WASHINGTON, D.C. (LifeSiteNews) — Two sisters in Washington D.C. are seeking a bishop’s approval to establish an order of religious sisters dedicated to pro-life work.
In an exclusive LifeSiteNews interview, Sisters Adriana and Immolatia explain how they are living out their charism by praying for the unborn at abortion clinics as they await a bishop to approve the founding of a religious order dedicated to the dignity of the smallest of human life.
“We see that for our little brothers and sisters, there is no voice for them, there is no recognition of them at the killing places where they are dying, and we know that we are called to be the presence of the Church in the places where they are dying,” Immolatia revealed.
As part of their mission, the sisters never use the terms “abortion” or “abortion clinic,” instead saying “murder” and “killing places.”
They explained that in Evangelium Vitae, Pope John Paul II stressed the need to use proper language and not veil evil acts behind scientific terms.
“Somehow, everything is hidden behind this word abortion and everyone got used to it,” Adriana pointed out.
The sisters came to pray in front of an abortion clinic in 2016 after Adriana was inspired to do pro-life work after reading a LifeSiteNews article about Canadian pro-life activist Mary Wagner, who was arrested while trying to prevent women from aborting their unborn children.
In the video of Wagner’s arrest, Adriana noticed a nun, who was Sister Immolatia, and Adriana thought, “That’s amazing that this sister is able to serve her charism and her religious order and serve the unborn.”
While Adriana was already in a religious order, she questioned whether her calling was not also to serve the unborn.
A few years later, the two sisters met in Poland and decided to form a religious order with the charism of praying for unborn children at abortion clinics.
Pro-life priest Father Stephen Imbarrato encouraged the sisters in their ministry, saying, “You look at them and you’re drawn to them.”
As part of their ministry, the sisters pray outside the Washington, D.C. Surgi-Clinic, where five full–term aborted babies were discovered in 2022.
Adriana and Immolatia stand outside the clinic three days every week to pray the rosary and Divine Mercy chaplet for three hours. In addition to their prayers, the sisters offer pamphlets explaining the reality of abortion and offer support to women in need.
Immolatia says they come to “acknowledge them (unborn babies) and the sanctity and dignity of their lives.”
She hopes their prayers will tell the babies that, “They are not alone, that they are not abandoned, that they are not despised.”
Each day, the sisters attend Mass, pray the Divine Office, and offer an hour of meditation before standing outside the clinics.
“First, we try to listen to God and then we can go and try to talk to others,” Adriana explained. “Otherwise, what would we share with them?”
After their prayers in front of the clinic, the sisters spend an hour in adoration “resting” in Christ.
Similar to St. Francis of Assisi, the sisters’ charism lies in serving the “least,” or in their case the unborn, who are too often dismissed and forgotten by the busy world.
“We see the necessity; we believe that this is a call,” Immolatia said, explaining that the “charism that has been instructed to us is to pray in particular for these little ones who are dying to be there with them for them at the foot of the Cross as Our Blessed Mother and disciple were there with Jesus.”
Currently, the sisters are praying that God will lead them to a bishop who will make their order official. “We wait for a bishop to invite us,” Immolatia said. “Jesus will show us the way to this person.”
The sisters’ mission is not only supported by Wagner but remains close to her heart, as she told LifeSiteNews, “I love them very much and continue to value their friendship very much and the work that they’re doing.”
She applauded the sisters’ dedication to praying outside abortion clinics, noting, “It’s very hard to maintain that presence and to maintain that joy of the Gospel of life, because ultimately joy does triumph, but it’s very hard when you are seeing more lives taken than spared.”
“I just love them for their perseverance and faith and for how they’re friends to me and these moms and these littlest ones,” Wagner said.