Saint Who?
Saints Who Promoted the Rosary
Blessed Julia Rodzińska
Religious and martyr († 1945)Feast: February 20
Born in Poland in 1899, Stanisława Rodzińska was orphaned around the age of ten. She was cared for by Dominican sisters and joined the order as a young woman, becoming Sister Julia. As a teaching sister, she showed a special tenderness for orphans in her classes. She also worked hard to engage reluctant students, offering after-school tutoring, for instance. And she shared with them her devotion to the rosary.
As World War II progressed, and Poland was invaded, Julia and her sisters were forced to give up their religious habits, removed from teaching positions, and finally thrown out of the schools entirely. Imprisoned by Nazis for her efforts to preserve Polish culture and assist Jews, she was placed in solitary confinement for a year and then transferred to a concentration camp.
Throughout her trials, Sister Julia radiated peace. She traded her bread for a rosary, and led her companions in prayer. Though religious practices were forbidden, the enforcers were cowed by the sight of Sister Julia calmly praying on her knees. “In her presence, you felt the need to pray,” a fellow prisoner recalled. When typhus went through the camp, most prisoners avoided the sick, hoping to survive until the Allies arrived. But Sister Julia went to serve the most ill, dying herself just a few months before liberation arrived.
Father of Lights, strengthened by the rosary,
may we be lights in the darkest places.
