History of the Order of the Sisters of St. Basil the Great

This international Order of the Eastern Catholic Church is the oldest monastic order in the world, tracing its roots to the 4th century and St. Basil the Great, for whom they are named.  St. Basil, a Bishop of Caesarea Cappadocia in Asia Minor, is known as the Father of Eastern Monasticism.  His precepts were the Gospel as Rule of Life, Community Living, and Service to the Local Church.  After his death, his way of monastic life spread throughout Greece and into the Slav countries of central and Eastern Europe.  By 1702 there were 40 Basilian Monasteries in Eastern Europe.

The first Basilian Sisters came to the United States in 1911 from the Javoriv Monastery in Ukraine, establishing a Motherhouse in Philadelphia. In 1918, the Administration of the Byzantine Catholic Church in America was divided into two jurisdictions in 1918 - one for Ukrainians and another for Ruthenians.  At the request of Apostolic Administrator Very Rev. Gabriel Martyak, Rev. Mother M. Macrina Melnychuk, then Assistant Superior of the Philadelphia (Fox Chase) Province, agreed to come and work among the Ruthenian people.  With her arrival, Our Lady of Perpetual Help Province was founded on January 19, 1921 in Cleveland, Ohio. 

Initially, the apostolic work undertaken by the small community was the care of orphan children.  By April of that year, a formal novitiate was opened with the entrance of five young women.  In 1923, the Greek Catholic Union, a fraternal organization, asked Mother Macrina to transfer the orphans being cared for in Cleveland to the newly built St. Nicholas Orphanage in Elmhurst, Pennsylvania, and to assume the administration.  One wing of the structure was used as a residence and novitiate for the fledgling community. 

The community moved once again to a 170-acre farm in Factoryville, Pennsylvania in 1927 before acquiring the Oak Hill estate of the former millionaire coal baron Josiah Van Kirk Thompson in Uniontown, Pennsylvania, as a permanent home.  The former mansion was dedicated as the new Monastery on September 3, 1934, and named Mount St. Macrina in honor of St. Macrina, sister of St. Basil the Great.  The former Oak Hill estate now serves as a center for spiritual retreat and renewal.

In 1951, the Congregation for the Eastern Churches raised the Order of the Sisters of St. Basil the Great to the dignity of a Pontifical Institute, centralizing formerly autonomous units.  The main governing structure of the worldwide Order is now headquartered in Rome, Italy.  Today, in addition to the two American Provinces (Philadelphia and Uniontown, Pennsylvania), the Sisters are in Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, Croatia, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Greece, Poland, Romania, Serbia, Slovakia, and Ukraine.

Our Lady of Perpetual Help Province membership reached a height of 145 in the 1960s. Today with 83 members, the Uniontown Province is currently the second largest of 17 Basilian mission centers around the world; the Holy Trinity Province in Ukraine is currently the largest.