We, the comrades of Unit 1012, will remember the Blessed Martyrs of Nowogródek every year on August 1. It is their Feast Day. Let us not forget their sacrifice during the Holocaust. We will post information about them from Wikipedia.
The Eleven Nuns of Nowogródek by Adam Styka
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Born
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1888–1916
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Died
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1
August 1943, Nowogródek, occupied Poland
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Martyred
by
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The Nazi
Gestapo (The Holocaust)
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Means of
martyrdom
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Venerated
in
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Roman
Catholic Church
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Beatified
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5 March
2000, Pope John Paul II
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Feast
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1
August
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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 against the Gestapo in August 1943 in present-day Belarus.
Circumstances
Background
The Sisters of the Holy Family of
Nazareth arrived in Nowogródek in 1929
at the behest of Bishop Zygmunt Łoziński. 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.
The Nazi terror in Nowogródek began with the
1942 extermination of the
Jews. 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
priests. This situation was repeated on 18 July 1943, when more than 120 people
were arrested and slated for execution.
The Sisters unanimously expressed
their desire to offer their lives in sacrifice for the imprisoned. 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." Almost immediately, the plans for the
prisoners were changed – they were deported to work camps in Germany, and some
of them were even 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."
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. The eleven nuns were killed on 1 August 1943 in the
woods 5 km (3.1 mi) beyond Nowogródek; they were buried in a common
grave. 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. The Church of the
Transfiguration, known as Biała Fara (or "White Church"), now
contains the relics of the eleven martyrs.
Blessed
Martyrs of Nowogródek [PHOTO SOURCE: https://static.flickr.com/79/265710877_e8df0cc681_o.jpg]
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Martyrs
The
eleven martyrs are listed below, along with their birth names, dates of birth,
and ages at the time of their deaths.
Religious Name
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Birth Name
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Birth Date
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Age at Death
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Sister
M. Stella, Superior
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Adela
Mardosewicz
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14 Dec 1888
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54 years
old
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Sister
M. Sergia
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Julia
Rapiej
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18 Aug 1900
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42 years
old
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Sister
M. Rajmunda
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Anna
Kokołowicz
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24 Aug 1892
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50 years
old
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Sister
M. Kanuta
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Józefa
Chrobot
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22 May 1896
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47 years
old
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Sister
M. Kanizja
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Eugenia
Mackiewicz
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27 Nov 1903
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39 years
old
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Sister
M. Imelda
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Jadwiga
Karolina Żak
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29 Dec 1892
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50 years
old
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Sister
M. Heliodora
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Leokadia
Matuszewska
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8 Feb 1906
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37 years
old
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Sister
M. Gwidona
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Helena
Cierpka
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11 Apr 1900
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43 years
old
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Sister
M. Felicyta
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Paulina
Borowik
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30 Aug 1905
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37 years
old
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Sister
M. Daniela
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Eleonora
Aniela Jóźwik
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25 Jan 1895
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48 years
old
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Sister
M. Boromea
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Weronika
Narmontowicz
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18 Dec 1916
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26 years
old
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Blessed
Martyrs of Nowogródek [PHOTO SOURCE: http://communio.stblogs.org/index.php/2013/08/blessed-martyrs-of-nowogrodek/]
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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.
Sisters of
the Holy Family of Nazareth
Via Nazareth 400
00166 Rome
Italy
INTERNET
SOURCE: http://www.nazarethcsfn.org/prayer-to-nowogrodek-martyrs/
Prayer to the Nowogrodek Martyrs
O
most blessed Trinity, we praise and thank you for the example of Blessed Mary
Stella and Her Ten Companions, Sisters of the Holy Family of Nazareth, who by
imitating Jesus Christ, offered themselves as a sacrifice of love.
God
of mercy and compassion, through the merits of their martyrdom and by their
intercession, grant us the grace we humbly ask…(insert intention here)…so that
like them, we may witness with our lives to the presence of the Kingdom of
God’s love and extend it to the human family throughout the world. We ask this
through Christ, our Lord. Amen.
Blessed
Martyred Sisters of Nowogródek, pray for us.
About our Martyred Sisters
Sr.
Mary Stella, CSFN, (Adela Mardosewicz) and her 10 companion sisters were
executed by the Nazi regime on Aug. 1, 1943, and buried in a common grave
outside Nowogródek, then in Poland, now part of Belarus.
In
the wake of mass arrests the previous month in Nowogrodek, Sr. Mary Stella and
her companions prayed: O God, if sacrifice of life is needed, accept it from us
who are free from family obligations and spare those who have wives and
children.
Sr.
Stella and her 10 companions were beatified by Pope John Paul II on March 5,
2000. Their liturgical memorial falls on September 4. To read more, click HERE.
Please
notify the Sisters of the Holy Family of Nazareth at their Generalate in Rome
of graces received through the intercession of Blessed Mary Stella and Her Ten
Companions. Thank you.
Via Nazareth 400
00166 Rome
Italy
Dear Sisters who were martyred on August 1st please help little HALEY, thanks
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