The Marian Martyrs of Rosica

46 The Marian Martyrs of Rosica themselves in the forest before this tragic action and then had joined up with the partisans, reached the place of execution. They dug holes in various places around the burned stable and buried the charred bodies of their relatives. After the war ended in 1945, the inhabitants who had sur- vived came back to Rosica. They straightened up the site of the stable, dug proper graves, and sometimes went there to pray for the dead, as well as to light candles and place flowers. After some time, the site of the old stable, now outside of the yard, was cleaned up and fenced with metal posts and a chain by per- mission of some “humane” manager. A concrete tablet was put in place with an inscription in Russian: “Here are buried 380 inhabitants of Rosica burned by German soldiers 16.2.1943.” But religious observances at this site were not welcomed by the authorities. People became too afraid to go to the execution site any more. Someone toppled the memorial tablet and grass eventually grew over it. The crosses disappeared. The site was slowly returning to wilderness. Only in 1987 was a conspicu- ous tablet erected nearby on the main road, and symbolic ashes that had been collected from various execution sites were placed there. SOME TESTIMONIES Let us finish this exceptional biography with two testimoni- als concerning Fr. Anthony Leszczewicz. Sister Teresa Krupka, a Sister of the Handmaids of Jesus in the Eucharist, remembers that, during one of his lectures to the Sisters in Druja, Fr. Leszczewicz confessed that, during his studies in St. Petersburg, one of his priest-teachers had made an exceptional impression on him by his poverty — his threadbare robe and worn shoes. This priest had strengthened him in his vocation and inspired in him the desire to follow in his foot- steps. He remembered him and spoke of him as a model to the Sisters almost 30 years later. We don’t know for sure who it was, but it probably was Fr. Sigmund Lozinski, future bishop of Minsk and now a candidate to the altars.