Bienheureuse Marie-Anne Biernacka
Martyre en Pologne (+1943)
Béatifiée le 13 juin 1999 à Varsovie par Jean-Paul II.
Martyrologe romain
SOURCE : https://nominis.cef.fr/contenus/saint/11819/Bienheureuse-Marie-Anne-Biernacka.html
Bienheureuse Mariana Biernacka
Mère de famille et Martyre
(1888-1943)
Marie-Anne Biernacka, du diocèse de Lomza en Pologne, naît à Lipsk en 1888, au sein d’une famille Chrétienne Orthodoxe.
À l’âge de 17 ans, en 1915, en même temps que le reste de sa famille, elle devînt Catholique de rite latin.
Quand elle eut 20 ans, elle épousa, selon le rite Catholique, Ludwik Biernacki et de leur union naquirent six enfants.
Après le décès de son mari, elle alla vivre chez son fils Stanisław, vivant en harmonie avec sa brou, partageant avec eux son expérience et démontrant à chaque instant une grande sagesse Chrétienne et un amour fraternel sans faille, ainsi qu’à leurs enfants, ses petits-enfants.
Parmi les gens de son village, elle était connue par sa bonté et sa profonde vie religieuse.
Quand, le 1er Juillet 1943, eut lieu une rafle de représailles organisée par les autorités allemandes, on procéda à de nombreuses arrestations et, sa belle-fille était du nombre.
Alors Mariana démontra une fois encore son amour et son courage : elle se proposa de remplacer sa belle-fille, qui était alors enceinte, afin de sauver les deux.
Ce fut là une grande preuve d’amour donnée par une dame de 55 ans qui imitait ainsi >>> Saint Maximilien-Marie Kolbe (1894-1941), Prêtre Franciscain tué au camp de Auschwitz.
L’échange fut accepté et l’innocente victime fut arrêtée et ensuite conduite à Naumowicz, près de Grodno (actuellement en Biélorussie), où elle fut fusillée le 13 Juillet 1943.
Le 13 Juin 1999, au cours de son plus long voyage en Pologne (5-17 Juin), Saint Jean Paul II a Béatifié, à Varsovie, 108 Martyrs polonais, victimes de la barbare persécution nazie, menée pendant l’occupation allemande de 1939 à 1945.
Le groupe est composé de :
- 3 Évêques,
- 52 Prêtres diocésains,
- 3 séminaristes,
- 26 Prêtres Religieux,
- 7 Frères profès,
- 8 Religieuses et
- 9 laïcs (dont Marie-Anne Biernacka).
Ils subirent des tortures, mauvais traitements, vexations et presque tous finirent leurs jours dans les camps de concentration tristement célèbres de Dachau, Auschwitz, Sutthof, Ravensbrück, Sachsenhausen.
Ils furent victimes, selon les cas, de la chambre à
gaz, de la décapitation, et d’autres encore furent fusillés ou massacrés à
coups de botte par les gardiens des camps.
Bienheureuse Marianne Biernacka
L' Eglise se souvient aujourd' hui d' une humble chrétienne qui échangea le sort de sa belle-fille, condamnée à être fusillée par les nazis, contre sa propre vie.
Marianne Czokalo, née en 1888 à Lipsk dans une famille chrétienne orthodoxe devenue catholique en 1905, se maria à vingt ans avec Louis ( Ludwik ) Biernacki et eut deux enfants ( d' autres moururent avant terme ), Léocadie et Stanislas.
Devenue veuve, elle habita chez son fils et sa belle-fille, s' occupa de leur foyer et mena une vie de simple grand-mère, heureuse et profondément chrétienne.
Lorsqu' eut lieu un attentat contre les Allemands à Lipsk, la Gestapo le 1er juin 1943 arrêta en représailles un certain nombre d' otages civils, et parmi eux Anna, la jeune mère de famille épouse de Stanislas Biernacki et enceinte.
Marianne s' offrit donc en sacrifice pour laisser la vie sauve à Anna et à l' enfant à naître.
