Fifteen Sisters of Katarzynaek, victims entering the Red Army business Warmia in 1945, were declared blessed. The beatification ceremony in Braniewo is presided over on Saturday by the papal legate of the card. Marcello Semeraro. "The blessed martyrs present confirm the eternal value of God and good, while their murderers stay remembered only due to the cruelty of the evil they committed," said the prefect of the Canonization Affairs Department in the homily.
The 15 beatified catarist sisters present are: Marta Klomfass (p. Krzysztofa), Maria Domnick (p. Liberia), Anna Margenfeld (p. Maurycja), Käthe Elizabeth Müller (p. Leonis), Cecilia Mischke (p. Tiburtia), Barbara Rautenberg (p. Ssecondina), Agata Eufemia Bönigk (p. Adelgard), Klara Skibowska (p. Aniceta), Maria Schröter (p. Gebharda), Rosalia Angrick (p. Sabinella), Anna Pestka (p. Bona), Dorothea Steffen (p. Gunhilda), Maria Abraham (p. Rolanda), Jadwiga Fahl (p. Caritina), and Maria Rohwedder (p. Xaveria).
First beatification in Warmia
Members of the Polish Episcopal Conference headed by Archbishop Tadeusz Wojja and bishops of the Warmia metropolis took part in the ceremony. The erstwhile Sisters of Katarzyna are present not only from Poland, but besides from Brazil, Cameroon, Togo, Italy, Lithuania and Germany, with the general parent of p. Ivone Wiest CSC and provincial parent of p. M. Aleksandra Zwolak CSC. Among the participants were members of the further household of respective martyrs.
In addition, parliamentarians, representatives of local authorities and respective Warmian cities came to Braniew, with the destiny of the catarist sisters. respective 1000 faithful from the Archdiocese of Warmia and another parts of the country participated in the event.
In the introduction to the liturgy of the participants of the beatification ceremonies in Braniewo was welcomed by the Metropolitan of Warmiński Archbishop Józef Górzyński. He recalled that it is not only the first capital of Warmia and the first office of the Warmia bishopric, but besides the birthplace of pp. Regina Protmann (1552-1613), the founder of the Assembly of Sisters of St. Catherine the Virgin and Martyr (catarist).
Of future blessed fellow-sisters, he said that "they died for their faith, for their chastity and for their neighbor's sake." – This is the first beatification on Warmia land marked by the life and work of large figures in the past of Poland, the universal Church and the world – noted the hierarch.
The beatification ceremony took place at the beginning of Holy Mass – after an act of penance. Archbishop Józef Górzyński made an authoritative request to include the catarist sisters in the account of the blessed. Sisters' biographies were read by Łucja Jaworska CSK, postulator at the Roman phase in the beatification process.
In response, the papal legate of card. Marcello Semeraro gave a beatification expression in Latin. In Polish, this text was read by Bishop Janusz Ostrowski, Vicar General of the Warmia Archdiocese. The liturgical memorial of the Blessed Sisters of Catherine will be celebrated all year on May 30.
A beatification painting by artist Jack Zwolak, brother of 1 of the murdered nuns, was then unveiled. The painting measuring 230 by 200 cm was painted on canvas, with acrylic primer, finished with oil paint. It depicts the bust of 15 martyrs around the brightness of the cross against the sky. From the cross there are rays that scope the bottom of the picture, where you can see the warlike ruins and fires and 15 tiny crosses.
The beatification anthem “The Triune God” by Sr. Aleksandra Zwolak CSK (words) and Anna Jachimowicz (musician) was besides sounded in Mark Rogalski's work, performed by a 50-person choir composed of Braniev residents and another towns of Warmia and Mazur, as well as respective catarist sisters.
A relic containing relics of martyrs – fragments of their habitation – was besides brought. The can and another elements of the relic were made of medallions worn present by the catarist sisters, which emphasizes the bond of generations and the continuity of vocation. The black-gray coloring of the relic refers to the dark times in which the martyrs came to live and die.
