TheSisters of Social Service (SSS;Hungarian:Szociális Testvérek Társasága,Latin:Societas Sororum Socialium) are a Catholicreligious institute of women founded inHungary in 1923 byMargit Slachta. The sisters adopted the social mission of theCatholic Church andBenedictine spirituality with a special devotion to theHoly Spirit.[1]
The institute was founded byMargit Slachta, a pioneer insocial services and a leading Hungarian political figure, who trained other women for political action. In 1920 she became the first woman elected to theHungarian Parliament, where she actively promotedworkers’ rights, stressing thewell-being of women, children and families.[2] She was inspired by the social and economic turmoil inEurope following theFirst World War, when tens of thousands of people were living in wretched conditions across the continent. Hungary had seen its territory reduced by some sixty percent by theAllies and was also suffering from waves of political terror by competing forces, as well as conquest by theKingdom of Romania of much of its eastern regions.
Slachta and the other founders of the Sisters of Social Service were strongly influenced by their experiences working in theSocial Mission Society [Wikidata] which was founded byEdit Farkas [hu] inBudapest in 1908.[3] In 1923 Farkas implemented a number of changes in the organization including a planned merger with aJesuit women's society. As a result, Slachta, Sister Friderika Horváth (future founder of the SSS inCalifornia), and four other sisters left the society and sought to form a new organization founded on the same principles as the original Social Mission Society of working in the world with the poor, but with a greater emphasis on working in politics.[3]
A dedicatedCatholic, Slachta was led to form areligious institute along with some of her coworkers to carry out their commitment to care for the needy and suffering around them. Thiscongregation was established in 1923 under the name of theSisters of Social Service. The members made the social mission of theChurch the motivating thrust of their lives. The Sisters dedicated themselves toGod byvows.[2]
Like many earlierreligious communities of women which arose in similar social conditions (e.g., theSisters of the Visitation and theUrsulines), the Sisters saw their commitment as being out on the street, involved in the daily struggles of the poor, and they structured their way of life to serve thisministry. To this end, in place of the traditionalreligious habit of floor-lengthrobes andveils, they adopted simple gray suits as worn by other women of the day. Their aim was to be involved in the social organizations serving these aims. This was to be lived through a daily routine directed by theRule of Saint Benedict.
As the community grew, foundations were set up in other areas. Auguszta Ikrich was already working inRomania when she and her associates joined the Sisters of Social Service in 1923.[4] TheSlovak District was established by Sister Anita Kowalcze in 1927 in the city ofKassa. Sister Paula Rónai founded a center inStockholm. During the 1920s, the Sisters followed the massive emigration of theHungarian population around the world.[2] Sisters also leftBudapest to begin a work withHungarian immigrants on the plains of WesternCanada. In 1926 theCalifornia District was started inLos Angeles.
From the beginning, the Sisters provided charitable services to the poor. They founded and maintained schools to trainsocial workers, organized and led Christianwomen's movements, worked onChristian formation, and served onmunicipal councils. They were, in effect, the first religious congregation of social workers in theUnited States.
The foundress, Sister Margit, and the other Sisters faced new challenges with the rise ofNazism and the outbreak ofWorld War II. While continuing their commitment tosocial justice, they also worked to protect theirJewish neighbors. Many of them were sheltered in the motherhouse and in homes organized and run by members of the congregation.[5]
On December 27, 1944, members of the pro-NaziArrow Cross Party surrounded the hostel SisterSára Salkaházi ran and began to arrest the Jewish women being sheltered there, along with a Christian volunteer. Sister Sára arrived during the raid, and identified herself as the director of the house. She was immediately arrested and taken with the other women to the banks of theDanube, where they were all stripped and shot, and their bodies then thrown into the river.[5] Hers was never recovered.
On September 17, 2006, with the authorization ofPopeBenedict XVI, she wasbeatified as amartyr inBudapest by theCardinalPrimate ofHungary,Péter Erdő.[5] She is the firstHungarian who was not a member of the Hungarianroyal family to be honored by theCatholic Church in this way.
The entire congregation is credited with having saved the lives of about one thousand Jews from the Nazis.
The outbreak of the war and the subsequent occupation of Hungary byCommunist forces had led to a separation of the communities of the Sisters in theUnited States andCanada from the Motherhouse inBudapest. As a result, they quickly each became independent ofEurope. The Sisters in the United States were headquartered inLos Angeles and those in Canada inToronto.
The Sisters in the United States were led by Sister Friderika Horváth who had been one of the founding members of the sisterhood.[6]
The Federation of the Sisters of Social Service embraces three continents and nine countries.[7]Today the three separate congregations established from the work of Sister Margit are formed into a federation to honor their joint commitment to her vision. They serve around the globe, with the European congregation serving inEastern Europe, as well as inCuba. The American one also works inMexico, thePhilippines, andTaiwan.
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