The Marian Martyrs of Rosica

61 Eyewitness Accounts After the training period, the priests arrived and adminis- tered the final examinations to the students. The next day they heard confessions, baptized, blessed marriages, and celebrated Holy Mass in which all the inhabitants participated and received Holy Communion together with the Sisters. After Mass, the priests, teaching Sisters, the church committee, and others would have a communal breakfast. After breakfast, the assembled local population bade fare- well to the missionary priests and Sisters, often with tears in their eyes, crying and singing hymns such as: “Jesus, don’t leave us” or “Beloved Mother” and the like. The missionary Fathers usually went back to their main posts, returning to pas- toral duties. The missionary Sisters went on to their next teach- ing post to start their work all over again, to teach the next group and prepare them for examination. There, again, the peo- ple greeted them with joy, welcomed them to their huts, and shared their modest food, literally just black bread. The study groups consisted of 20 to 60 people, depending on the site and local conditions. The mission posts, serving as tem- porary parishes, were looking better and better in every respect and were becoming more and more prosperous owing to the efforts of the priests and Sisters and the generosity of the parishioners. Plans were made to extend the mission’s territory and gain access to Vitebsk and Smolensk and wherever else it would become possible. However, in the middle of 1942 and early 1943, our work met with more and more obstacles. During that time these territories were increasingly under the control of Soviet partisans, so that in the end the missionary Sisters could not go to their outposts any longer, but had to work in the main quarters. Even there, there were obstacles. It was decided to withdraw some of the teaching Sisters for a while. Some priests left too. The following stayed until the end: Fr. Walter Laszewski, Fr. Anthony Leszczewicz, and Fr. George Kaszyra. The Sisters who also stayed were: J. Wirszuto, K. Ugarenko, R. Marcilonek, A. Prytycka, J. Lowkis, E. Woronko, J. Trubilo, A. Moroz, P. Latyszkiewicz.