TO LOVE WITH A FREE HEART

 

While the Ukrainian war continues, the Polish people continue to help the many fleeing refuges.

Many people in this caring nation, who never lost their faith in spite of wars, are being considered for canonization. Declared venerable in May 2022 was the Polish laywoman, JANINA WOYNAROWSKA, a poet and nurse known for her dedication in caring for various types of infirmity, despite herself suffering from a serious physical impairment.

Janina was born in Piwniczna in Małopolska in 1923. Her mother died during a typhus epidemic and she was  adopted  by a wealthy titular physician, Colonel Kazimierz Witold Strzemię-Woynarowska, president of the municipal gymnastic society "Sokół", and his wife, Maria Jadwiga née Twarogi, member of the Society of St. Vincent de Paul. The circumstances of her adoption are unknown. The family lived in Chrzanów, in a house known as the "white manor house", where charitable activities were carried out: meals for the poor, material and medical assistance was provided, all given freely with family warmth, and an  atmosphere of religion and patriotism. 

Her friend, Marysia Lubasz, remembered the moments of their childhood:

For every name day, family celebration and church holidays, Janina recited poems, sang songs and played the piano. Together, we decorated the armchairs with flowers and ribbons, on which her parents sat during these pleasant moments, also very happy. In the evening, guests would come to the living room and we played in the dining room.  Janeczka's cousin Leszek often came to Janeczka, she liked him very much, he knew a lot of games and he told the books he read nicely. In the summer we played in the garden adjacent to the house. And in the winter we used to go to the ice rink at “Sokół” on Sokoła Street. We both loved ice skating but the snowball games were nice too.

Janina was a sickly child, staying at home the first two years of primary school. Her education was interrupted at the outbreak of WWII.  Her parents then decided that they would organize secret classes in their home for several children.  

 Soon the family was ordered to leave the "white manor" and move to an apartment.  During the occupation, many girls were ordered to work digging anti-aircraft ditches, including Janina.

 At the end of World War II, in 1945, the Woynarowska family was allowed to return to their own, partly destroyed house. Shortly after, her father died. Janina started working at the Obwodowa Clinic as a junior hygienist, and after six months she was promoted to senior hygienist. On June 26, 1946, she took a nursing oath, and a year later she completed an additional course for employees of the Social Insurance Institution.

 In 1950 she obtained the state certificate of a registered nurse. She daily attended Mass and adoration of Christ on the Cross. 

 “In my life, Christ took the first place, He is everything for me (...) in the daily living of the faith that I took from my family home as the greatest treasure, the greatest good.”

 After World War II, she started working as a hygienist and then a nurse in Chrzanów. She participated in the life of the parish and belonged to the Living Rosary group. She combined deep religious commitment with social and charity activities as well as poetry.

 In 1961, she took annual vows of chastity, poverty and obedience, and became a member of the Secular Institute of Christ the Redeemer of Man in Krakow. Five years later, she made her perpetual vows in the hands of the Archbishop of Krakow, Cardinal Karol Wojtyła (St John Paul II).

 She collaborated with nursing and medical magazines: “Nurse and Midwife”, “Służba Zdrowia” and “Zdrowie” and graduated from the Faculty of Psychology and Christian Philosophy.

She worked not only as a nurse, but also as a social probation officer and spokesperson giving advice at the adoption center. She provided premarital and family counseling, organized leisure and retreat trips for sick, elderly and lonely. She founded the House of a Single Mother.

She suffered from progressive scoliosis, plaguing her since childhood, yet did not let that prevent her caring for others. 

On November 24, 1979, on a rainy and snowy Saturday, she died driving a car from Bochnia to Chrzanów together with doctor Emilia Szurek-Lusińska near Krakow's Pasternik, when their car skidded and hit a tree. The homily during the funeral Mass on November 29 was delivered by Bishop Jan Pietraszko from Krakow, with a large participation of the faithful. 

She did not give birth, but gave the Love
which she enveloped a helpless, orphan being for ever.
She invited into
her life, she shared her life - watching day and night with the readiness of tender hands.
The light of serene glances was distracted by the fear of a child's heart,
which ...
sings a ceaseless song - Mateńko ...  (Poem written at the death of her mother).

