. Massimiliano Novelli.

         The decade of 1889-1899 represents the transition from the Biagiotti family to the Franciscan Community of Figlie di S. Francesco of Florence. In 1898, the year of Mother Teresa's death, the small community obtained the favor of being able to have the celebration of Holy Mass.

         In 1899, January 7, permission to preserve the Eucharist came.

         In May 1901, Fr Agostino Pagliucca, Agostiniano, knowing the affliction of the Mother Founder and the desire of his Companions to become true religious, proposed to Mariina to enter the Augustinian Order and to give her the Augustinian Rule. Before making the final decision. The Mother communicates everything to Fr. Elpidio Rocchetti, who makes her the same proposal: welcome her into the Franciscan Order. He proposes to make two novenas: to St. Augustine and to St. Francis so that the choice may be made according to the Will of God.

         The Mother also informed Mons. Novelli, who gave his opinion, but left the choice totally free.

         Mother Clare and the Sisters decided to follow the Franciscan Rule, and from that moment all their affections had turned to the Seraphic Father St. Francis.     

December 8, 1901, Feast of the Immaculate Conception, the Mother Clare of the Blessed Sacrament, Sr. Francesca of the Sacred Heart, Sr. Agnese of the Child Jesus, Sr. Elisabetta dell'Immacolata, Sr. Giacinta di S. Giuseppe and Sr Cecilia di S. Francesco, received the religious habit from the hands of Mons. Massimiliano Novelli.

         The Fondational Group takes its name from the Franciscan Tertiary Sisters known as the Daughters of St. Francis of Florence.

         The Congregation grew in number. In 1908 the Mother finally succeeded in finalizing the dream of her own convent: she was purchased property in Via Luigi Lanzi, 43, which was named Istituto S. Anna in memory of the late Miss Anna Venturini, according to the wishes of her parents, donors of the house.

         On October 24, 1908, the Daughters of St. Francis were aggregated to the Order of Friars Minor.

         In 1926, on November 15, the Mother Founder with the Foundational group issued Solemn Profession.

         During the feast of St. Anne, in the year 1929, the Foundress, consumed by long infirmity, felt worse and had a fever. A few days later, on July 30, 1929, consoled by the sacrament of the sick and by the Viaticum, towards the evening, Mother Clare of the Blessed Sacrament, with the lighted lamp she went to meet Christ, her Spouse.

         After the death of the Foundress she was elected at the head of the Sr. Agnese Ballerini Institute (1929), she governed until the year of the First General Chapter in 1935. In its place is Sr. Margherita Rindi, a religious of exceptional abilities, supported by adequate training.

 

 

         The very evening of the election, Cardinal Elia Dalla Costa, ordered to open the house to the children of the parish. In November 1935 the School of Work began to work. Two years later, the Kindergarten (regularly authorized) was opened.

 

         The time of the war was a period of arrest, but not sterile. In that period, the sisters had contact with poverty, with the pain of children, the sick and the elderly. At that time they had their first experiences in assisting older people.

          In 1950, Mother Margherita was invited to open a house for the elderly. After the interview with the owner, La Madre makes a project to purchase the Villa "Il Larione" where, in 1951, the House for the elderly, the Novitiate of the Congregation and other activities was opened. Cardinal Elia Dalla Costa approved the project.

         Under the energetic and wise guidance of Mother Margherita, the Congregation leaves the frontiers of Florence. The Communities are opened in Carraia Calenzano and Fibbiena. In addition, the Sisters performed the service in the clinics and in the "Villa delle Rose" nursing home in Florence.

          Mother Margherita Rindi died in 1957 leaving the memory as a strong guide of the Institute.

          Since then, for almost thirty years the Institute has become more consolidated than widespread. They were years of spiritual work and consolidation of the works.

          In the year 1983 during the General Chapter Mother Raffaella Vadacca was elected as Superior General.

         Even she was very energetic and open, she started thinking about the development of the Institute. So in the year 1989, Casa was opened in Manila in the Philippines, in 1991 in Krakow in Poland, in 1998 in Melcice Liescove in Slovakia. In 2006 in Lucena in Brazil.

         In the following years, the mission in the Philippines was particularly developed, where the Sisters opened an Elementary School and a Child's Home.

          In other communities care services are provided for the elderly (Casa Generalizia). Nursery Schools and Nursery, Home of welcome, besides service in the parishes (catechesis, liturgical animation) and pastoral vocation.

In the General Chapter of 2001 a decision was made to change the name of the Congregation, so now we have become "Franciscan Sisters of the Transfiguration" by the "Daughters of St. Francis of Florence". With a change of name, a new reading of the Charism also took place.

During the 10th General Chapter on July 13, 2013, the new Superior General, Mother Ma. Rizalina Gutang was elected. She is the first foreign General Superior of Philippine origin.

Since the beginning of your term, he has reorganized and consolidated the various local communities. It has nourished the foundations of the INSTITUTE. In December 2016 the Extraordinary Extraordinary General Chapter was made for the Study and Approval of the new General Constitutions of the Franciscan Sisters of the Transfiguration.

In January 2017 the second COMMUNITY was opened in FORTALEZA - BRAZILE. The community is committed to Evangelization, Youth and Vocation Ministry, Catechesis and other activities in the Parish of St. John the Baptist in Tanape.