The Basics: Born September 21, 1817, in Poland; died November 14, 1872, in Poland; beatified September 30, 2007; feast day, November 14; woman religious.
The Story: Maria’s life is one that shows us it is futile to rely on anyone but the Lord. Her father died when she was nine months old; her mother, when Maria was twenty-four. The young woman, her sister, and two friends began caring for people who for one reason or another weren’t accepted by hospitals. They became known as “the gray nuns,” because they typically wore brown dresses and gray bonnets.
Typhus and cholera were sweeping the region where they lived (present-day Poland), and less than four years after the women began their ministry, Maria’s sister died of typhus. A priest suggested the women become novices with a community in Prague; while two stayed, Maria and a companion returned to their hometown of Nysa in 1850 to do more direct work with the poor and abandoned, and began what would eventually become the Congregation of St. Elizabeth. They women had been back in Nysa just two and a half years when the other founder died. Maria soldiered on, becoming the community’s first superior when formal local diocesan approval was received in 1859. She would die of typhus at the age of fifty-five.
Maria’s Wisdom: “May God’s mercy give peace that the world cannot give.”
What We Can Learn from Maria: We mourn and grieve when our family members and friends die. Their passings leave holes in our hearts that only God can fill. Rather than growing bitter over the separation, may we, like Maria, focus on energies on service in this world, confident in the hope of reuniting with them in the next.
To Learn More About Maria: Visit the site for the Congregation of St. Elizabeth, of which Maria was among the founders. Or, check out a slide show about Maria in her hometown of Nysa.
To Learn More About Other Women Saints and Blesseds: Come back next week, or consider buying my book, Sisterhood of Saints: Daily Guidance and Inspiration.
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