Blessed Stanislawa Rodzinska Biography
Blessed Stanislawa Rodzinska Biography, Feast Day, Date of Birth, Country of Birth, Profession, Place of Work, Date of Death, Place of Death |
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| Date of Birth | 16 March 1899 |
|---|---|
| Country of Birth | Poland in Europe |
| Matrimony/Holy Orders | Blesseds who were Nuns/Sisters |
| Profession | Missionary |
| Place of Work | Poland |
| Date of Death | 20 February 1945 |
| Place of Death | Pomorskie, Poland |
| Feast Day | February 20 |
| Beatification | Beatified by Pope John Paul II on 16 June 1999 |
| Canonization | Canonized by N/A |
| Patron Saint of | N/A |
Biography
Blessed Stanislawa Rodzinska was the Second of five children born to Michael Rodzinska and Marianna. His father was the church organist leading the parish choir while working at a local bank. They were a poor but religious family and though her mother’s family was wealthy, they refused to help.
She died when Stanislawa was eight years old and the family fortunes deteriorated further as their father had trouble working and caring for the children. He later died of pneumonia when Stanislawa was ten. From that point, she and her sister were brought up in a Dominican orphanage.
She loved the Dominican Sisters so much that she joined them in 1916 in Tarnobrzegu-Wielowsi, Poland, taking the name Sister Maria Juliana and became professional on 5 August 1924. Stanislawa served as a much-loved teacher at Dominican orphanages for 22 years. She later became the superior of the Dominican house in Vilnius, Lithuania in 1934, and managed the orphanage where she became known as the Mother of Orphans for her tireless care of the children.
Stanislawa was awarded by the secular government of Vilnius for her work. However, the government adopted the school and orphanage, took over the running and dissolved the monastery. The homeless and unemployed Dominican sisters were taken in by some Vincentian sisters. They tried to support themselves doing odd jobs, but the Nazis invaded, the economy sank, and the Church effectively went into hiding. Clergy, monks and sisters were arrested, imprisoned or executed and teaching Polish culture was made illegal.
Blessed Stanislawa Rodzinska Death
Everything about Mother Julia was now illegal to the invaders. She continued to teach children catechism and regular school studies and worked to keep elderly priests from starving after they were flashed out into the streets by the Nazis. She was arrested by the Gestapo on 12 July 1943 for her work, and was imprisoned for a year in a cement cell in the Lukiškes Prison in central Vilnius; it was too tiny and cramped for her to stretch out.
However, she continued doing her spiritual exercises. In July 1944, she was taken into a cattle car and shipped to the Stutthof concentration camp where she was tortured, starved and abused. Stanislawa responded by forming prayer groups and shared what food she received. She infected herself with a fatal case of typhus while nursing infected Jewish female prisoners. Martyr.
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