     STIGMAS

       To love with a free heart

       like a bird - all creation,

       to restore his Creator's mark

       not knowing hatred,

       jealousy

       the madness of possession,

       that everyone could become a brother -

       you have to let your hands and feet be pierced again -

       like on Calvary.

THE PROTECTING VEIL

 

Today,  October 14, Ukrainians celebrate the Feast of the Protection (Ukrainian “Pokrova”) of OUR MOST HOLY LADY THEOTOKOS . Of the feasts dedicated to the Mother of God, this one deserves a special attention.

 According to Eastern Orthodox tradition, the apparition of Mary the Theotokos occurred during one of the sieges of Constantinople at the Blachernae church, where she spread her veil over all the people in the church as a protection. As the result the enemies withdrew and the city was rescued.

The "Slavic and East European Journal" explains that the word Pokrova means “‘Holy Protection of the Mother of God,’ ‘the Protectress,’ ‘Festival of the Veil,’ ‘Protecting Veil.'”

Ukrainians in particular have kept this devotion to Our Lady  alive over the years, frequently turning to it during times of war and political upheaval.

They continue to venerate Mary in this way, depicting her in icons with a veil that she offers to cover those with her protection.

 Often there is an inscription on the devotional images that says, ““I will cover my people” or “We pray: cover us with Your Holy Veil and deliver us from evil.”

In 1912, St. Pope Pius X remarked to r Bishop Mykyta Budka: "Your nation cannot perish, for it has two guarantees: your nation loves the Eucharistic Christ and the Most Pure Virgin Mary. With these guarantees the nation cannot perish."

We pray with the Ukrainian people today, that Our Lady  intercede for them for an end to violence and a lasting peace.

A SLOW DEATH

 

SISTER MARIA MALGORZATA BANAS, may have been left behind by her superior, when the community went off to martyrdom, but she has not been forgotten. In December  2021, Pope Francis approved the decree on the heroic virtues enabling her to now be  "Venerable Servant of God".

Ludwika Banas was born on April 10, 1896, near Wadowice in Poland. She worked with the Sisters of the Holy Family of Nazareth in Wadowice before entering the congregation shortly before her 21st birthday, receiving the name Malgorzata. When she professed her final vows, Sr Malgorzata added to her name the mystery of the Heart of Jesus in Agony in the Garden.

 In 1934, Sister was assigned to the convent in Nowogrodek, where she worked in the local hospital. She was ministering in Nowogrodek when, on July 31, 1943, the Gestapo ordered Sr Stella and all her sisters to report to police headquarters. As the Sisters made their way they met Sr Malgorzata who, dressed in lay clothes, was returning from work at the hospital. 

Sr Stella told her to return to the hospital and take care of the priest and the Fara, the parish chuch. They never saw each other again, for the following day Sr Malgorzata’s eleven Sisters were taken to the woods, shot and buried.

 

With the help of the local townspeople, Sr Malgorzata discovered the Sisters’ grave in the woods and committed herself to its care and protection until the bodies of the Sisters could be brought to the Fara for a proper burial. During the Communist period, Sister lived in the Fara’s sacristy and continued to prepare children for the sacraments. When the parish priest went into hiding for his own safety, Sr Malgorzata maintained the presence of the Blessed Sacrament in the church and helped keep the faith of the townspeople alive.

Venerable  Malgorzata died on April 26, 1966. She was heard to say many times, “Spiritual martyrdom is a slow death – that is what I desire”. 

MARTYRS of NOWOGRODEK

Polish nuns who were massacred  in WWII and beatified in 2000 by Pope  (St.) John Paul II in 2000 were an example to the nuns just beatified in Poland in June of this year. (See previous Blog)

The MARTYRS of NOWOGRODEK , also known as the Blessed Martyrs of Nowogródek and the Eleven Nuns of Nowogródek or Blessed Mary Stella and her Ten Companions, were a group of members of the Sisters of the Holy Family of Nazareth, a Polish Roman Catholic religious congregation, executed by the Gestapo in August 1943 in occupied Poland (present day Navahrudak, Belarus. 

The Sisters of the Holy Family of Nazareth had arrived in Nowogródek, then part of the Second Polish Republic, in 1929 at the request of Zygmunt Łoziński,  Bishop of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Pinsk. The Sisters became an integral part of the life of the town. In 1939, Nowogrodek, located at that time in Kresy-part of pre-war Poland (nowadays central Belarus), was annexed by the Soviet Union and incorporated into the Belarusian Soviet Socialist Republic. In 1941, the town was occupied by the German army as part of the Operation Barbarossa.

