August 31, the day of the martyrdom of 34 of our sisters, is always a special date for us, and this year’s 80th anniversary of the event prompted us to commemorate it in a special way.
The morning Mass was celebrated for the fallen, and the afternoon commemoration began at 3 pm with Gregorian meditations on the martyrdom MAIOREM CARITATEM NEMO HABET – NO ONE HAS GREATER LOVE, performed by our Gregorian schola Vox Clamantis. The introduction was given by Father Dr. Jacek Wilinski, director of the Department of Canonization Affairs of the Archdiocese of Warsaw. Selected antiphons were interspersed with excerpts from the monastery chronicle from the time of the Uprising and texts taken from the spiritual diary of Sr. M. Ignacja Rejewska, one of the sisters who sacrificed her life.
At 4 p.m., at the time when 80 years ago the Germans bombed the church and monastery, numerous participants in the ceremony: members of the families of the fallen sisters and the parish communities from which they came, friends, acquaintances and those who are not indifferent to this death, went out in front of the church, where doves were symbolically released. For immediately after the bombing on August 31, 1944, news spread that a flock of white doves had flown from the rubble of the demolished church and monastery. Residents of Warsaw saw in them the souls of the benedictine nuns flying up to heaven.
Then there was a meeting within the framework of the SAKRAMENTKI’44 project, combined with the promotion of new publications: the Chronicle of the Warsaw Uprising and the Spiritual Diary of Sr. Maria Ignacja of the Lamb of God Rejewska OSBap. The meeting was conducted by Ms. Agnieszka Trzeciakiewicz of Polish Radio, and attended by Rev. Dr. Robert Ogrodnik, historian, and Sr. M. Józefina Kowalewska OSBap, author of the project.
After the meeting, there was still an opportunity to go down to the crypt and to meet sisters.
