The Marian Martyrs of Rosica

70 The Marian Martyrs of Rosica partisans came into the church. They stayed quietly for a moment and then went out. It was not easy to hold fast in this situation. It was an act of heroism for the priests and the Sisters. The situation was becoming dangerous. Father Leszczewicz felt responsible for the lives of the Sisters because it was at his request that the superiors sent them there to work. He decided to send them back to Druja. The Eucharistic Sisters declared that they wanted to remain with the priests. They didn’t want to abandon their post and their people, so they asked the Mother Superior to give her consent. She did so, and so they remained at their post in Rosica. The priests also had the opportunity to leave Rosica, but they didn’t. They could also have run away in to the forest, as many inhabitants of Rosica had done, but they did not take this opportunity either. On February 16, 1943, the punitive action began. The first group of people was rounded up in the church. Among them were the priests and Sisters. Father Leszczewicz asked for the Sisters to be released. Later the same day, an officer read a list of Sisters and told them to leave the church and go to the rectory. From that moment on, the Sisters were free, and they could move without hindrance as the priests did. The Sisters began to bring help to the people imprisoned in the church. The priests were doing pastoral service while the Sisters were distributing bread, bringing water and milk, mostly for the children. On February 18 at 1 p.m., horse carts and soldiers were assigned to escort the Sisters to Druja, all the way to their con- vent. The superior was requested to confirm that the Sisters had really been returned. The priests remained and went voluntari- ly with the people who were to be burned. Eyewitnesses and others who heard about it from eyewitnesses at the Satsapils camp near Riga, confirm this. Riga was the first camp to which the people who had been saved from burning were sent. It was reported there that the priests were released but remained vol- untarily, saying: “Where the people are, we are. If you don’t release innocent people, do not release us either.” Many eyewitnesses have already died. It is generally believed that Fr. Leszczewicz and Fr. Kaszyra were zealous,