Venerable Mary Theresa Dudzik

The Immigrant Who Sheltered Chicago’s Forgotten

Josephine Dudzik was born on August 30, 1860, in Plocicz, Poland. In 1881, her family joined the wave of Polish immigrants crossing the Atlantic, settling in Chicago’s crowded Polish neighborhoods on the near northwest side. Josephine found work and became deeply involved in her parish, but it was the economic crash of 1893 that revealed her vocation.

As the depression devastated Chicago, the elderly, the orphaned, and the destitute of the Polish community had nowhere to turn. Josephine opened her own home to them. She took in anyone who needed shelter, feeding them from her own table and nursing them with her own hands. What began as one woman’s act of mercy soon attracted other women who wanted to serve alongside her.

On December 8, 1894, the Feast of the Immaculate Conception, Josephine and her companions formally established the Franciscan Sisters of Blessed Kunegunda (known today as the Franciscan Sisters of Chicago). She took the religious name Mary Theresa. The congregation received diocesan approval and grew steadily, building homes for the elderly and institutions to serve the needy of Chicago.

Mother Mary Theresa’s health declined in her later years, and she stepped down from leadership in 1909. She died on September 20, 1918, in Chicago, at age fifty-eight. Her cause for canonization was opened in 1963. She was declared Servant of God in 1977 and Venerable in 1994 by Pope John Paul II. Her congregation continues to serve in Chicago and beyond.

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