The Marian Martyrs of Rosica

CHAPTER THIRTEEN EYEWITNESS ACCOUNT OF A SISTER WHO CONFIRMS THE MARTYRS’WITNESS SR. PAULINA LATYSZKIEWICZ, SJE, PRUSZKOW I met Fr. Kaszyra when he was still a seminarian. As a priest, he was deeply pious. I heard from his penitents that he was an exceptional confessor. I met Fr. Leszczewicz in the fall of 1941 when I arrived in Rosica. Six Sisters from our convent were there. Two of us worked in the rectory, and the others were teaching religion to children and adults in the countryside. Sometime later, the priests started going to the villages to say Holy Mass and administer the Sacraments. In the winter, early in 1943, the German military decided to carry out a pacification of the area because of the activities of the Soviet partisans. Inhabitants of the neighboring villages were gathered in the church in Rosica. I remember that Fr. Leszczewicz had been warned even earlier and encouraged to leave, but he decided to stay with the people in the church. He heard confessions, gave Holy Communion, and baptized people. He could leave and reenter the church at will. The Germans murdered both priests, and a great number of laypeople. Father Leszczewicz was taken away first. The Sisters accompanied him to the sledge. Father Kaszyra was taken away later. Supposedly they were taken to the railway station, but we all knew they were meant to die. We spoke about this openly. We Sisters were also rounded up in the church with the faith- ful, but Fr. Leszczewicz, who spoke German, asked the