Up to the end of the 18th century active religious life for women was hardly popular, let alone known in Poland. Canon Law did not encourage it and few people saw its usefulness. Political factors played a role as well because after the partitions religious life in Poland was discouraged and suppressed except in the Austrian-controlled south. The loss of independence made some of men’s traditional activities impossible and enhanced the role of informal social structures dominated by women. In Galicia (the southern part, annexed by Austria), in their newly established province the Sisters of Mercy opened their seminary (novitiate) in 1782. At first there were hardly any candidates, but from c. 1800 their numbers began to grow rapidly with every new decade.About 1850 eight candidates turned up each year; c. 1900 there were already 35 of them each year. In 1859 it became necessary to transfer the seminary from Lvov to Cracow, to the new (and larger) Central House of the Province. Personal freedom accorded to peasants in Galicia in 1848 allowed peasant girls to choose religious life and very many of them did. The candidates, however, came from all three parts of Poland, a great number of them from the north (annexed by Prussia), especially since Bismarck’s government expelled religious congregations.At that time Galicia became the home of more than twenty religious congregations dedicated to active life. Although most of them were newly founded, they opened new houses almost every year. The registers show that the Sisters of Mercy were among the most numerous, second only to the Servants of Mary Immaculate. Although some o f the old monasteries survived the so-called Church reforms initiated by Emperor Joseph II, they had comparatively few vocations; likewise, new contemplative foundations were scarce. A record of these developments is presented in tables which are part of this paper; it also surveys the legal formulas and prayer texts which shaped the life of the Sisters of Mercy in 19th-century Galicia.