A Polish Catholic nun to be beatified

The beatification mass, at the John Paul II Sanctuary, will be celebrated by the Pope’s envoy, Cardinal Angelo Amato, the Prefect of the Congregation for the Causes of Saints.

Ludwika Szczęsna (she took the name Klara, in honour of St Claire of Assisi, when she became a nun) was born in the Mazovia province in 1863, as the sixth of seven children in the family. She was 12 when her mother died.

At 17, she left her home to follow her religious calling, and worked as a seamstress in Mława for several years. She joined the Servants of Jesus in 1885 and was soon given the task of running a shelter for women in Kraków.

There, she met Józef Sebastian Pelczar (who was canonised in 2003), with whom she established, in 1894, a new religious congregation – the Sister Servants of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus.

With the motto “All for the Heart of Jesus”, it focused its activities on helping young women and the sick. At present, the congregation has around 500 nuns, 350 of whom work in Poland.

Sister Klara died in 1916, aged 53. Pope Benedict XVI approved that she lived a life of heroic virtue. On 5 June 2015, Pope Francis recognised a miracle that was found to have been attributed to her intercession. (mk/rg)