THE WAY OF THE ST CATHERINE SISTERS

We are the sisters from the Congregation of St Catherine, the Virgin and Martyr, and we have fifteen such remarkable women in our religious family who died 80 years ago, but their attitude is timeless and still very relevant today. They died as a result of the entry of the Red Army into Warmia and Mazury. The Red Army was marching towards Berlin and leaving death and destruction in its wake. These sisters died of exhaustion, they were mistreated, they stood up for their fellow human beings, they stayed by the beds of the sick, and some of them were sent deep into Russia. And their uniqueness did not consist in some great, spectacular deeds, but in the fact that they were able to transcend themselves in the name of the values to which they were faithful.

The first sisters who met the Soviet army were the nuns from the Olsztyn Municipal Hospital. They stayed with the sick who could not be evacuated, with the adults, with the children. They suffered a cruel death there. Some of the sisters from this hospital, after being raped and beaten, were sent deep into Russia, where they still cared for the sick deportees until the end of their lives.

Another two sisters from Ketrzyn, they stayed in the parish because they didn't want to leave people who were afraid, who had nowhere to run to. They suffered such a cruel death on the streets of the town.

Then there are three nuns from Lidzbark Warminski. They took in a very large group of refugees and when the Soviet army entered the monastery, these sisters were badly beaten, abused by soldiers who tried to rape them. They defended each other and they were shot.

Next there are three sisters from Orneta who were seriously ill with tuberculosis. When the Soviets entered the hospital where these sisters were, they were beaten up in a massacre, shot on and raped, but their uniqueness lies in the fact that they still lay suffering for weeks, because there were no painkillers, and they were able to forgive their tormentors and go to eternity in peace and such deep trust in God.

Another sister, during the forced evacuation in Gdansk, covered the young sisters with her body defending them from rape. She did not back down from a beating and died defending another human being.

And finally the last of these sisters of St Catherine – she was in a wagon together with other refugees and when a Soviet soldier saw her, he tried to rape her in front of all these people. She defended herself a lot, she was beaten up a lot, and what is amazing, she, already being in such an agonal state in that wagon, prayed aloud for her persecutor and forgave him. She died at the railway station in Pila.

They were creative women who knew how to look at reality more broadly and were able to transcend themselves in the name of love. They died a martyr's death because they were faithful to the love of their lives. For us today, they are a great inspiration, but they are also very close to us, very much loved, and we also feel their great help and intercession. They give us an example of how to rise above humanity and give up one's life for the sake of values and for the sake of people who need help.