Ursuline Martyrs

Sister Maria Kajusa Trznadel and Sister Maria Akwila Podskarbi

Sister Maria Kajusa (Stefania) Trznadel, an Ursuline of the Roman Union, was born in 1910 in Kamień in the Diocese of Przemyśl. Sr. Maria Kajusa came from a large, pious farming family, the richest in the village. She had four siblings. Stefania's early childhood coincided with a difficult period during World War I when the village passed into Austrian and Russian hands. Sister Maria Akwila (Maria) Podskarbi, an Ursuline of the Roman Union, was born in 1909 in Gorzyce Wielkie (c.a. 100 km from Poznań). She came from a large, middle-class farming family and had eleven siblings. Her father, Andrzej Podskarbi, was known both as a good farmer and a quick-tempered person. He also dealt with trade. Read more

Blessed Ursuline Martyrs of Orange

During the troubles of the French Revolution, 29 Sisters, expelled from their convents, found refuge in a house at Bollène.  During their eighteen months there, they shared their life of prayer and total poverty.  Arrested in April 1794 because they refused to swear the oath required by the city officials, an oath their conscience condemned, they were jailed on May 2 at Orange, in the Rectory’s prison, near the Cathedral, where 13 other Sisters were already imprisoned. Read more

Blessed Ursuline Martyrs of Valenciennes

This community offers us a wonderful witness of their faith and fidelity. During the French Revolution it experienced particularly painful situations. It experienced the problems that were those of all religious communities at that time: suppression of religious communities, and their compulsory disappearance, confiscation of their property, presence of a Constitutional clergy, etc. These difficulties increased because they were established in a border area, suffering the moving tide of successive conquests during the war opposing France and Austria from 1792 on. In this tormented situation, the Ursulines of Valenciennes chose to live, up to their death, their faithfulness to their vocation and to the commitments they had made during their religious profession, and to keep their life in community, relying on the grace of God and the strength of their Ursuline spirituality, very much influenced by a sense of martyrdom. Read more

Sister Gabrielle Hadjú

Sr Gabrielle Hadjú was born on January 8, 1915 in Csíkmadaras, Transylvania, to a deeply Catholic Hungarian family. She was baptized the very next day. In 1917, the family moved to Targu Mures, a large town in Marosvásárhely, where she attended primary and secondary school. On September 20, 1933, she entered the Ursuline Order in Nagyvárad. Read more

Blessed Natalia Tułasiewicz

Natalia was born on 9th April 1906 in Rzeszów (south-eastern Poland) the second of six children of Adam and Natalia Amalia née Bromnik. Her father worked as a tax clerk, her mother took care of the house and children. They were brought up in a very loving and patriotic family. Natalia was small and physically frail, but had a lively intelligence and was very affectionate. Read more

Blessed Maria Klemensa Staszewska

Sister Maria Klemensa (Helena) Staszewska was born on 30 July 1890 in Złotczew near Kalisz in a family of many children, whose upbringing was imbued with a religious and patriotic spirit. This atmosphere and the values brought from their home are also evidenced by the fact that two of her sisters joined the Ursulines and died as sisters in a state of holiness (Sr. Gerarda and Sr. Andrzeja). Another sister, Irena, a lay person, was a valued teacher and catechist. Read more

Sister Dorothy Kazel

Dorothy Kazel was born on June 30, 1939 in Cleveland, Ohio. She joined the Ursuline Sisters of Cleveland in 1960 and was given the name Sister Laurentine, in honor of an Ursuline Sister martyred during the French Revolution. Between 1960 and 1965, she completed her bachelor’s degree and novitiate. Read more