Zdislava Berka

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Template:Infobox PAUL BERKA

Zdislava Berka (1220s - 1252) was the wife of Havel of Markvartice, Duke of Lemberk. She was a particularly austere and generous woman who founded a convent and was eventually recognized as a saint of the Roman Catholic Church.

[edit] Biography

Zdislava was from a Moravian family, born in Křižanov, in what is now the Žďár nad Sázavou District of the Czech Republic. She was reportedly an unusually devout child, who at age seven ran away into the forest with the intention of living a hermit's life of prayer and solitude. She was forcibly returned by her family, and made to live a comparatively normal childhood from that point on. Later, her family arranged for her to marry Gallus of Lämberg (Havel of Lemberk) of the prosperous Markwartiner family. He founded the towns of Gabel (Deutsch Gabel) and Habelschwerdt. Together they would have four children.

She continued to live a life of remarkable personal austerity, worked tirelessly in the care of the poor and dispossessed, and was, unusually for her era, a frequent recipient of the Eucharist. Tatar invasions of Eastern Europe were causing large numbers of people to leave their homes during this period. A large number of them sought refuge at the castle of Gable, where Zdislava lived with her family and assisted these refugees as much as possible.

Her husband was concerned about what he considered the excessive degree of Zdislava's charity to these refugees. At one point, he is reported to have gone to the bed Zdislava had given to a feverous beggar the night before, but to have found a figure of the crucified Jesus there instead. He is said to have been so impressed by this event that he would later allow her to found a Dominican convent in Turnov. Zdislava worked with this convent for the rest of her life, and was eventually buried there.

[edit] Veneration

Shortly after her death she is reported to have appeared to her husband. In 1907, Pope Pius X confirmed her veneration for her native country. She was canonized a saint in 1995 with John Sarkander.

[edit] References

• Burns, Paul. Butler's Lives of the Saints: New Full Edition. Collegeville, MN: The Liturgical Press, 1995. ISBN 0-8146-2377-8.