Beneath Mary’s Mantle: Bl. Julia Rodzińska (1899 - 1945)
St. Dominic once had a dream in which he saw all the saints of the Order safely beneath the mantle of Mary, Protectress of the Order of Preachers. In this blog series, we’ll introduce our beloved Dominican Saints, learn about their lives and work, and come to see how they still inspire and pass on their gifts to today’s faithful.
Martyr
Born: March 16, 1899 in Nawojowa, Poland
Died: February 20, 1945 at Stutthof Concentration Camp, Outside of Danzig
Feast Day: September 6
Blessed Julia Rodzinska sustained a beautiful hope and heroic compassion as the Nazi regime took over her country, which resulted in her obtaining the crown of martyrdom at the Stutthof concentration camp. She was born as Stanislawa in the little Polish village of Nawojowa. Since she was orphaned at a young age, the Dominican Sisters of the Immaculate Conception raised and educated her. Growing up, she participated in their ministry by educating children and caring for the sick and the dying. Through these experiences, she was inspired to formally join the community as a religious sister. In 1917, she received the Dominican habit and the religious name Maria Julia.
Sr. Julia spent most of her religious life teaching and working in an orphanage in Vilnius (which is now in Lithuania). She had an empathy and maternal love for the orphans under her care. As a teacher, she knew how to motivate her class and strengthen her weaker students. To her, it was particularly important to impart to them a love for the Rosary and the Eucharist. She occupied administrative positions in the orphanage and the school, and she proved competent and innovative in those roles.
Sr. Julia’s congregation of Dominican sisters was forced to scatter as the Nazi administration subjugated Vilnius. She then involved herself in underground efforts to spread the Catholic faith and hand on Polish history and language, all of which the new regime forbade. She also assisted the archbishop in saving Jews from capture by the Gestapo and provided for retired priests who otherwise would have been left impoverished.
On July 12 of 1943, the Gestapo arrested Sr. Julia and a few of her Dominican sisters and brought them to the Lukiszki prison. Sr. Julia was put into solitary confinement and subjected to psychological torture. Her room was a cement closet where she could only sit. Another prisoner noted that, despite these awful conditions, Sr. Julia remained peaceful and recollected, having faith in the Lord’s providence. After a year in solitary confinement, she and a group of prisoners crammed into a cattle car and rode to the Stutthof concentration camp.
As prisoner 40992, Sr. Julia was assigned to the Jewish part of the Stutthof, where conditions were particularly cruel. Although such activities were forbidden, she led prayer groups and even arranged for a priest prisoner to come on a “work assignment” to hear Confessions. Due to the inhumane conditions of concentration camps, prisoners often lost their sense of morality for the sake of their own survival. However, Sr. Julia jeopardized her own life to show mercy to her fellow prisoners in the dark and tormenting cruelty of Stutthof. When the typhus epidemic came to Stuthoff in November of 1944, Sr. Julia would go to the bedside of the sick and give what comfort and treatment she could. Fellow prisoners testify that she was a source of strength for them by her example of piety and charity. One man was even dissuaded from suicide because of the secret notes Sr. Julia sent him.
Typhus came for Sr. Julia in February of 1945. Feeble as she was, she would still tend to the other ailing prisoners when they called for her. She died on February 20. The camp was liberated only a few months later. Her naked body was discarded on a pile of corpses, but someone honored her by placing a little cloth over her body. Pope St. John Paul II beatified her in 1999.
Blessed Julia Rodzinska models for us a profound hope in the Lord. She witnessed the Nazi regime imprison her and her sisters. She was horribly degraded, tortured, and bereft of a regular sacramental life, but she remained close to the Lord in prayer rather than despairing of God’s love and care for her. She sought Him out in serving those with whom she was imprisoned rather than caring only for her own life. May we have that same fidelity to the Lord Jesus, and may Blessed Julia intercede for us when we are tempted to doubt God’s care for us in the midst of trials and sorrow.
Blessed Julia Rodzinska, pray for us!
