BLESSED SISTER JULIA RODZIŃSKA
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BLESSED SISTER JULIA RODZIŃSKA
The hometown of Sr. Julia is a small village of Nawojowa (pron. Na-voy-o-va). It lies on the banks of
the Kamienica River, about 8 kilometers from the city of Nowy Sącz in the mountainous region of southern
Poland. An evergreen forest surrounds the village and covers the picturesque hills to the east.
Family home in Nawojowa, Poland
The original wooden church, dating back to the fifteenth century, gave way to a new stone building
erected in 1878, the pride of the parishioners and its founders, the aristocratic Stadnicki family.
Parish church in Nawojowa
It was tradition that a family of
musicians from a neighboring village
supplied the organists of the church in
Nawojowa. At the turn of the 20th
century, the post was held by Michael John Rodziński, married to the young Marianne Sekuła. They met at the
church during choir practice. Because Marianne was only fifteen at the time of their wedding, her parents had
to give special permission for the couple to marry. Like all the subsequent religious events in the life of the
Rodziński family, the wedding took place in the village church.
The organist’s wages were insufficient for the needs of the young family, forcing Michael to take
additional jobs as a clerk at the local county office and bank. Nevertheless, he didn’t neglect his duties at the
church, paying particular attention to the parish choir whose difficult repertoire, which included works in
multiple parts as well as Michael’s original compositions, attracted visitors from other parishes. The couple had
five children: Julian, born about a year after the wedding; Stanisława who arrived four years later; followed by
Louis, Anna Maria, and Joanne.
Stanisława Rodzińska, future Bl. Sr. Julia, was born on Thursday, March 16th, 1899 at eight forty-five in
the evening. Because the baby arrived earlier than expected, the father himself filled the place of a midwife.
The baby girl was frail and there seemed little hope of survival. Fearing for her life, the parents had her
baptized two days later.
Little Stanisława (Stasia) grew up in a religious atmosphere. Family activities revolved around the
liturgical life of the parish, making the Faith the central focus of their lives. Music and singing were often heard
in the organist’s house, while harmonious family life ensured that the children spent their early years happily.
This carefree period, however, ended soon. Michael, who suffered from rheumatism, found it
increasingly difficult to fulfill his obligations at the parish and lost his additional sources of income. At the
same time, Marianne was diagnosed with progressive lung disease. Finally, the family’s young daughter, Anna
Maria, died in early childhood. Despite Michael’s efforts to provide for the family, money was in short supply.
Aside from everyday expenses, most of the earnings went for doctors and medications required for the
treatment of his young wife.
The family fell into decline after Marianne’s death at the age of 28. Disconsolate and crippled by
illness, Michael struggled alone to support the children. Although he continued to work at the parish and tried
to repay his debts by selling a part of his household furnishings, he was barely able to earn a living. Only 42
years old, he moved with great difficulty because of his worsening rheumatism. Two years after his wife’s
death, Michael himself died of pneumonia. The orphaned children were separated shortly after the funeral.
Michael’s relatives took the boys, while Stasia and her younger sister, Joanne, found a home at the nearby
Dominican convent.
The Dominican sisters, who
had already reached out to the
destitute family, now took the
children in, thus saving them from the
fate of orphans in public institutions.
The bond they formed with the sisters
seemed very strong, as the girls began
to address the superior, Sister
Stanisława Leniart, as their mom.
A new life began for the girls. Stasia was enrolled in a school run by the sisters. They taught her
everything they knew: music, embroidery, and housekeeping. She was talented and systematic. After
graduation, the Dominicans sent her to a teachers’ college in the city of Nowy Sącz. She loved children and
wanted to be teacher. At school, she earned excellent grades. At the convent, she displayed selflessness and
creativity while helping the sisters in the various educational and formation activities for the children.
Her own religious
vocation matured in the silence
of the convent chapel. She
confided in her spiritual mom,
Sr. Stanisława Leniart. She
observed religious life from the
inside, studying with her keen and youthful eye its splendor and its shadows. She not only witnessed the
sisters’ efforts to serve God in His people, but also perceived their laborious striving to collaborate with God’s
grace, maybe even their lukewarmenss. Her decision was the fruit of much prayer and reflection. It took shape
in the course of the First World War, when harrowing news of victims, suffering families, and abandoned
children reached the convent daily. She didn’t want to wait; she didn’t want to delay becoming a Dominican.
She left school to follow the desire of her heart.
At the age of seventeen, the young and pretty Stasia traveled to the Dominican Motherhouse in
Wielowieś in central Poland to ask for acceptance as a postulant and test her religious vocation.
