Marcelina Kotowicz was born in Szulaki, a part of Poland that was controlled by the Russians at the time. Her parents, Jan and Maksymilia Kotowicz, were wealthy landowners. She attended a school in Odessa for three years, before working on her father's farm. Some sources state that she was deeply religious, even from a young age. Before his death, her father made her promise that she would marry and start a family. And on 2 October 1849 she married Karol Darowski, a land owner from Podolia. He died of typhus three years later, leaving her with two children — Jozef and Karolina. A year after that, her son died. This series of tragedies influenced her religious thoughts; she claimed that she no longer belonged to any earthly being but rather to only God. For health reasons she travelled to Berlin, then to Paris, and finally to Rome, arriving in the Italian town on 11 April 1853.
Life as a nun
In Rome she met Father Hieronim Kajsiewicz, a Resurrectionist priest, who became her spiritual director. On 12 May 1854 she made her vows of chastity and obedience before him. Kajsiewicz introduced her to a nun, Józefa Karska, who became a close friend. Whilst in Poland, the two women decided to found a religious community dedicated to the education and support of women. This new organization, the Congregation of the Sisters of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary, was established in Rome in 1857. When Karska died from typhus in 1860, Darowska became the Superior of the congregation. In 1863 she moved the community to Jazłowiec in the Archdiocese of Lviv. She opened a convent and a middle school for girls in the donated ruins of the local castle. This soon became an important spiritual and cultural centre. In 1863 the congregation received the decretum laudis from the Pope. In 1874 the final approval was confirmed, and in 1889 the constitutions were accepted. In 1883 the congregation erected the Statue of the Immaculate Conception of the Godmother in the convent's chapel. This was blessed by archbishopSigismund Felix Feliński, and in 1939 crowned by the Polish primateAugust Cardinal Hlond. During her 50 years' activity as superior of the congregation, Darowska opened many pre-schools and schools in rural areas. She died on 5 January 1911 in Jazłowiec, aged 83. She left seven convents with 350 sisters.
Approach and meaning
In 1904, the Polish writer Henryk Sienkiewicz wrote: "Praise for your wise work and honour to your merit and goodness". Darowska answered: "I do not look at the results of our work. Those results do not belong to us. If they exist, they belong to God, for the good of our beloved and divided country".
