Thanks to Irene Simmons for sharing these photos from the collection of her mother, Louise Klein Bialobrzeski. The first photo shows Louise’s aunt, Sister Ceslawa Kielpinski (second from left), sewing in the convent yard with a group of fellow sisters. The second shows her working in the garden as a novice, perhaps at St. Adelbert’s in Milwaukee where she ministered as a cook from 1892-1894. Photos like these are quite rare owing to a rule at that time that prevented sisters from having their photos taken once they took their vows.
Sister Ceslawa entered the congregation in 1889. She was a “homemaking sister” who ministered at various convents in Michigan, Minnesota, Illinois, and Wisconsin. Homemaking sisters, also known as “lay sisters”, contributed to the congregation by cooking, cleaning, doing laundry, and creating a warm and comfortable home environment in the convent. During Sister Ceslawa’s lifetime, homemaking sisters were not able to vote in internal elections, could not hold higher office, and did not say the same prayers as the teaching sisters. That distinction was eliminated in 1956.
