Maria Collino FMA The power of a life-giving seed Laura Meozzi Mateczka Institute of the Daughters of Mary Help of Christians – Rome 1 The power of a life-giving seed Laura Meozzi Mateczka Translated by the FMA English Translation Group (ETG) from the original La forza dirompente di un seme di vita: Laura Meozzi Mateczka by Maria Collino FMA Private circulation – Roma, Istituto FMA 2016 Printed at Chummy Printers, Vellore, Tamil Nadu, India. 2 I cannot abandon these dear Sisters. Perhaps I will not have bread to give them, but until my tongue is torn out, I will always have a good word of comfort for them. Mother Laura 3 4 Contents Presentation ..................................................................................... 8 Introduction to the English language edition ................................ 12 Style and mechanics of the English translation ..................... 13 Chapter One ITALY: PREPARATION FOR A GREAT CALL ...................... 15 Family: a safe nest and a place of integral growth .................... 15 Tabernacle, books, and a little white pony ............................... 18 An insistent voice in her heart .................................................. 24 A journey into mystery ............................................................. 29 The intense life at Nizza Monferrato ........................................ 34 Apostolic ministry in Italy ........................................................ 39 A precious mission as animator ................................................ 50 Sr. Laura, “A Sicilian woman” ................................................. 58 Chapter Two POLAND: THE POWER OF A SEED IN A FRUITFUL FIELD 63 Don Bosco‟s fingerprint in Poland ........................................... 63 The Hill of Roses – perfumed roses among sharp thorns ......... 67 Children: Lives stunted by suffering......................................... 78 Good Christians and honest citizens ......................................... 89 A new living cell ....................................................................... 95 Relaxing times in the fresh air .................................................. 99 ...and difficult days of sorrow ................................................. 105 Stories of courageous women ................................................. 108 The intense fervour of a growing harvest ............................... 115 5 Novitiate: the field of the future.............................................. 118 A strong, growing presence .................................................... 123 A thousand roofs… a single home .......................................... 129 Life as an unrepeatable story .................................................. 135 Empty pockets, but a heart of gold ......................................... 140 Formation as daily bread ......................................................... 144 Chapter Three THE PROVINCE IS BORN ....................................................... 159 In the name of the Virgin Mary .............................................. 159 The devil‟s tail?....................................................................... 164 Deep, bright brush-stokes of suffering.................................... 169 A little hospital ........................................................................ 183 Stories ..................................................................................... 187 Zofia Sowińska: a heart of gold in a volcano ......................... 192 Dynamics of everyday life ...................................................... 195 Geographical expansion .......................................................... 200 A time of light before descending into darkness .................... 203 Chapter Four THE LIFE-EATING MONSTER ........................................... 206 The beginnings of the great destruction .................................. 206 Warnings of a dark future ....................................................... 212 A chronicle of blood and tears ................................................ 217 Krynica: a refuge illumined by hope ...................................... 223 Chapter Five A TURN FOR THE WORSE ..................................................... 228 Humans treated like trash........................................................ 228 6 The strength of love built on suffering ................................... 230 The forced diaspora: abandonment to God‟s Providence ....... 233 FMA prisoners ........................................................................ 238 1943-1945: one enormous freezing winter ............................. 243 Long trains travelling toward hope ......................................... 249 Magnificent castles and bloodstained villas ........................... 254 Chapter Six PEACE, BUT WHAT KIND OF PEACE? ................................ 261 Beginnings of a new found life ............................................... 261 New foundations ..................................................................... 265 Voices of profound humanity ................................................. 272 An insidious persecution ......................................................... 279 The painful story of Sr. Zofia Sowińska ................................. 284 Chapter Seven TOWARD ETERNAL LIFE ...................................................... 288 The slow, painful decline ........................................................ 288 Communication that sustains life ............................................ 290 Passing of the baton ................................................................ 294 Toward the light and shadow of the Cross.............................. 299 Three hundred sixty-five days: the steep climb ...................... 303 On Calvary with the Lord ....................................................... 306 “She was a Saint” .................................................................... 315 SOURCES................................................................................... 322 7 Presentation This biography, written in fidelity to the sources and with the immediacy of Maria Collino‟s style, brings the figure of Laura Meozzi to life with freshness and originality. The writer takes the readers into the adventurous life of this great Daughter of Mary Help of Christians, thus allowing them to enter with sensitivity and participation into the furrows of a dramatic story: that of the history of Europe in the period following World War I, the events of World War II, so terrible and devastating for Poland, and the difficult years of the post-war period. It was a history written with the blood of women and men of valour, but also characterised by an ordinary life marked by the sacrifice and love of so many people who, in dark and complex times, believed in the light of the future. Laura Meozzi was one of them. A native of Florence from a family of noble origins, she was fascinated by the Salesian vocation. She left a life of comfort to become an FMA to dedicate herself to the education of the poorest young people. Her „yes‟ to God in the Institute of the Daughters of Mary Help of Christians led her to spend her life in various parts of Italy, as far as Sicily, in the footsteps of Maddalena Morano another great FMA educator. Later, when she was no longer young, Laura was sent as a pioneer to Poland. It is thanks to her that the Salesian charism, in its feminine version, took root in that beloved land. Vocations to the Salesian religious life flourished. A large group of young women was sent to Italy every year for their time of novitiate. This sending of candidates to the centre of the Institute continued even after the novitiate in Poland was opened. Contact with the origins and learning the language of the founders were key to the knowledge of the Institute's sources. In Poland, promising young women were asking to become part of the FMA religious family. They were well-prepared and willing to share a 8 life full of sacrifices, but one that was authentic and filled with values and, therefore, captivating. Laura Meozzi was placed in charge of all FMA communities and works in Poland. Education, especially of girls and poor children, was the privileged setting for her educational mission. Foundations increased, and the number of Polish Sisters multiplied in a prodigious way. The rampant German occupation and Soviet control, with their consequent religious restrictions, forced them to hide their identity as consecrated persons and, in some cases, led to their being sent to hard labour. However, the feeling of being in communion, knowing that they were loved by Mother Laura, Mateczka or „little mother‟, as she was affectionately called, enabled them to continue to live with joy in their hearts, and to hope that one day they would be able to express their identity in the light of day. Mother Laura felt the exile of the heart, and even more so that of her Sisters. She suffered the pain of not being close to comfort and encourage them, to share their experiences of pain, hardship, oppression, and dispersion. She suffered from the lack of news, especially of those FMA who had been deported to Siberia, but she did not become discouraged. She set out to find every possible way to maintain the thread of communion that continued to be vital even in the most acute oppression. The FMA lost houses and works almost everywhere, but not hope, nor their sense of belonging and loyalty. At the end of the war, they