 During the Nazi and Soviet occupations of Nowogrodek, the Sisters invested great effort in preparing the residents of the town for religious services – as liturgical prayer became a beacon of hope amid the hopelessness of the occupation.

 The Nazi terror in Nowogródek began in 1942 with the extermination of the town's Jewish population as part of Operation Reinhard. Of the 20,000 inhabitants of the town before the war, approximately half were Jews. The Germans murdered about 9,500 of the Jews in a series of "actions" and sent the remaining 550 Jews to slave labor camps. This was followed by a surge in Polish arrests, then the slaughter of 60 people, including two Catholic priests. This situation was repeated on 18 July 1943, when more than 120 people were arrested and slated for execution.

 The women of the town turned to the Sisters to pray for the prisoners’ release. After discussing the matter, the Sisters unanimously expressed their desire to offer their lives in sacrifice for the prisoners. The Superior of the community, Sister Maria Stella, C.S.F.N., shared the Sisters' decision with their local pastor, Father Zienkiewicz, telling him: "My God, if sacrifice of life is needed, accept it from us and spare those who have families. We are even praying for this intention."

Almost immediately, the plans for the prisoners were changed to deportation to work camps in Germany, with some of them even being released. When the life of  Father Zienkiewicz was threatened, the Sisters renewed their offer, saying, "There is a greater need for a priest on this earth than for us. We pray that God will take us in his place, if sacrifice of life is needed."

  Without warning or provocation, on 31 July 1943, the community was summoned by the local Gestapo commander to report to the local police station, where they were held overnight. The next morning, 1 August 1943, they were loaded into a van and driven beyond the town limits.

 At a secluded spot in the woods about 3 miles from the town, the eleven women were machine gunned to death and buried in a common grave. Before reporting to the police station, Sister Stella had asked one member of the community, Sister M. Malgorzata Banas, C.S.F.N., who worked as a nurse in the local public hospital, to stay behind at the convent, whatever happened, to take care of the church and their pastor.

 She was the best candidate for that among the community as she wore civilian clothing due to her job. It was days before she and the townspeople knew that the Sisters had been killed. Eventually, Sister Banas located their grave, quietly tending to it and the parish church during the war years and during the post-war Soviet occupation, until her death in 1966.

The Church of the Transfiguration, known as Biała Fara (or White Church), now contains the remains of the eleven Sisters. 

The Sisters were: Stella, Imelda, Kanizja, Rajmunda, Daniela, Kanuta, Ser-gia  Gwidona, Felicyta, Heliodora, and Boromea.  Their feast is September 4.

Interesting to note, for some reason, Sister Sergia was sent to the USA in 1925, doing her novitiate in Des Plaines, Illinois.  In 1926  she was sent to Philadelphia and made her final vows there in 1932.  The following year she returned to Poland.

POLISH MARTYRS- CAUSE FOR JOY

While the world still looks to the crises in the Ukraine, and the generosity of nations aiding the many women and children who have been forced to flee, Poland is in the forefront of countries giving refuge. I wonder if it is the fact that this country perhaps suffered the most for their faith in WWII and understanding loss relate so well to the plight of their neighbors?  (See Ken Burns's "The U.S. and the Holocaust"  on PBS)   It is fitting that ten Polish nuns were recently beatified for giving their lives

“Every beatification or canonization of any nun is a cause of joy, while every example of radical commitment, including martyrdom, has huge value,” said Mother Jolanta Olech, secretary-general of Poland’s Conference of Higher Female Superiors. "I’m certain martyrs are being created there now about whom we’ll learn in the future.” 

The St. Elizabeth order, founded in 19th-century Silesia to nurse cholera and typhus victims, was one of many facing brutality from the Soviet Army during its victorious 1944-45 sweep across Poland, which had already lost a fifth of its population, including most of its Jewish minority, during six years of Nazi occupation.

 Atrocities were most common against women religious of German origin, who were among millions of civilians expelled as lands in eastern Germany were incorporated into Poland in exchange for Polish lands annexed by the Soviet Union in the east.

