Blessed Mary Restituta Kafka Biography, Feast Day, Date of Birth, Country of Birth, Profession, Place of Work, Date of Death, Place of Death, Beatification Date, Canonization Date

Blessed Mary Restituta Kafka was born on 1 May 1894 in Brno, Czechoslovakia (modern Czech Republic) as Helena Kafka. She was the sixth daughter of a shoemaker. Mary grew up in Vienna, Austria. She worked as a sales clerk and was also a Nurse. She joined the Franciscan Sisters of Christian Charity (Hartmannschwestern) in 1914 AD, taking the name Restituta after an early Church martyr.

Mary worked for twenty years as a surgical nurse, beginning in 1919 AD. She was known as a protector of the poor and oppressed. She was also the vocal opponent of the Nazis after Anschluss, the German take over of Austria. Her sister Restituta hung a crucifix in every room of a new hospital wing. The Nazis later ordered them to be removed. Restituta refused. She was then arrested by the Gestapo in 1942 AD.

She was sentenced to death on 28 October 1942 AD for “aiding and abetting the enemy in the betrayal of the fatherland and for plotting high treason”; Martin Bormann decided that her execution would provide “effective intimidation” for other opponents of the Nazis. She spent her remaining time in prison caring for other prisoners that even the Communist prisoners spoke well of her. Mary was offered her freedom if she would abandon her religious community; she declined. She was later martyred.