16 fresh Blessed
In a lobster card. Marcello Semeraro stressed that in just 8 days, the Church in Poland was enriched with 16 fresh blessed ones. After the beatification of Fr Stanislaw Streich last Saturday in Poznań, present spiritual sisters from the Congregation of the Sisters of Saint Catherine received the altars.
– All these fresh blessed have given their highest evidence of religion in the context of ideological warfare, which in Europe of their time has sown persecution and death, force and destruction said the cardinal. He added that "while 80 years have passed since the end of planet War II, we want this day, together with the beatification of these 15 nuns, remembering the many victims of that time, to become a call to peace for the full world, with a peculiar thought for the war that is going on not far from here."
They have opposed the “power of their weakness”
Cardinal Semeraro stressed that the past of the Warmian nuns raised strong emotions in considering their beatification of members of the Dynasties of Canonization, especially due to 2 peculiar elements.
– The first is the cruelty of Red Army soldiers, the cruelty which seemed to exceed all limits, had no scruples in trampling on human dignity and had no respect for either the dignity of these women or their condition of life of consecrated persons. said the purple.
– The second element – he added – is the fortitude of the spirit and perseverance of those nuns who could defy the tribulation, can be said to be “the power of their weakness”.
Referring to the Epistle of St Paul to the Romans, the cardinal pointed out that it contained a synthesis of life and death of the fresh blessed. – What is the essence of their testimony, if not on that joy in hope, patience in the tribulation and strength of the persistent prayer of which the Apostle speaks? The preacher asked.
Good always wins over evil
The Cardinal besides referred to Paul's expression that reveals the eternal fact of history: that good always prevails over evil. The Sisters of Catherine had a selfless love for Christ, so they confidently and confidently faced “those who seemed strongest at the time and who, drunk by materialism, replaced the only actual God with fragile and fleeting human idols, and the Gospel message of love with ideology of hatred and violence.”
– What is the consequence of this uneven clash? Blessed martyrs present confirm the eternal value of God and good, while their murderers stay remembered only due to the cruelty of the evil they committed – stressed the cardinal. Marcello Semeraro.
Hierarch added, p. Krzysztofa Klomfass and her 14 companions are giving us a peculiar lesson today. They are resistant to a culture of hatred and division, so common in today's society. – For they are convincing witnesses of God's presence in history, in the face of those who deny God and his word of fact and life, trample human dignity said the purple.
Martyrly Death
The beatification ceremonies were held in Braniewo, where since 1946 there is the Provincial home of the Holy Assembly of Catherine and the cemetery, where 6 of the 15 beatified catarist sisters are buried in the tomb. The remainder of the another sisters is unknown.
Sisters from Saint Catherine's Assembly became victims of the Red Army entering Warmia. any due to illness were incapable to escape the front, others were suddenly, in a sense, unexpectedly in danger. On the another hand, many consciously chose to stay with the sick, the children, and others who were not able to leave and for whom they felt responsible.
They died from January to November 1945. They were beaten, tortured and raped. The oldest 1 was 64, the youngest 26. They came from different spiritual houses and at the time of martyrdom they were located in different places: Olsztyn, Kętrzyn, Lidzbark Warminski, Orneta, Gdańsk and Pile.
The beatification process of the Sisters Katarzynaek of Warmia began at diocesan level in 2004 and ended in 2006 due to written eyewitness accounts. Then all the documentation of the process was transported to Rome. On 14 March 2024, Pope Francis authorized the Dicastery of Canonization Affairs to print a decree on the martyrdom of the Sisters of Catherine.
Relic requests
There have already been respective requests for relics of sisters – from their origins or from places to which they were associated, specified as parishes in Tolkmick, parishes in Gdańsk or the city infirmary in Olsztyn, where relics can be placed in the infirmary chapel.
The relics will not contain fragments of remains, but objects or fragments of objects found in the graves of sisters – parts of habitations, stripes, spiritual medalls or rosary.
Source: KAI
RoM