 The oldest nun, 70-year-old Sister Sapientia Heymann, had spent the war caring for sick and elderly nuns at Nysa, Poland. She was shot by drunken Russian soldiers while attempting to protect fellow sisters from rape.

The youngest, Sister Paschalis Jahn, had joined the order in 1937, also nursing the old and infirm. Before making her final vows, she had been evacuated to Sobotina in nearby Czech Moravia. She was 29 when apprehended by a Russian soldier May 11, 1945, four days after the war’s official end, and shot through the heart for resisting his advances.  

Sister Acutina Goldberg, born into a peasant family, had taught children and war orphans before escaping from Lubiaz, Poland, with a group of girls, only to be caught by drunken Russian soldiers and shot in a field while protecting her charges.

Sister Edelburgis Kubitzki, a 40-year-old ambulance nurse, attempted to escape rape by hiding with other nuns inside a chapel at Zary, Poland, but was beaten and shot at least a dozen times when troops entered the building Feb. 20, 1945.

 Another nun, Sister Felicitas Ellmerer, 56, took refuge in her order’s refectory at Nysa, after Russian soldiers profaned the chapel and drank wine from its liturgical vessels while shouting “Long live Christ the King!” She was shot by a Russian trooper, who stomped on her head to finish her off.

Sister Adela Schramm, 40, a convent superior at Godzieszow, Poland, had cared for wounded soldiers and displaced civilians when she was seized by Russians while sheltering in a farm attic and shot and dumped in a bomb crater following a long struggle.

                                                        Wroclaw-born Sister Rosaria Schilling, 36, who was raised as a Protestant, hid with other nuns in an air-raid shelter at Nowogrodek, but was dragged out, raped and shot by a group of 30 soldiers.

Others beatified were Sisters Melusja Rybka,  Adela Schramm and  Adelheidis Töpfer.

In his letter, Archbishop Kupny said the story of the nuns contained “terrifying descriptions of evil and cruelty,” and had left “wounds that cannot fail to move and should never be forgotten.”

The martyred sisters, he added, had offered “a signpost for people in the 21st century” by remaining “faithful to their vows and the values they believed in,” without expecting personal recognition.

 “Whenever Christ isn’t accepted, with the commandments and values he left us, it always leads to criminal totalitarian systems, genocide and the collapse of morality and culture — as we now see among our neighbors in Ukraine, where the Russian army is doing the same as Red Army soldiers did in 1945, playing out before our eyes the same scenes with the same directors.”

 Cardinal Marcello Semeraro, Prefect of the Congregation for the Causes of Saints, presided over the ceremony.

“The whole life of these sisters was a true gift of self in service to the sick, the little ones, the poor, the most needy. Their selfless love was heroic to the extent that they chose not to flee from the approaching Red Army in late 1944-45. And this despite the news of its brutality and the atrocities committed by its soldiers against the inhabitants of East Prussia,” the cardinal said during his homily.

In the face of ongoing war, the Cardinal encouraged fervent prayer through the intercession of the new blessed. “We ask the Lord through their intercession that the world may never again lack respect for womanhood, equality in the dignity of man and woman and protection of motherhood.  Today we commend to them in a special way the Ukrainian people, migrants and our quest for peace.”

 

AN END TO WAR- THE POPE SPEAKS

October 2, 2022 from the Vatican Pope Francis spoke:

Dear brothers and sisters, buongiorno!

The course of the war in Ukraine has become so serious, devastating and threatening, as to cause great concern. Therefore, today I would like to devote the entire reflection before the Angelus to this. Indeed, this terrible and inconceivable wound to humanity, instead of healing, continues to shed even more blood, risking to spread further.

I am saddened by the rivers of blood and tears spilled in these months. I am saddened by the thousands of victims, especially children, and the destruction which has left many people and families homeless and threaten vast territories with cold and hunger. Certain actions can never be justified, never! It is disturbing that the world is learning the geography of Ukraine through names such as Bucha, Irpin, Mariupol, Izium, Zaparizhzhia and other areas, which have become places of indescribable suffering and fear. And what about the fact that humanity is once again faced with the atomic threat? It is absurd.

What is to happen next? How much blood must still flow for us to realize that war is never a solution, only destruction? In the name of God and in the name of the sense of humanity that dwells in every heart, I renew my call for an immediate ceasefire. Let there be a halt to arms, and let us seek the conditions for negotiations that will lead to solutions that are not imposed by force, but consensual, just and stable. And they will be so if they are based on respect for the sacrosanct value of human life, as well as the sovereignty and territorial integrity of each country, and the rights of minorities and legitimate concerns.

