(CNA) Cardinal Stefan Wyszyński, a giant of 20th-century Catholicism, will be beatified on Sept. 12.
But the Primate of Poland who heroically resisted communism is not the only figure who will be raised to the altars that day in Warsaw.
Wyszyński will be beatified alongside a nun who is little known outside her native Poland: Mother Elżbieta Róża Czacka.
Throughout her childhood, she suffered from eye problems. At the age of 22, she returned to the family’s estate in Ukraine for a summer vacation. While horse riding, she fell and was blinded. Her relatives struggled to accept her condition.
In 1911, she founded the Society for the Care of the Blind. Sr. Angelica Jose said that Czacka adapted Braille to the Polish language, developed a system for educating blind people, and sought to inform the general public about blindness through articles and radio broadcasts.
“Róża Czacka was an extremely rich personality,” she commented. “When looking at her, one should see a blind woman of deep faith, courage, and simplicity. This is the inner dimension of her.”
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