By 
The mission of Sister Cecylia Maria Roszak OP, who died in 2018 at the age of 110 as the oldest nun in the world at the time, was to serve others. During the Second World War, she risked her life by hiding Jews from the Nazis. As a resistance fighter, she ensured the survival of Abba Kovner, Izrael Chaim Wilner (Arie Wilner), Chajka Grosman, Edek Boraks, Chum Godot and Israel Nagel, to mention just the most prominent Jews.
Maria Roszak was born on 25 March 1908 in Kielce in the province of Poznan, Poland. She completed her studies at the state girls’ school for commerce and industry in the university town on the Warta River. At the age of 21, she joined the Dominican Order in Krakow and took the name ‘Cecylia’ when she took her first vows in 1931.
Three years later, she took her perpetual vows. In 1938, she was part of a group of Dominican nuns who travelled to Vilnius to build a new convent there. This was initially unsuccessful, partly due to the changing territorial relations.
From June 1941, the Dominican community hid Jews from the Nazi power apparatus. Sister Cecylia Maria, together with the other sisters and the superior Sister Betranda, harbours 17 members of a Jewish resistance movement in the convent, risking their own lives in the process.
The members of the Jewish-Zionist underground find a safe haven with the nuns. The order cultivates a 5-hectare field, while the construction of the monastery on the site is still unfinished. The sisters live temporarily in a wooden house with a small chapel. Despite the lack of space, Sister Cecylia Maria also takes frightened Jewish children into her care. Time and again, they also took in Jews from the nearby ghetto.
If the occupying forces search the children, she hides them in bales of grain in the barn, where there are a few other nuns disguised as civilians for protection. The nuns took great care of those seeking protection and also looked after their education, not just their spiritual education.
In September 1941, Jewish members of the opposition decide to leave the convent and return to the Jewish ghetto. The nuns actively help them smuggle weapons and food supplies to strengthen the resistance. The support is discovered. Mother Betranda was arrested in 1943 and the convent in Vilnius was closed.
The Yad Vashem Holocaust Memorial Centre writes about the house superior at the time: ‘Despite the enormous differences between the two groups, close bonds formed between the Christian nuns and the left-wing secular Jews. They found a safe place behind the convent walls, they worked with the nuns in agriculture and kept up their political activities. They called the mother superior ‘Ima’, Hebrew for mother.’
Sister Cecylia Maria returned to Krakow, where she would remain for the rest of her life. Sister Betranda gave up convent life after the war and returned to lay life, while Sister Cecylia Maria Roszak became superior of her community in 1946. The Krakow convent was not properly re-established until a year later.
One day, Sister Cecylia Maria received a phone call from a man named Abba Kovner (1918-1987), who thanked her for saving his life. The caller is a Lithuanian-Israeli writer, founder of the Nakam organisation, and one of those who were hidden by the sisters at the time. A few days later, a mysterious parcel arrives at the convent. It contains a small cross labelled ‘Jerusalem’. This is the basis for a new activity in Vilnius.
A year later, Vilnius is indeed called the ‘Jerusalem of Lithuania’ after Sister Cecylia Maria returns to her mother convent together with the other sisters. The nun has an incredible talent for languages. In addition to Polish, she also speaks English, German, French and Latin.
In the course of her religious life, Sister Cecylia has held various positions. She worked as an organist and cantor and also served as prioress of the religious house on several occasions. In 1984, she received the prestigious ‘Righteous Among the Nations’ award from the Yad Vashem memorial centre for her commitment. This honour is awarded to those who risked their lives, their freedom and the loss of their jobs to help Jews during the Holocaust.
Sister Cecylia Maria Roszak was considered the oldest nun in the world at the time, until she died at the age of 110. She remained a true activist into old age. Her services, which she carried out until the end, included a life of sacrificial prayer and visiting and comforting her sick fellow nuns. She cherishes her personal treasures to the end of her days: a medal from Israel and a small crucifix of Abba Kovner. When Sister Cecylia was asked one day about the secret of her longevity, she replied that one should pray and learn languages. The courageous nun died at a ripe old age in the Dominican convent in Krakow on 16 November 2018.
Comments