I deeply deplore the grave situation that has arisen in recent days, with further actions contrary to the principles of international law. It increases the risk of nuclear escalation, giving rise to fears of uncontrollable and catastrophic consequences worldwide.

My appeal is addressed first and foremost to the President of the Russian Federation, imploring him to stop this spiral of violence and death, also for the sake of his own people. On the other hand, saddened by the immense suffering of the Ukrainian people as a result of the aggression they have suffered, I address an equally confident appeal to the President of Ukraine to be open to serious proposals for peace. I urge all the protagonists of international life and the political leaders of nations to do everything possible to bring an end to the war, without allowing themselves to be drawn into dangerous escalations, and to promote and support initiatives for dialogue. Please let the younger generations breathe the salutary air of peace, not the polluted air of war, which is madness!

After seven months of hostilities, let us use all diplomatic means, even those that may not have been used so far, to bring an end to this terrible tragedy. War in itself is an error and a horror!

Let us trust in the mercy of God, who can change hearts, and in the maternal intercession of the Queen of Peace, as we raise our Supplication to Our Lady of the Rosary of Pompei, spiritually united with the faithful gathered at her Shrine and in so many parts of the world.

Russia’s War by Ukrainian artist,  Anton Lohov 

Artist Anon Lohov works with painting, performance, video art, and installation. Last year he won the Objects Art Prize for young artists. He was born in the Odesa Region and graduated from M. Grekova Odesa Art School.and the National Academy of Fine Arts and Architecture. He is an active participant in exhibitions in Ukraine and abroad. When the war started on Feb. 24 he was in Kyiv with his family.  His artworks reflect reality: horrors of the war, fears, and faith in victory.

MARTYR FOR THE ROSARY

 

I had planned to devote the month of October to some modern day martyrs from the Ukraine and Poland and start with a story I just read.

This week we celebrate the feast of our Lady of the Rosary. And in the news, very relevant to the on-going crises in the Ukraine, is a story of a Ukrainian woman who died praying the rosary.

JANINA JANDULSKA was a 30-year-old disabled woman, who led a Rosary prayer group. In 1937 she was arrested and accused of leading an underground political organiZation opposed to the Soviet government. She was murdered while still in police custody.

In 1937, Janina was living in Ukraine, in the village of Wierzboviec with her mother. Like other people in the village, she joined a prayer group, called “Living Rosary.” These sort of groups became popular after the establishment of the Soviet Union.

 Her country became part of the USSR after the Bolshevik revolution, in 1917.

At that time, the dictator Joseph Stalin wanted to reunite the old Russian Empire. Once their power was assured and growing, they began to persecute Christians.

 

After the government closed the seminaries and arrested priests, the faithful were left to find other ways of meeting. Prayer services were led by lay people who also taught the catechism to young people.  

Janina began hosting the meetings of the “Living Rosary” prayer group in her own home.  A communist official was informed about the meetings and alerted the authorities. The police arrived at the girl’s house and arrested her.

 Later, she had the following conversation with the state prosecutor:

“Are you the organiser of the Rosary?”

-“Yes, I am the leader of the Living Rosary. But it is not an organisation. We are just praying to God.”

– “How many people are there?”

– “Fifteen.”

– “Fifteen! And you say it is not an organisation. Who recruited you and who sent you the books?”

The prosecutor would not accept Janina’s explanation when this simple disabled girl said that they just gathered to pray. His cross examination continued:

-“But God does not exist.”

-“For you, God does not exist. But for us, he exists.”

 He looked at the poor woman in front of him and continued:

-“Now you are here, so who will replace you?”

-“Someone who believes in God,” answered Janina.

Sometime later, Janina’s mother was informed about her daughter’s death. The cause of her death was falsely stated to be caused by a “liver infection”, but  later, it was revealed that she died from a bullet fired into her head.

Today, Janina’s picture hangs in a Catholic church in her hometown, where she is honored as a martyr of the faith. May she intercede for the people of her country, and may we all pray to our Mother of the Rosary for an end to the plight of the Ukrainian people.

Painting: Natale Bentivaglio Scarpa (d. 1946) Italian