L' échange fut accepté et la grand-mère, la bienheureuse Marianne Biernacka, fut conduite en prison avec 49 autres otages et fusillée le 13 juin 1943 à Naumowicz, aujourd' hui en Biélorussie, près de Grodno. Elle n' avait demandé qu' une chose : garder son rosaire devant le peloton d' exécution...
Elle fut béatifiée en 1999 par Jean-Paul II.
" Qui perd sa propre vie pour Moi, la sauve. "
SOURCE : http://ut-pupillam-oculi.over-blog.com/article-10860616.html
Une grand-mère héroïque
Sa vie pour l’enfant à naître
JUIN 13, 2013 00:00ANITA BOURDINÉCRITURE SAINTE, THÉOLOGIE
Le martyrologe romain fait aujourd’hui mémoire d’une
grand-mère héroïque, qui a sauvé la vie d’un enfant à naître, la bienheureuse
martyre Marie-Anne Biernacka (1888-1943).
Marie-Anne avait reçu le baptême dans l’Eglise
orthodoxe, et donc ensemble les trois sacrments de l’initiation chrétienne. Sa
famille, qui habitait dans la région polonaise de Lomza, embrassa
cependant l’Eglise catholique en 1905.
A vingt ans, elle épousa Louis Biernacki, un
catholique. Ils eurent six enfants. Après la mort de son mari, elle vécut avec
son fils Stanislas et sa femme, Anne. Elle était connue pour sa bienveillance,
son dévouement et sa profonde piété.
Le 1er juin 1943, l’occupant nazi lança, en
représailles contre la population de Lipsk, des arrestations massives.
Stanislas et sa femme figuraient sur la liste des personnes à arrêter.
Marie-Anne Biernacka s’offrit spontanément à la police à la place de sa
belle-fille, alors enceinte, pour sauver la jeune maman et l’enfant.
Les otages furent incarcérés à la prison de
Grodno. Marie-Anne portait comme seul trésor son chapelet. Le 13 juin
1943, elle fut passée par les armes à Naumowicze, près de Grodno,
actuellement en Biélorussie, sans autre forme de procès.
Elle a été béatifiée comme martyre par Jean-Paul II à
Varsovie, le 13 juin 1999.
JUIN 13, 2013 00:00ÉCRITURE SAINTE, THÉOLOGIE
About Anita Bourdin
Journaliste accréditée au Vatican depuis 1995. A lancé
Zenit en français en janvier 1999. Correspondante à Rome de Radio Espérance.
Formation: journalisme (Bruxelles), théologie biblique (Rome), lettres
classiques (Paris).
SOURCE : https://fr.zenit.org/articles/une-grand-mere-heroique/
Also
known as
Marianna Czokala
12 June as
one of the 108
Martyrs of World War II
Profile
Lifelong lay woman in
the diocese of Lomza, Poland.
She had little education;
she may have been able to read a little, but she could not write. Raised in the
Orthodox church, she converted to Catholicism at
age 17. Married to
Ludwik Biernacki, a farmer,
at age 20. Mother of six,
only two of whom survived infancy, her daughter Leokadia, and her son
Stanislaw. Widowed,
she moved in with Stanislaw and helped raise her grandchildren, in part by
setting an example of personal piety.
When the Nazis and Soviets divided Poland between
them in World War II, Marianne’s town came under German control.
When local resistance groups did anything to fight back against occupying
forces, the Nazis would
have reprisal executions, rounding up random citizens and killing them as a
warning to the resistence. On 1 June 1943 the
Nazis arrested Marianna’s
son Stanislaw and his wife Anna, who was pregnant,
and put them in the group to be murdered. Marianna pleaded to take the girl’s
place, and Anna was freed; Marianna asked to take one thing with her – a
rosary. The mother and
son were briefly imprisoned and
then executed. Martyr.
