Blessed Maria Restituta Kafka
Blessed Maria Restituta Kafka (born May 1, 1894 AD in Brno, Moravia; died March 30, 1943 AD in Vienna, Austria) was an Austrian Franciscan Sister of Christian Charity, a hospital nurse who was executed by the Nazi regime for her open profession of the faith and her resistance to National Socialism. Born Helen Kafka, she is venerated as a Blessed and martyr of the Church. Her feast day is March 30.
A skilled and beloved operating-room nurse, Sister Maria Restituta refused to remove crucifixes from a hospital ward and was denounced for circulating writings that mocked the regime. She was condemned and beheaded, dying rather than deny Christ. She was beatified in 1998.
Stored in Cargo: Blessed Maria Restituta Kafka
| Blessed Maria Restituta Kafka | |
|---|---|
| Feast Day | March 30 |
| Profession | Religious sister; nurse; martyr |
| Rel. Affiliation | Catholic Church; Franciscan Sisters of Christian Charity |
| Patronage | Nurses; those persecuted for the faith |
| Attributes | Religious habit; palm of martyrdom; crucifix |
| Birthplace | Brno (Hussowitz), Moravia |
| Death Place | Vienna, Austria |
| Cause of Death | Martyrdom; beheaded under the Nazi regime at Vienna |
| Primary Shrine | Vienna, Austria |
Biography
Helen Kafka was born on May 1, 1894, at Hussowitz, a district of Brno in Moravia (then part of Austria-Hungary), and grew up in Vienna. As a young woman she worked as a nurse before entering the Franciscan Sisters of Christian Charity, taking the religious name Maria Restituta.
She became a highly regarded surgical nurse, serving for many years at the hospital in Mödling near Vienna. Direct and fearless in character, she made no secret of her opposition to the National Socialist regime after the annexation of Austria. When a new wing of the hospital was built, she had crucifixes hung in the rooms and refused an order to remove them.
Denounced—reportedly for dictating a poem that ridiculed the regime—she was arrested by the Gestapo in 1942. She was tried, condemned to death for "favoring the enemy and conspiracy to commit high treason," and, despite appeals for clemency, was beheaded in Vienna on March 30, 1943. She continued to encourage her fellow prisoners to the end.
Sister Maria Restituta was beatified on June 21, 1998, by Pope John Paul II during a visit to Vienna, honored as a martyr. Her feast is kept on March 30.
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Feast day
March 30
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