By CAROLE BRESLIN
The Catholic Church observes the Church Unity Octave from January 18 through January 25. For each day of the octave, we pray for a different form of unity. For example, on January 18, the intention is for the return of separated Eastern Christians to communion with the Holy See. Another day the intention is for the restoration of lapsed Catholics to the sacramental life of the Church.
Both of these intentions formed the spiritual life and apostolic activity of Blessed Boleslava Maria Lament.
Boleslava was born on July 3, 1862 in Lowicz, Poland, to Martin Cyqamoska and Lucia Lament. She was the eldest of eight children. During this period of high infant mortality, Boleslava witnessed the deaths of Elena and Leocadia, her two younger sisters, and Martin, her younger brother. These losses left a permanent scar on her tender heart which may have been the cause of her future vocation.
Boleslava attended elementary and high school in Lowicz, but then left for Warsaw where she attended a school of arts and crafts. After she earned her certification as a seamstress, she returned to her hometown and opened a shop with one of her sisters. During this time she lived a deeply spiritual life.
It was not long before the quiet young lady decided to enter the Congregation of the Family of Mary in 1884. She did this secretly because of the widespread persecution of the Catholic Church led by the czar of Russia.
Throughout her novitiate she proved to be a serious, loyal, hardworking, and prayerful member of the congregation. When she professed her simple vows, she served them as a seamstress and educator throughout the Russian territories.
However, having spent nearly ten years with the Family of Mary, she experienced doubts about her true vocation and left the order in 1894. She returned to Lowicz intending to join a cloistered order but her confessor advised her to serve the homeless, which she did.
Even when her family moved to Warsaw, she went with them, once again opening a tailoring shop with her younger sister Mary. In addition, Boleslava helped the many homeless in the city, soon becoming the director for a homeless shelter. She quickly brought order to the establishment by her honesty, integrity, and ability to organize religious classes for the residents.
As she continued to serve the poor and sick of Warsaw, another epidemic of cholera swept through Poland. As she labored selflessly, nursing the sick, encouraging the homeless, and preparing people to receive the sacraments, her father decided to flee Warsaw’s contaminated streets for the sake of his family’s well-being.
She was disappointed that Stefano, her 13 year old brother who was preparing for the seminary, was also going to leave with the family. With her family gone, Boleslava joined the Third Order Franciscans. This led her to Fr. Onorato Kozminski (1826-1916), who worked in the underground Church.
While the Russian persecution continued to intensify, Fr. Kozminski founded several religious orders which were also working underground to save souls. Boleslava worked with him and then experienced another family tragedy. Her brother Stefano died in 1900. At the funeral, Boleslava knelt before his coffin vowing to return to the religious life.
Fr. Kozminski counseled her through this difficult time and then suggested she contact a woman he knew in another third order in Mogilev, Russia. Thus began Boleslava’s quest for unity both within the Catholic Church and with the Orthodox Churches.
Witnessing the suffering of the Russian people, she deeply yearned to empower them to remain loyal to their faith in the face of the czarist persecutions. So in 1903 she left Poland to do the Lord’s work in Mogilev, Belarus, a town of about 40,000 persons.
By divine Providence, both her experience as the director of the homeless shelter and managing a tailoring shop proved most useful in her next endeavor. Upon arrival, she stayed with Leocadia Gorczynska who directed a workshop for teaching young girls the skills of weaving.
In was not long before Leocadia recognized the skills of hardworking Boleslava. These two women then joined Lucia Czechoska in their work. Now Boleslava considered founding an apostolate working among the Orthodox Christians, but she needed help in this endeavor.
As has happened so many times in the history of the Church, God provided help for this holy woman through the Jesuits. Fr. Felice Wiercinski helped her establish The Society of the Holy Family, later called the Sisters of the Holy Family.
As superior, Boleslava began the work of unifying families and communities. In 1907, she and six other nuns moved to St. Petersburg to develop educational activities for the youth. In 1913 they expanded to Finland, opening a college for young girls in Vyborg.
Meanwhile, back in St. Petersburg, the apostolic work also grew to include many catechetical, educational, and social activities in the poorer neighborhoods.
Her desire for unity among various nationalities and churches manifested itself as she prepared to set up a congregation of sisters of the Eastern Rite.
Like most saints she had to overcome many obstacles, such as the Czarist persecutions, and the ravages of World War I. Thus in 1921, forced to abandon her work in Russia, she returned to Poland.
Back in Poland she found her sisters living in poverty. With complete confidence in God, Mother Boleslava overcame all the challenges she faced there. She first directed the work in Wolynia. Then she founded a new house in Pomerania in eastern Poland in 1922. Then she opened another one in 1924 in the Diocese of Pinsk. By 1935 there were 33 houses, including one in Rome.
Although she went to Rome in 1925 to obtain papal approval for her congregation, her quest failed because her vision of the work the congregation would do lacked clarity and specific goals.
In 1935, she stepped down as mother superior for health reasons. In Bialystok she oversaw the construction of new schools, homes for women, and a food kitchen for the unemployed.
As World War II approached with the Nazi threat, she again had to adjust her apostolic work to meet the needs of the time.
Then, in 1941, she was struck by paralysis. She spent the next five years in prayer and meditation, advising her sisters until her death on January 29, 1946.
Her order has expanded to Poland, Russia, Zambia, Rome, and the United States. On June 5, 1991, Pope St. John Paul II beatified Boleslava Maria Lament on his apostolic visit to Bialystok.
Dear Blessed Boleslava, you yearned so deeply for a united Church and united Christendom. Show us the way to bring all men to be one in Christ as our Lord prayed at the Last Supper. Amen.
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(Carole Breslin home-schooled her four daughters and served as treasurer of the Michigan Catholic Home Educators for eight years. For over ten years, she was national coordinator for the Marian Catechists, founded by Fr. John A. Hardon, SJ.)
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