Born
1888 in
Lipsk, Podlaskie, Poland as Marianna
Czokala
shot by
firing squad on 13 June 1943 in
Naumovichi (a.k.a. Naumowicze), Hrodzyenskaya voblasts’, Belarus
26 March 1999 by Pope John
Paul II (decree of martyrdom)
13 June 1999 by Pope John
Paul II
Additional
Information
other
sites in english
sitios
en español
Martirologio Romano, 2001 edición
fonti
in italiano
Martirologio Romano, 2005 edition
strony
w jezyku polskim
MLA
Citation
“Blessed Marianna
Biernacka“. CatholicSaints.Info. 13 August 2022. Web. 13 June 2023.
<https://catholicsaints.info/blessed-marianna-biernacka/>
SOURCE : https://catholicsaints.info/blessed-marianna-biernacka/
"I Will Go for
Her." The Amazing Story of A Polish Martyr
Blessed Marianna
Biernacka is described in many reports as leading a "simple" life.
But it's my experience that there are really no simple lives. Marianna knew
heartbreak. She knew fear. She knew backbreaking work. She knew loss. And she
knew God's love.
Marianna was born in
1888. At the age of twenty she married a local man, Louis Biernacki. Together,
they had six children, four of whom died shortly after birth. The only source
of survival for the family was their family farm.
After the death of Louis
in 1929, Marianna lived with her son Stanislaw. Stanislav eventually married a
young woman, Anna Szymczyk, and they all lived together. Prayer and song were a
large part of their lives. Soon after the couple were married, the two had a
daughter.
Bishop Jerzy Mazur,
bishop of Elk, said on the occasion of the 70th anniversary of the death of Bl.
Marianna Biernacka that "Staring at her ordinary life, we see that it was
imbued with faith, love, prayer, work and suffering. Each day began with prayer
and common singing Hours. Everyday life was filled with a difficult job in
summer in a field, and in winter, spun flax and hemp and weaving on a loom.
Recitation of the Rosary prayer and devotional singing songs allowed the
dignity to endure the pain of bereavement, hard work and daily poverty."
In 1939, the Nazis
invaded Poland. To understand, the Nazi occupation of Poland is to label it as
one of the worst and most brutal genocides in the history of the world. Adolf
Hitler himself is reported to have authorized his commanders to kill “without
pity or mercy, all men, women, and children of Polish decent or language."
When a German soldier was killed by any resistance, the Gestapo made it a
practice to round up a large number of Polish civilians randomly and kill them
in retaliation. It was just such an incident that brought the Nazis to the door
of Marianna Biernacka.
In July of 1943, the
Nazis arrested many people in and around the city of Lipsk as retribution for a
German killed by the resistance. Randomly, Stanislaw Biernacka, along with his
pregnant wife Anna, were selected to be killed. Nobody believed they had
anything to do with the resistance but they were to be killed for events
outside of their control. When the armed soldiers came to arrest them,
Stanislaw’s mother, Marianna, reportedly dropped to her knees and begged the
Nazis to take her instead of Anna.
"She is already in
the last weeks of her pregnancy," she pleaded. "I will go for
her." Her daughter-in-law begged her not to make this sacrifice but
Marianna insisted, reportedly saying “You are young, you must live.” As the
Nazis didn't particularly care who they killed as they were simply filling a
quota so they took Marianna and her son instead of the pregnant Anna.
The Nazis took Marianna
and her son to the prison in Grodno. While in the prison, she only requested a
pillow and a rosary. After two weeks in prison in which she spent much of her
time praying, Marianna was shot and killed on July 13, 1943 in Naumowicze along
with her son. Their bodies were thrown into a common grave.
Around that time, Anna
gave birth to a son. She named his Stanislaw.
On 13 June 1999, Marianna
was beatified and recognized as a martyr, along with 107 other victims, by Pope
John Paul II. The liturgical feast day of the 108 Martyrs of World War II is
June 12.
Sadly, the child,
Stanislaw, only lived for about a year, according to reports. Anna's daughter,
Eugenia, still lives in the family home, according to some Polish websites. She
said that her mother, Anna, would often say that she had been given life twice.
