The Marian Martyrs of Rosica

CHAPTER TWENTY EYEWITNESS ACCOUNT OF THE RETURN OF CHRIST TO ROSICA FR. FELIX CZECZOTT, MIC The front moved swiftly into the interior of the U.S.S.R., and it was calm again. Catholics from beyond the Dvina came to Fr. Leszczewicz and insisted that a few priests be sent to them, as they needed them very much. They had had no priests for eight years, and there were so many priests in Druja! Father Leszczewicz went himself and personally evaluated the situation: “Harvest season has arrived! Send out the har- vesters!” Father Leszczewicz set out to organize the new project. For the celebration of the Feast of Christ the King (1941), he invit- ed priests from Poland to a large church fair in Rosica. I also went by horse carriage to Leonpol with Fr. Granz, from there by a barge across the Dvina, and then 14 kilometers north to Rosica. Beyond the lake, the Rosica church stood, made of red brick in the Roman style. Completed before 1914, it could accommodate more than 5,000 people. From far away, you could hear the powerful singing of the joyous congregation. After so many years, they wanted to sing their hearts out. There were huge lines awaiting confession. There were five of us: Fr. Leszczewicz, Fr. Gramz, Fr. Perkowski from Bobolewo, Fr. Lawcewicz, and myself. At dinner we had a dis- cussion about the confessions: Why after so many years did the penitents have little to confess? But I understood this only on the day I left Rosica. I went to see a sick old woman who said: “I don’t have many sins because when they took our priest away, we said to ourselves, we cannot sin as there is nobody to absolve us.” These were saintly people. The working of God’s grace was palpable there.