By Larry Peterson
*An edited version of this article appeared in Aleteia on April 12, 2016.
Just imagine being arrested
on Ash Wednesday for the crime of “hanging Crucifixes”. I cannot imagine how I would
handle it. Maybe I would have taken the Crucifixes down. Honestly, I do not
know. Helena Kafka, who became known as Sister Maria Restituta, refused. She
was sentenced to death. The following year, on Tuesday of Holy Week, she was executed .
May 1, 1894, was a
happy day for Anton and Marie Kafka. Marie had just given birth to her
sixth child and mom and her daughter were both doing fine. The proud parents
named their new baby girl, Helena. Devout Catholics, Anton and Marie had Helena
baptized into the faith only thirteen days after her birth.
The ceremony took place
in The Church of the Assumption, in the town of Husovice, located in Austria.
Before Helena reached her second birthday, the family had to move and
settled in the city of Vienna. This is where Helena and her siblings
would remain and grow up.
Helena was a good
student and worked hard. She received her First Holy Communion in St. Brigitta
Church during May of 1905 and was confirmed in the same church a year later.
After eight years of school she spent another year in housekeeping school and,
by the age of 15, was working as a servant, a cook and being trained as a
nurse.
In 1913, she became an
assistant nurse at Lainz City Hospital. This was Helena's first contact with
the Franciscan Sisters of Christian Charity and she was immediately moved to
become a Sister herself. On April 25, 1914, Helena Kafka joined the
Franciscan sisters and on October 23, 1915, became Sister Maria Restituta. She
made her final vows one year later and began working solely as a nurse.
When World War I ended Sister Maria was the lead surgical nurse at Modling Hospital in Vienna. She and all other Austrians had never heard of Adolf Hitler and could never have imagined that one day, because of this man, their beloved nation would be annexed into the German Republic.
When World War I ended Sister Maria was the lead surgical nurse at Modling Hospital in Vienna. She and all other Austrians had never heard of Adolf Hitler and could never have imagined that one day, because of this man, their beloved nation would be annexed into the German Republic.
 |
| Blessed Maria Restituta |
On March 12, 1938,
the Austrian Nazi Party pulled off a successful coup d'etat taking control of
the government. These unforeseen and unimagined things had come to pass. The
Nazis, under Hitler, now controlled the once proud Austrian nation.
Sister Restituta was
very outspoken in her opposition to the Nazi regime. When a new wing to the
hospital was built she hung a Crucifix in each of the new bedrooms. The Nazis
demanded that they be removed. Sister Restituta was told she would be dismissed
if she did not comply. She refused and the crucifixes remained hanging on the
walls.
One of the doctors on
staff, a fanatical Nazi, would have none of it. He denounced her to the Nazi
Party and on Ash Wednesday, 1942, she was arrested by the Gestapo after coming
out of the operating room. The "charges" against her included, "hanging crucifixes and writing a poem that
mocked Hitler”.
Sister Maria Restituta,
the former Helena Kafka, loved her Catholic faith and, filled with the Spirit,
wanted to do nothing more than serve the sick. The Nazis promptly sentenced her
to death by the guillotine for "favouring the enemy and conspiracy to
commit high treason". The Nazis offered her freedom if she would
abandon the Franciscans she loved so much. She adamantly refused. She
would be the only Catholic nun ever sentenced to death by the Nazis.
An appeal for clemency
went as far as the desk of Hitler's personal secretary and Nazi Party
Chancellor, Martin Bormann. His response was that her execution "would
provide effective intimidation for others who might want to resist the
Nazis". Sister Maria Restituta spent her final days in prison caring
for the sick. Because of her love for the Crucifix and the Person who was
nailed to it and died on it, she was beheaded on March 30, 1943 which also
happened to be Tuesday of Holy Week. She was 48 years old.
Pope John Paul II visited Vienna on June 21,1998. That was the day Helena Kafka, the girl
who originally went to housekeeping school to learn how to be a servant, was
beatified by the Pope and declared Blessed Maria Restituta. She had
learned how to serve extremely well. But the one she served best of all was her Savior. She gave Him her life.
Blessed Marie Restituta,
please pray for us.
©LarryPeterson 2016
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