Once by her own mother and then from her mother-in-law.
Below is a video I
believe features Anna herself. I, of course, do not know Polish. But another
website had a picture of Anna and it was the same woman so I believe I'm right.
It's in Polish and throughout much of the video she is singing a song. It's
quite beautiful. If any of you know Polish I'd be grateful for information
about what's she's saying and singing or if it is in fact Anna.
Blessed Marianna
Biernacka
Offered herself to save
her Daughter-in-Law and unborn grandchild.
Wife, Mother, and Martyr
(1888-1943)
Her life
+ Marianna Czokala was
born in Lipsk, Poland. Because she received little formal education, she was
functionally illiterate, reading only a little, and she could not write.
+ Raised in the Orthodox
Faith, she converted to Catholicism at the age of 17.
+ At the age of 20, she
married Ludwik Biernacki. The couple would have six children, only two of whom
survived infancy.
+ After the death of her
husband, she moved in with her son, Stanislaw, to help raise her grandchildren.
+ When the Nazis and
Soviets divided Poland during World War II, Marianna’s town came under German
control. Because of resistance fighting, the Nazis initiated a series of
reprisal executions, choosing random citizens for death.
+ On June 1, 1943, the
Nazis arrested Marianna’s son and his pregnant wife, Anna, and included them
among those to be killed. Marianna pleaded to be able to take her
daughter-in-law’s place and Anna was freed. Marianna asked only that she be
allowed to keep her rosary.
+ Blessed Marianna
Biernacki was shot to death on June 13, 1943, in Naumovichi, Belarus. She was
Beatified in 107 other Polish Martyrs of World War II in 1999.
Spiritual bonus
On this day the Church
also remembers Saint Onuphrius (also known as Humphrey), who lived as a hermit
in the deserts of Egypt for more than 70 years. Seeking to imitate the prayer
and sacrifice of Saint John the Baptist, he was honored for his wisdom and
ascetical spirit. Saint Onuphrius died around the year 400.
For reflection
“No one has greater love
than this, to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.”—John 15:13
Prayer
O God, by whose gift
strength is made perfect in weakness, grant to all who honor the glory of
blessed Marianna that she, who drew from you the strength to triumph, may
likewise always obtain from you the grace of victory for us. Through our Lord
Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy
Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
(from The Roman
Missal: Common of Martyrs—For a Holy Woman-Martyr)
Saint profiles prepared
by Brother Silas Henderson, S.D.S.
SOURCE : https://aleteia.org/daily-prayer/tuesday-june-12/
The Grandma Martyr of
Poland, Marianna Biernacka
Larry
Peterson | Feb 24, 2017
She died defending family
and the unborn
On June 13, 1999, Pope
John Paul II beatified the people known as the 108
Polish Martyrs. These Catholic heroes were all murdered by the Nazis
because of their faith. Here is the story of one of them, a grandmother,
Marianna Biernacka, who willingly traded her life for those of her
daughter-in-law and grandchild.
Even though there is no
documentation, it is thought that Marianna was born in the little Polish
village of Czokalo in 1888. She had little education and could barely read or
write. It is known that at the age of 20, she married Ludwig Biernacka, who was
a farmer. They had four children, two of whom died in infancy. Their son
Stanislaw and their daughter Leokadia survived.
When Leokadia grew up she
married and moved away with her husband. Stanislaw remained on the farm to
help his dad. He met and married a girl named Anna, who also was a farm girl.
The family worked hard, prayed hard, and lived their lives using their Catholic
faith as their guiding light.
On September I,
1939, Adolf
Hitler’s army marched into Poland on three different fronts,
destroying everything in its path. Hitler’s orders were to “kill without pity
or mercy, all men, women and children of Polish descent and language.” The
soldiers followed their Fuhrer’s orders famously. World War II had begun.
