Maria Karłowska (4 September 1865 – 24 March 1935) – in religious Maria of Jesus Crucified – was a

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professed religious and the founder of the Sisters of the Divine Shepherd of Divine Providence. Karłowska worked with poor and abandoned people with an emphasis on girls and also tried to aid prostitutes avoid such a life and build another kind of life so used her order to reach out to such people to render assistance. Her beatification cause culminated in

Pope John Paul II Pope John Paul II (born Karol Józef Wojtyła; 18 May 19202 April 2005) was head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 16 October 1978 until Death and funeral of Pope John Paul II, his death in 2005. In his you ...

presiding over her beatification on 6 June 1997 while on his apostolic visitation to Poland.

Life

Maria Karłowska was born on 4 September 1865 in

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It extends from the Baltic Sea in the north to the Sudetes and Carpathian Mountains in the south, bordered by Lithuania and Russia to the northeast, Belarus and Ukrai ...

as the eleventh child to Mateusz Karłowska and Eugenia Dembińska; she was

baptized Baptism (from ) is a Christian sacrament of initiation almost invariably with the use of water. It may be performed by sprinkling or pouring water on the head, or by immersing in water either partially or completely, traditionally three ...

that same month and her godmother was Wanda. She made her

First Communion First Communion is a ceremony in some Christian traditions during which a person of the church first receives the Eucharist. It is most common in many parts of the Latin tradition of the Catholic Church, Lutheran Church and Anglican Communion (ot ...

in 1875 and in 1882 made a private vow – with the permission of her confessor – to remain chaste. Her parents both died in 1882 within the striking space of two months leaving her orphaned and alone. Her paternal cousin Stanisław Karłowski was a

Discalced Carmelite The Discalced Carmelites, known officially as the Order of the Discalced Brothers of the Blessed Virgin Mary of Mount Carmel () or the Order of Discalced Carmelites (; abbrev.: OCD; sometimes called in earlier times, ), is a Catholic mendicant ...

priest A priest is a religious leader authorized to perform the sacred rituals of a religion, especially as a mediatory agent between humans and one or more deity, deities. They also have the authority or power to administer religious rites; in parti ...

. A second cousin was the artist Stanisława de Karłowska. Karłowska became an apprentice seamstress in

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and started to collaborate with her elder sister as well as ill people in the area even after she had returned to Poland. In November 1892 she met a poor girl named Franke and this encounter inspired her to aid the neglected and abandoned after hearing her talk about her life. The nun fostered an intense devotion to the

Sacred Heart The Most Sacred Heart of Jesus () is one of the most widely practised and well-known Catholic devotions, wherein the heart of Jesus Christ is viewed as a symbol of "God's boundless and passionate love for mankind". This devotion to Christ is p ...

. Her religious congregation was established on 8 September 1896 and she – as well as several others – made her solemn profession as a

nun A nun is a woman who vows to dedicate her life to religious service and contemplation, typically living under vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience in the enclosure of a monastery or convent.''The Oxford English Dictionary'', vol. X, page 5 ...

on 20 June 1902; she served as the Superior General from the founding until her death. Her order received diocesan approval on 13 April 1909. She received the Cross of Merit for her work in 1928. Karłowska died on 24 March 1935 after being ill for some time and her remains were interred in the order's motherhouse after her funeral on 28 March; her remains were relocated on 31 August 1935. Her order received the decree of praise from

Pope Paul VI Pope Paul VI (born Giovanni Battista Enrico Antonio Maria Montini; 26 September 18976 August 1978) was head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 21 June 1963 until his death on 6 August 1978. Succeeding John XXII ...

on 24 May 1967. In 2005 there were 221 religious in 24 places across Poland and

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Beatification

The beatification process opened under Pope Paul VI on 17 March 1965 and she became titled as a

Servant of God Servant of God () is a title used in the Catholic Church to indicate that an individual is on the first step toward possible canonization as a saint. Terminology The expression ''Servant of God'' appears nine times in the Bible, the first five in ...

while the informative process commenced from 17 March 1965 until October 1982 in

Toruń Toruń is a city on the Vistula River in north-central Poland and a World Heritage Sites of Poland, UNESCO World Heritage Site. Its population was 196,935 as of December 2021. Previously, it was the capital of the Toruń Voivodeship (1975–199 ...

; the

Congregation for the Causes of Saints In the Catholic Church, the Dicastery for the Causes of Saints, previously named the Congregation for the Causes of Saints (), is the dicastery of the Roman Curia that oversees the complex process that leads to the canonization of saints, passi ...

validated the process on 27 March 1987 and then received the

Positio A ''positio'' (short for the Latin ''positio super virtutibus'': "position on the virtues") is a document or collection of documents used in the process by which a Catholic person is declared Venerable, the second of four steps on the path to can ...

in 1991. Theologians approved the dossier on 20 December 1994 as did the C.C.S. on 25 April 1995 before

confirmed her

heroic virtue Heroic virtue is the translation of a phrase coined by Augustine of Hippo to describe the virtue of early Christian martyrs. The phrase is used by the Roman Catholic Church. The Greek pagan term hero described a person with possibly superhuman a ...

and named her as

Venerable ''The Venerable'' often shortened to Venerable is a style, title, or epithet used in some Christianity, Christian churches. The title is often accorded to holy persons for their spiritual perfection and wisdom. Catholic In the Catholic Churc ...

on 11 July 1995. The miracle for beatification was investigated and then received C.C.S. validation on 6 October 1995 before a medical board approved it on 27 June 1996. Theologians approved it on 6 December 1996 as did the C.C.S. on 25 February 1997; John Paul II approved this miracle on 8 April 1997 and beatified her two months later on 6 June while on his apostolic visit to Poland.

References

External links

Hagiography Circle

Saints SQPN
{{DEFAULTSORT:Karłowska, Maria 1865 births 1935 deaths 19th-century venerated Christians 20th-century venerated Christians 20th-century Polish Roman Catholic nuns Beatifications by Pope John Paul II Founders of Catholic religious communities Polish beatified people 19th-century Polish Roman Catholic nuns Venerated Catholics by Pope John Paul II