Blessed Martyrs of Nowogródek

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Blessed Martyrs of Nowogródek
The Eleven Nuns of Nowogródek by Adam Styka
Born	1888-1916
Died	1 August 1943, Navahrudak, Belarus
Martyred by	The Nazi Gestapo (The Holocaust)
Means of martyrdom	Execution by firing squad
Venerated in	Roman Catholic Church
Beatified	5 March 2000, Pope John Paul II
Feast	1 August
Saints Portal

The Blessed Martyrs of Nowogródek, also known as the Eleven Nuns of Nowogródek or Sister Stella and Companions were a group of Roman Catholic nuns from the Sisters of the Holy Family of Nazareth killed by the Gestapo in August 1943 in present-day Belarus.

1 Circumstances
- 1.1 Background
- 1.2 Martyrdom
2 Martyrs
3 Beatification
4 See also
5 References

[edit] Circumstances

[edit] Background

The Sisters of the Holy Family of Nazareth arrived in Nowogródek in 1929 at the behest of Bishop Zygmunt Lozinski.^[1] The Sisters became an integral part of the life of the town. During the Nazi and Soviet occupation of Poland, the Sisters invested great effort in preparing for the religious services - for the residents of the town, liturgical prayer became a beacon of hope amid the hopelessness of the occupation.^[1]

The Nazi terror in Nowogródek began with the 1942 extermination of the Jews, and was followed by a surge in Polish arrests, then the slaughter of 60 people, including two priests. This situation was repeated on 18 July 1943, when more than 120 people were arrested and slated for execution.^[1]

The Sisters unanimously expressed their desire to offer their lives in sacrifice for the imprisoned.^[1] Sister Maria Stella shared the Sisters' decision with their chaplain Father Zienkiewicz and rector, saying, "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."^[1] Almost immediately, the plans for the prisoners were changed - they were deported to work camps in Germany, and some of them were even released.^[1] 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."^[1]

[edit] Martyrdom

Without warning or provocation, on 31 July 1943, eleven of the sisters were imprisoned, loaded into a van and driven beyond the town limits.^[2] The eleven nuns were killed on 1 August 1943 in the woods 5 km (3 mi) beyond Nowogródek, and buried in a common grave.^[1] After the execution, Sister M. Malgorzata Banas, the community's sole surviving member, located the place of the martyrdom, and remained the guardian of their common grave until her own death in 1966.^[1] The Church of the Transfiguration, known as Biała Fara, or "White Church", now contains the relics of the eleven martyrs.^[1]

[edit] Martyrs

The eleven martyrs are listed below, along with their birth names and years of birth.^[1]^[2]^[3]

Sister M. Stella, Superior (Adela Mardosewicz), born 1888
Sister M. Imelda (Jadwiga Karolina Żak), b. 1892
Sister M. Rajmunda (Anna Kokołowicz), b. 1892
Sister M. Daniela (Eleonora Aniela Jóźwik), b. 1895
Sister M. Kanuta (Józefa Chrobot), b. 1896
Sister M. Gwidona (Helena Cierpka), b. 1900
Sister M. Sergia (Julia Rapiej), b. 1900
Sister M. Kanizja (Eugenia Mackiewicz), b. 1904
Sister M. Felicyta (Paulina Borowik), b. 1905
Sister M. Heliodora (Leokadia Matuszewska), b. 1906
Sister M. Boromea (Weronika Narmontowicz), b. 1916

[edit] Beatification

On 18 September 1991, the canonization process for the eleven nuns was officially opened and, on 28 June 1999, the Zenit News Agency announced that Pope John Paul II had confirmed that they were martyrs. Pope John Paul II beatified them with a group of thirty-three others on Sunday, 5 March 2000.^[2]