During the ensuing month
a reign of terror swept over Poland. All Poles, Jews and non-Jews alike, were
stripped of all their rights and subjected to the makeshift, heinous laws
as put in place by the Nazis. Churches and religious places were burned to
the ground as were bookstores and libraries.
Polish men were
conscripted into the German army and the Polish language was forbidden.
Rationing allowed for the most meager amounts of food and priests were rounded
up and sent off to concentration camps. Schools and colleges were closed and
community leaders were publicly executed in the streets. Hell had come to
Poland.
The Biernacka family was
never politically motivated or involved with anti-government activities.
Imagine their shock when Nazi troops came banging on their door one morning
early in July of 1943. They were there to arrest Stanislaw and Anna in
retribution for the death of a German soldier by the resistance movement. Anna
was eight months pregnant at the time. She and Stanislaw also had a toddler
names Genia.
Grandma Marianna quickly
stepped in front of Stanislaw and Anna and fell to her knees. She pleaded with
the soldiers to take her instead of Anna. She asked them to take pity on the
unborn child and the 2-year-old. The soldiers did not care. As long as they met
their quota of 10 to one for the slain soldier it was of no consequence to them
who died. They left Anna behind and took Marianna and her son off to prison.
Marianna and Stanislaw
remained in prison for about two weeks. Marianna, always devout and faithful,
asked for only one thing, a rosary. They let her have one. On July 13, 1943,
mother and son were taken to the town of Naumovich in Belarus and, while
Marianna prayed the rosary, they were shot to death.
Blessed
Marianna Biernacka and the other 107 Polish Martyrs are honored by the
Church on June 12. The group includes three bishops, 52 priests, 26 male
religious, eight women religious, and nine lay people. It is estimated that of
the 11 million Holocaust victims of World War II, 3 million were Polish
Catholics and Christians.
Blessed Marianna
Biernacka, pray for us.
SOURCE : https://aleteia.org/2017/02/24/the-grandma-martyr-of-poland-marianna-biernacka/
Memorial Marianna Biernacka, Lipsk
Beata Marianna Biernacka Martire
>>>
Visualizza la Scheda del Gruppo cui appartiene
Lipsk, 1888 - Niemowicze,
Grodno (Polonia), 13 luglio 1943
Nel giorno della festa di
sant'Antonio da Padova, figura tra le più care alla devozione cristiana, il
calendario liturgico cita anche una figura del nostro tempo. Si tratta di
Marianna Biernacka (1888-1943), una dei 108 martiri polacchi del nazismo che
Giovanni Paolo II ha beatificato il 13 giugno 1999, durante uno dei suoi viaggi
in Polonia. La sua è una vicenda che proprio la recente tappa di Benedetto XVI
ad Auschwitz-Birkenau ha riportato d'attualità. La storia di questa donna,
infatti, è molto simile a quella del francescano Massimiliano Kolbe, anche lui
canonizzato da Wojtila. A Naumowicze, presso Grodno, questa vedova nata
ortodossa e passata poi al cattolicesimo all'età di 17 anni, si offrì al
plotone di esecuzione tedesco per essere fucilata al posto di sua nuora, che
era incinta. Con questo gesto d'amore la cinquantacinquenne Marianna salvò così
due vite dalla barbarie della guerra. Marianna Biernacka è la figura di spicco
tra i nove laici compresi nell'elenco di questi martiri. (Avvenire)
Emblema: Palma
Martirologio
Romano: Nella cittadina di Naumowicze vicino a Grodno in Polonia, beata
Marianna Biernacka, madre di famiglia e martire, che, durante la guerra, in
regime di occupazione, si offrì spontaneamente ai soldati al posto di sua nuora
incinta e, fucilata sul posto, ricevette la palma gloriosa del martirio.
Papa Giovanni Paolo II,
ha proclamati beati il 13 giugno 1999 a Varsavia, durante il suo settimo
viaggio apostolico in Polonia, 108 martiri vittime della persecuzione contro la
Chiesa polacca, scaturita durante l’occupazione tedesca dal 1939 al 1945.
