Blessed Martyrs of Nowogródek

Blessed Martyrs of Nowogródek
File:Eleven Nuns of Nowogrodek.jpg The Eleven Nuns of Nowogródek by Adam Styka
Born	1888-1916
Died	1 August 1943,Nowogródek, occupied Poland
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

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.

Circumstances

Background

The Sisters of the Holy Family of Nazareth arrived in Nowogródek in 1929 at the behest of Bishop Zygmunt Lozinski. 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, and 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.

Martyrs

The eleven martyrs are listed below, along with their birth names, dates of birth, and ages at the time of their death.

Religious name	Birth name	Birth date	Age at death
Sister M. Stella, Superior	marAdela Mardosewicz	14 Dec 1888	54 years old
Sister M. Rajmunda	kokAnna Kokołowicz	24 Aug 1892	50 years old
Sister M. Imelda	zakJadwiga Karolina Żak	29 Dec 1892	50 years old
Sister M. Daniela	jozEleonora Aniela Jóźwik	25 Jan 1895	48 years old
Sister M. Kanuta	chrJózefa Chrobot	22 May 1896	47 years old
Sister M. Gwidona	cieHelena Cierpka	11 Apr 1900	43 years old
Sister M. Sergia	rapJulia Rapiej	18 Aug 1900	42 years old
Sister M. Kanizja	macEugenia Mackiewicz	27 Nov 1903	39 years old
Sister M. Felicyta	borPaulina Borowik	30 Aug 1905	37 years old
Sister M. Heliodora	matLeokadia Matuszewska	8 Feb 1906	37 years old
Sister M. Boromea	narWeronika Narmontowicz	18 Dec 1916	26 years old

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.

See also

• 108 Martyrs of World War Two