A new Polish book entitled Panie Lutosławskie” by Tomasza Szymańskiego features, among other women, a Visitandine of Warsaw, Mother Maria Klaudia Niklewiczówna VSM.
This is her story.
Mother Maria Klaudia Niklewiczówna VSM was born in Warsaw on December 23, 1918, the fourth of six children of Maria née Lutosławski and Mieczysław Niklewicz. On March 12, 1919, she was baptized with the names of Maria Victoria. Father Kazimierz Lutosławski was the godfather. She grew up in an atmosphere of love for God and the Fatherland. Both parents worked to regain Poland’s independence, and the father was imprisoned for a year in the 10th pavilion of the Warsaw Citadel for this work during his student days. He was the publisher of Gazeta Warszawska and a close associate of Roman Dmowski, who, having returned to Poland after the signing of the Versailles Treaty and not having his own apartment, lived with the Niklewicz family until his death.
The late Mother Maria Klaudia said about Mr. Roman that he had a great influence on the young generation, teaching with words and his example of sincere patriotism and selfless work for the good of the Motherland. She studied at the gymnasium. Cecylia Plater-Zyberkówna and in 1936 she obtained her matriculation certificate. There, in the school chapel, she received her First Communion. May 31, 1929 and was confirmed by J. Em. Cardinal Kakowski, June 18, 1930 She studied medicine at the University of Poznań, joining the work of various student associations, such as Sodalicja Marianska, Brotherly Help, Pomocy Bliźnimu and All-Polish Youth.
The war interrupted her studies, but she continued to study medicine and at the School of Midwives in Warsaw, combining it with underground work; belonged to the Home Army. She entered the convent of the Visitation Sisters in Krakowskie Przedmieście in Warsaw on April 29, 1943. She began her novitiate on November 6, 1943, receiving the names Maria Klaudia along with the habit. As a novice, she survived the Warsaw Uprising in the convent. Thanks to the acquired medical knowledge, she was able to better serve people who came to the monastery from the neighboring, destroyed and burning tenement houses. There were a lot of sick, wounded and dying people here, because they were also brought from three hospitals.
She made her temporary vows on January 29, 1945 in Krakow, at the Bernardine Sisters, where the displaced Congregation of the Visitation Sisters of Warsaw stayed after the fall of the Warsaw Uprising. She made her perpetual profession in the surviving convent in Warsaw on February 2, 1948.
During her religious life, she held various offices. She was a long-time member of the Council of Major Superiors of Women’s Congregations, as a representative of cloistered assemblies in Poland. For 30 years she was the President of the Polish Federation of Visitation Sisters. For this reason, she participated in the international conventions of the Order organized in connection with the renewal of the Religious Constitutions, Customs and Statutes of the Federation.
In 1969, the Congregation of the Visitation Sisters in Hungary was incorporated into the Polish Federation, which had been completely dispersed since 1950. As President of the Federation, from 1970 she helped the sisters in Hungary, keeping them connected with the Order and with each other. Thanks to the understanding of the situation, Fr. Primate S. Wyszyński and the powers he had, it was possible to organize the legal status of individual sisters. Currently, the sisters in Hungary have a monastery in Budakeszi and most of the scattered sisters have joined the community.
December 8, 1997 Mother Maria Klaudia, at the hands of his Eminence Cardinal Józef Glemp received a gold medal for merits in the service of the Church and the nation.
On December 1, 2001, she also received from His Eminence a thank you and a commemorative medal “for active participation in the celebration of the Cardinal Stefan Wyszyński Year by contributing to the work of bringing the spiritual, scientific and cultural heritage of the Primate of the Millennium closer to the Polish society”.
In the local community, she performed responsible offices: she was an economist, then for many years she was alternately superior (27 years of leadership) and a novice formator. She always showed a zealous Visitation life. She cared for the spiritual development of the sisters. She had the gift of bringing peace and seeing good in man. She was modest, zealous at work, energetic, present wherever the sisters were and worked, also during common prayers. In 2002, she visited our sisters who were on missions in Africa, in Rwanda. Always cheerful, smiling and patient with everyone. She kept this beautiful smile until the end of her days, also in her suffering and illness, quietly On the third Sunday of Lent, in 2011, she went to the Lord, whom she served with all her heart and life.
Source: https://klauzura.katolik.pl/xhtml/inne/27032011/zyciorys/