Saint Józefa Chrobot

Józefa Chrobot, CSFN, Sister Maria Kanuta of the Lord Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane (born May 22, 1896, in Raczyn; died August 1, 1943, near Nowogródek), was a Polish religious sister of the Congregation of the Sisters of the Holy Family of Nazareth and a blessed of the Catholic Church. On April 21, 1921, she entered the novitiate in Grodno, where she took her religious vows and perpetual vows. She arrived in Nowogródek in 1931. A mystical element of her biography is the reason she gave for joining the congregation. When she was about to be married, she heard a voice in a dream: "Do not marry Stanisław; your Bridegroom is waiting for you in Grodno, and as a wedding gift, He will give you a red dress." According to witnesses, she was gifted with the grace of contemplative prayer: "When the war broke out, she would lie prostrate in the chapel until midnight every day, begging for mercy and for the Kingdom of God to take hold of the world." She faced her first repressions from the Soviet occupiers immediately after the outbreak of World War II. After the Germans entered, she offered her life for the residents of the city and was executed by firing squad along with 10 other religious sisters. She was beatified by Pope John Paul II on March 5, 2000, as one of the 11 Martyrs of Nowogródek.