Motherhouse in Wielowies,
Poland, before 1893
She was accompanied by her devoted “convent mom,” Sr. Stanisława Leniart who, also an orphan, had
been personally accepted to the Dominicans by Mother Columba Białecka, the Foundress of the Polish
Congregation. History repeats itself: the orphan, who had once found refuge at the side of the Foundress, now
took in and raised other orphans. In spite of many external occupations, the sisters in Wielowieś led an intense
life of prayer and mortification. Their example served as the best teacher and formator for the new candidates,
while the living memory of their saintly Foundress further enriched the spiritual climate of the entire house.
Stasia received the Dominican habit on September 3rd, 1917 and changed her name to Sr. Mary Julia,
perhaps in a gesture of gratitude to her spiritual mother, Sr. Stanisława Leniart, whose baptismal name was also
Julia. The ceremony marked the beginning of her novitiate.
Days filled with work and prayer deepened her knowledge of Dominican spirituality, which she was to
embrace and impart to others throughout her life. She learned the practice of mortification, which characterized
her particular congregation, and nurtured her desire for personal sanctity and work for the salvation of others
through various means of religious formation in the novitiate.
Sr. Julia made her first religious profession on September 4th,
1918. As a junior professed, she now resumed her studies in Cracow.
She finished school the following May and completed a course for
preschool instructors over the summer, thus preparing to carry out the
work of education and formation as a Dominican.
Her natural disposition, talents and pedagogical skills gained her a great deal of love and respect from
her young charges as well as coworkers. When in Vilnus, she was given the responsible position of principal of
the local school and orphanage, and as such she was also put in charge of conducting a well-organized summer
camp for the poorest children of that city. At the same time, she carried out the duty of a superior of the local
community of Dominican Sisters.
During the German occupation which resulted during World War II, Sr. Julia quickly organized underground religious classes and a clandestine program of financial assistance to retired priests.
Prison in Lukiszki, Vilnus
On July 12, 1943 she was arrested and sent to stay in solitary confinement of the Gestapo prison in
Vilnus.
In July, 1944 she was transferred by the Nazis to the Concentration Camp in Stutthof.
Death Gate, Stutthof
http://www.holocaustresearchproject.org/othercamps/stutthof.html
There in the midst of human misery, cruelty and despair she continued her evangelical ministry by
sharing with other prisoners the message of faith, hope and love. She did that through the power of her kind
words, deeds of charity and prayer.
Thanks to her initiative and efforts, praying the Rosary became a routine secret activity conducted daily
in the prisoners' barracks.
Her gentle words of loving concern and
the example of her Christian faith and service
uplifted many depressed souls, giving them
hope, courage and strength. In that place of
horror, she made herself available to everyone
regardless of his or her nationality or religious
background. With those who suffered their
worst from hunger and exhaustion, Sr. Julia
shared her meager daily ration of bread. Thanks
to her crafty and brave efforts many Catholic prisoners were given an opportunity to receive sacraments.
When an epidemic of typhus broke out in the camp, Sr. Julia driven by her heroic love of neighbor volunteered to
care for the sick and dying. Weakened by malnutrition and physical exertion she soon contracted the disease and died
February 20, 1945.Her life and death, as a sister, teacher, principal and superior, remain a
powerful testimony of love to Jesus Christ to whom she gave herself totally by
responding wholeheartedly and heroically to his most challenging teaching through
the exemplary practice of evangelical virtues.
She was beatified June 13, 1999 along with 107 martyrs of the Nazi concentration camps.
* * *From eye witness accounts of the life and martyrdom of Bl. Julia Rodzińska
(Archives of the Congregation of the Sisters of St. Dominic)
She performed works of mercy where there was no mercy.
“I got to know Sister Julia in that ghastly concentration camp of Sutthof near Gdańsk, where we suffered
humiliation at every turn. The initial selection after arrival at the camp was already horrible. People were sent
to the gas based on external appearance.
I accompanied Sister Julia until her last days. She never concealed that she was a religious. She showed
unwavering faith and hope in God. She consoled all of us, entrusted us to God, and encouraged us to pray. She
organized and led common prayers. We always prayed the rosary, the litany of Our Lady, hymns and any
number of prayers she composed according to our needs and situation.
Prisoners of different nationalities came to pray. People
spread the word: let’s pray the rosary with Sister Julia. The
image will always stay with me: the small, poorly lit room
overflowing with people on bunk beds, three or even four levels
high; here and there, rags drying in the air. Kneeling on a
wooden plank, straight, with her head lifted up and eyes aimed
at the Infinite is our sister Julia. She holds a rosary in her
strong, shapely hands. Her face is focused… She was very
pious. Her piety influenced others. In her presence, one felt the
need to pray.
Courageous promoter of the Holy Rosary and the
example of heroic love of God and neighbor.You can also read
