Beatification of Sister Marta Wieska DC
-Sniatyn, Ukraine
Sister Sarah King-Turner, Provincial and Sister Anne McGovern were
privileged to represent the British Province
on the occasion of the Beatification of Sister Marta Wieska held in
a small village in the Ukraine,
five hours by coach from Lviv, the regional capital of eastern Ukraine. Sister
Marta was born in Nowy Wiec in Poland
in 1874, entered the Company in 1892 in the
Province
of Cracow and was then sent
to care for sick persons in various towns and villages in the Ukraine, including the village of Sniatyn.
On 24th May we
arrived at the place for the ceremonies under a grey sky, but
thankfully it was not raining! All along the approach roads, people,
Sisters, priests, bishops were making their way to a open area on
the edge of the village. The crowd was a mass of blue as several
thousand Daughters of Charity
from all around Europe and
Poland
took their seats after their long journeys, greeting long former
friends and companions with great joy and glad to have the privilege
to be present for this wonderful ceremony.
Sister Marta was beatified during the course of a magnificent
Eucharistic celebration by Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, Secretary of
State for the Holy See, in the presence of Cardinal Marian Jaworski,
the Archbishop of Lvov, two or three Greek Catholic Bishops, several
high ranking priests and bishops from the Orthodox Church. During
her life Sister Marta had cared for everyone, no matter who, and
this beautiful and special ceremony she brought together the East
and the West, an occasion when, for the first time, Latin Rite,
Greek Catholics and the Orthodox came together to celebrate the life
of a beautiful young Sister who left an example of commitment to
corporal and spiritual service of persons who are ill. It was a day
of great joy and thanksgiving and we pray that Blessed Marta will
obtain vocations for us as well as an even richer collaboration with
our Orthodox brothers and sisters for a better service of persons
who are poor.
Website dedicated to Blessed Sister Marta
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