Polish nuns beatified

June 13, 2013

Two women religious – Sister Zofia Czeska Maciejowska (1584-1650) and Sister Margherita Lucia Szewczyk (1828-1905) – were beatified in Kraków, Poland, on June 9. Sister Maciejowska founded the Congregation of the Virgins of the Presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary; Sister Szewczyk founded the Congregation of the Daughters of the Sorrowful Mother of God.

Cardinal Angelo Amato, prefect of the Congregation for the Causes of Saints, presided at the beatification Mass, which took place at the Divine Mercy Sanctuary. An estimated 20,000 attended the Mass.

Recalling the figures of St. Stanislaus, St. Faustina Kowalska, and Blessed John Paul II, Cardinal Amato preached that Poland “continues to generate many of the saints.” Widowed at 22, Blessed Maciejowska had a “love for the Lord was not just a sentimental love but a creative love, which was expressed through concrete assistance to children and the needy. It was a sacrificial and selfless love. It was a love set on a strong faith that was nourished by the Eucharist and constant prayer.”

Blessed Szewczyk, he added, “was a woman of deep faith, which manifested itself in a constant spirit of prayer, always holding a Rosary in her hand. She prayed in the chapel, in her monastic cell … In times of difficulties, she prayed and asked for prayer [and] spent long hours in front of the Blessed Sacrament.”

 

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Further information:

• Nowe polskie blogoslawione (Katolicka Agencia Informacyjna)
• Polska jest ojczyzna swietych (Katolicka Agencia Informacyjna)
• Pope Francis: Angelus, 9 June 2013