L’odio razziale operato
dal nazismo, provocò più di cinque milioni di vittime tra la popolazione civile
polacca, fra cui molti religiosi, sacerdoti, vescovi e laici cattolici.
Fra i tanti si è potuto,
in base alle notizie raccolte ed alle testimonianze, istruire vari processi per
la beatificazione di 108 martiri, il primo processo fu aperto il 26 gennaio
1992 dal vescovo di Wloclaweck, dove il maggior numero delle vittime subì il
martirio; in questo processo confluirono poi altri e il numero dei Servi di
Dio, inizialmente di 92 arrivò man mano a 108.
Diamo qualche notizia
numerica di essi, non potendo riportare in questa scheda tutti i 108 nomi. Il
numeroso gruppo di martiri è composto da quattro gruppi principali, distinti
secondo gli stati di vita: vescovi, clero diocesano, famiglie religiose
maschili e femminili e laici; appartennero a 18 diocesi, all’Ordinariato
Militare e a 22 Famiglie religiose.
Tre sono vescovi, 52 sono
sacerdoti diocesani, 3 seminaristi, 26 sacerdoti religiosi, 7 fratelli
professi, 8 religiose, 9 laici. Subirono torture, maltrattamenti, imprigionati,
quasi tutti finirono i loro giorni nei campi di concentramento, tristemente
famosi di Dachau, Auschwitz, Sutthof, Ravensbrück, Sachsenhausen; subirono a
seconda dei casi, la camera a gas, la decapitazione, la fucilazione,
l’impiccagione o massacrati di botte dalle guardie dei campi.
Capogruppo dei 9 laici è
la beata Marianna Biernacka della diocesi di Lomza in Polonia, nacque nel 1888
a Lipsk, in una famiglia di cristiani ortodossi. A 17 anni nel 1905, insieme ai
suoi familiari, passò fra i cattolici di rito latino.
All’età di 20 anni si
sposò con il rito cattolico con Ludwik Biernacki; dal matrimonio nacquero sei
figli. Dopo la morte del marito coabitò con il figlio Stanislao e con sua
moglie, condividendo la sua vita con la giovane coppia, dimostrando saggezza
cristiana e amore fraterno verso di essi e i loro figli.
Tra la gente del suo
paese era conosciuta per la sua benevolenza e profonda religiosità. Quando
Lipsk il 1° luglio 1943, fu colpita da una rappresaglia tedesca e sconvolta da
arresti di massa, anche la giovane nuora incinta di un altro figlio fu
arrestata; allora si fece avanti Marianna e si propose al posto della nuora per
salvare lei e la vita del nascituro.
Fu un nobile slancio
d’amore di una semplice donna di 55 anni, che offrì la sua vita per altri, come
già fece s. Massimiliano Maria Kolbe (1894-1941) frate conventuale, nel campo
di Auschwitz.
Lo scambio fu accettato e
gli arrestati furono tradotti in carcere, da lì fu spostata a Naumowicz presso
Grodno (attualmente in Bielorussia) e fucilata il 13 luglio 1943.
E la Chiesa ha voluto
affiancare ai tanti suoi figli consacrati, vittime in Polonia della barbarie
nazista, anche questa umile donna, che a pari loro, riconoscendo Gesù nei
fratelli, mise in pratica il detto evangelico “Chi perderà la propria vita per
me, la salverà”.
Autore: Antonio
Borrelli
SOURCE : http://www.santiebeati.it/dettaglio/92076
Witold Hordiejuk-Zaniewicki. « Compte rendu. Marie Biernacka. Wsie drobnoszlacheckie na Mazowszu i Podlasiu » Revue des Études Slaves Année 1969 48-1-4 pp. 159-161 : https://www.persee.fr/doc/slave_0080-2557_1969_num_48_1_1992
Voir aussi : https://web.archive.org/web/20090723165046/http://www.mateusz.pl/jp99/108m.htm
