Saint Who?
Saints Who Worked in Agriculture
Blessed Karolina Kózka
Martyr († 1914) Feast: November 18
Karolina Kózka was born to peasant farmers in Poland in 1898, the fourth of eleven children. They were devout, praying morning and evening, and reciting or singing the Little Office of the Virgin Mary. Some called her home the “little church.” Karolina learned to love the rosary and the sacraments.
She was a light in her community, caring for the sick and elderly, and teaching catechism to children. She helped out at her parish, in the library, and in organizing local meetings. A friend who had lost her mother recalled that Karolina “was more than a mother to me.” Another remembered that she preferred not to dress up fancily, lest she get distracted from prayer. Karolina also took her family duties seriously, and helped out on the family farm.
During World War I, a Russian soldier entered her home and marched her and her father off at gunpoint, ostensibly for questioning. At one point her father was dismissed, and the soldier turned on Karolina. She resisted his advances, and fled, but he slashed her with his sword. Though she managed to flee through a swamp, she soon bled to death from her wounds. Immediately venerated as a martyr of purity, she was beatified in 1987.
Merciful Father, grant us purity of heart,
that we may face adversity
with courage.
