As a member of the Brooklyn community was going through old papers, she discovered a translation of a Polish article that was written about a 99 year old Visitandine, translated by a woman named Marta Joziak. Curiously the Brooklyn Sister decided to see if she could locate the original via Internet, and lo and behold, within a few minutes, she did!
So here is the original story of 99 year old Sister Andrew Maria of Rybnik, Poland, Visitation Monastery, and also the English translation. The original article has a picture of this Sister.
Click below to read original with photo
00_KA_GN17.indd (gosc.pl) scroll to page 13
Translation of linked article, above:
From St. Petersburg to Rybnik
Sister Andrzeja Maria is 99 years old. She spent 75 of those years in the Visitation Sisters. ” I have never regretted my decision. Under the watchful eye of Divine Providence I am safe,” says the elderly nun.
Sister Andrzeja was born in St. Petersburg. During World War I, when she was 8, she and her mother left for Belarus. Her father and brother remained in St. Petersburg. She never saw them again. The young, talented girl was active in a youth organization and performed in the theater. She was very pious and loved reading the lives of the saints. – “Our priest told me that I had a calling to the order, says Sister Andrzeja. – He encouraged me to join the convent. Since I had great devotion to the Heart of Jesus, he indicated the Visitation Sisters. Today, after many years, I can say that the priest knew his stuff, and I trusted him. “
The monastery was full But to go to the monastery, you had to have a layette from home. The girl was poor. Her mother could not afford a layette. However, thanks to the intercession of the priest, she was accepted into the Visitation Sisters’ monastery in Vilnius. “A letter came that there was a free place in the monastery and that the sisters were waiting for me. In those days, the monasteries were overflowing and you had to wait for a place. And today there are no vocations,” the nun muses.
The young girl was very happy about the news, but she was also afraid whether she would be able to cope with the vocation. – “However, when I arrived at the monastery in Vilnius, I felt at home there. I knew I was in the right place. As a candidate, she helped in the kitchen, in the fields, and with cleaning. – I wasn’t afraid of anything. I was fixed on Christ and all I was interested in was that my vocation would be as it should be.”
Bolsheviks in the monastery
When she was 24, she became a nun. –” And I have never regretted my decision. The most important thing for me was and is to remain faithful to God. I trusted God’s Providence and I have never been disappointed.” Sister Andrzeja survived the difficult times of the order’s dispersion. In 1942, all the nuns were sent to prison. Andrzeja spent half a year there. – “The Bolsheviks treated us as enemies – she recalls. – They didn’t let us take anything from the monastery. I remember that one of the sisters hid a loaf of bread from them.” The nun recalls her prison food: a pot of water and a portion of bread in the morning and evening, and for dinner something that was supposed to resemble soup. After six months, the nuns were released. However, under threat of returning to prison, they were forbidden to wear habits.
Sister Andrzeja had to live outside the monastery for fifteen years, finding shelter with her family and strangers. With a cross on her shoulders In the 1950s, the sisters tried to be transferred to Poland. They found their new home in the monastery in Siemianowice. The last one to arrive here was Sister Andrzeja Maria. –” I remember a huge black religious cross, which was preserved in the attic of one of the farmers in Czarny Bór. When the sisters moved to Poland, they took this cross with them. While carrying it, the crossbar broke. I took this cross on my shoulder and carried it to the cart in which the sisters were leaving for Poland “– says the elderly nun with emotion.
Today, the cross is in the monastery of the Visitation Sisters in Rybnik, to which the sisters moved from Siemianowice a few years ago. –” Even though today I am already standing at the grave, I still feel young” – smiles Sister Andrzej. –” I accept everything from God’s hand. I am calm, because God watches over me. He is next to me, and I am safe with Him. “
“Cheerful, helpful, boundlessly devoted to God” – this is what other nuns say about Sister Andrzeja. She never complains that something hurts her, she sees only good in people. “I don’t get sentimental about myself,” says the nun. “I entrust everything to God, who is always with me. The most important thing is not to lose sight of my vocation for a moment.” “I still feel young,” smiles Sister Andrzeja
ANNA BURDA-SZOSTEK, writer of article