ANOTHER MODEL FOR YOUTH

 

SERVANT of GOD HELENA AGNIESZKA KMIEC was a young Polish missionary born in 1991 in Krakow and raised in a home of deep faith. She was related to Bishop Jan Zając, who was the brother of her grandfather. Helena's parents, father Jan from Libiąż and mother Agnieszka from Kraków, met while building a church in Olcza, Zakopane. Agnieszka died when Helena was six weeks old. She and her older sister were raised by their stepmother, Barbara.

She graduated from the High School of the Catholic Association of Educators in Libiąż. She was a scholarship holder of the Leweston School in Sherborne, England where she obtained her high school diploma, at the same time pursuing an individual course of study in her high school, from which she graduated in 2009.

In 2014, she obtained a master's degree in engineering at the Faculty of Chemistry of the Silesian University of Technology, where she studied technology and chemical engineering in English. After graduating, she worked as a flight attendant for an airline

  From a young age, she showed a strong love for Jesus, attending Mass almost daily and devoting herself to service. Helena’s life was centered around the Eucharist.  She was known for her joyful spirit and relatability and her social media showed her as an ordinary yet virtuous young woman. Her sister, Teresa, testified  to Helena’s living fully in the love of God while engaging actively in the world, highlighting that a close relationship with God brings happiness both on earth and in heaven.

 During her university studies at the Silesia University of Technology, she joined the Salvator Missionary Volunteer Service, serving in missions in Hungary, Zambia, and Romania. She especially dedicated herself to children and young people in vulnerable situations. 

 On 8 January 2017, together with Anita Szuwald, she went on a mission to Bolivia, where she planned to help the Servant Sisters of Dębica in an orphanage in Cochabamba until June.

She died on the night of 24–25 January, 2017, stabbed during an assault on the facility. She was only 26 years old. In March 2018, a Bolivian court sentenced her killer, Romualdo Mamio dos Santos, to 30 years in prison.

The Holy Mass preceding the funeral was presided over by Cardinal Stanisław Dziwisz.

 By the decision of the President of Poland in February, 2017, she was posthumously awarded the Gold Cross of Merit for her charitable and social activities and her commitment to people in need of help.

 After her death, her reputation for holiness became more well known, inspired by her life of dedication to God and her missionary service. In April 2024, the archbishop of Krakow announced the opening of her cause for beatification after receiving approval from the Dicastery for the Causes of Saints.

 Currently, the Church is investigating her life and witness in the process that could lead to her being declared blessed.

In May 2017, the Society of the Divine Savior established the Helena Kmieć Foundation to promote help children and youth in mission countries.

 On 18 August 2017, during a ceremonial session of the Libiąż City Council, a unanimous decision was made to posthumously grant Helena Kmieć the title of Honorary Citizen of the City of Libiąż. A motion to rename Kościelna Street to Helena Kmieć Street was also unanimously approved.

 In January 2020, she became patron of the Catholic Primary School in Warsaw.