The Marian Martyrs of Rosica

35 Blessed George Kaszyra ly, he was torn away from all these occupations by the gover- nor of the Vilnius District, Louis Bocianski, who on May 30, 1938 decreed it was “forbidden to Fr. George Kaszyra, son of Thaddeus and Maria, to reside permanently within the state border zone.” Identical decrees were also served to other priests in Druja: W. Chamionek, J. Daszuta, and K. Smulko. They did not obey the governor, considering his decrees unlawful and in violation of the jurisdiction of the ecclesiastical authority. After the deadline passed, on June 23 at 8:30 a.m., the priests were forcibly taken away from the monastery and driven by car out- side of the border zone and prohibited from coming back. They went to Vilnius and then to their religious superiors in Warsaw. OnAugust 9, Fr. Kaszyra was appointed superior of the monas- tery in Rasna, about 40 kilometers east of Siemiatycze, and the Rector of the Church of St. Ann. He assumed his duties in early September, 1938. Between April 17-23, 1939, as a superior, Fr. Kaszyra par- ticipated in the Provincial Chapter meeting in Bielany near Warsaw. On August 16 of that year, he was again elected as superior in Rasna for a three-year period. On September 1, 1939 the war began. Soon a wave of Marian and other refugees had reached Rasna. On Sunday, September 10, Fr. Joseph Jarzebowski delivered a patriotic sermon in St. Ann Church. However, when the Soviet Army crossed the Polish border on September 17, the refugees from Rasna fell into disarray, flee- ing either north or back west. At that time, in addition to the superior there were two older priests and two brothers in Rasna. As usual, a few seminarians came for the summer holidays. The Bolsheviks, as soon as they arrived, began to introduce their own ways. They confiscated a large estate from the Marians and transformed it into a kolkhoz — a collective farm run by the state. The religious were chased away from the monastery as well. The younger ones left the mo- nastery secretly, going west through Skorzec, as did the Hand- maids of Jesus in the Eucharist, who had come there fromDruja. Father Kaszyra also left Rasna and arrived in Skorzec in civilian clothes, in the afternoon of October 11, 1939. There he