British Nun Who Saved Jews During Holocaust Being Considered For Saint

[Lisa]

[url="http://www.jta.org/news/article/2012/01/19/3091263/british-nun-who-saved-jews-from-shoah-on-way-to-sainthood"]http://www.jta.org/news/article/2012/01/19/3091263/british-nun-who-saved-jews-from-shoah-on-way-to-sainthood[/url]

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Mother Riccarda was the director of the Bridgettine Sisters order and spent most of her life as a nun in Rome at the order’s mother house. In 1943, after the Nazi occupation of Rome, she saved about 60 Roman Jews by hiding them in the convent.[/size][/font][/color][color=#4D4D4D][font=Arial, sans-serif][size=3]
The cause for her sainthood was opened in July 2010, along with that of another British Bridgettine nun. The Catholic Herald said that the rapid completion of the first stage in the investigation of their causes represented a “quick and early step forward in the long road to becoming saints.” According to the report, several Jews gave evidence on behalf of Mother Riccarda, saying that while hiding in the convent they had nicknamed her “mama.” [/size][/font][/color][color=#4D4D4D][font=Arial, sans-serif][size=3]
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[size=3][font=arial,helvetica,sans-serif]What a great story!!!! Every time I see Holocaust stories, I'm amazed by these exhibitions of love and courage![/font][/size][/size][/font][/color]

[brandelynmarie]

I know, I always ask myself, what would I do?

[Antigonos]

In fact, there were a number of convents and monasteries in Italy which sheltered Jews; the Italians were never such rabid anti-Semites as the Nazis. Most Jews in Italy lived fairly normal lives until the Germans decided that they had to "stiffen" the Italians as allies by virtually occupying Italy from about 1943 onwards. Anyone interested in the topic might find the film "The Garden of the Finzi-Continis" interesting.

Israel's Holocaust museum and institute, Yad VaShem, maintains a list of "Righteous Gentiles" who protected Jews during the Shoah. In some cases, when it has been discovered that they, in old age, are in financial or other distress, the Israeli government has given them assistance. Of course, every year now, there are fewer still living.

[marigold]

[quote name='brandelynmarie' timestamp='1327105339' post='2372326']
I know, I always ask myself, what would I do?
[/quote]

I know, me too. I would like to think I'd do the same but who can say for sure? There were so many people who we now think of as 'enablers' who were just regular people trying to prioritise their families' wellbeing and stay in a job etc.

One of my all-time favourite saints is St. Maria Skobtsova of Paris. She was an amazing, feisty nun and during the war she sheltered Jews. She and her priest friend Fr. Dmitri Klepinin forged baptismal certificates for Jews who came to them for help, and even on one occasion hid some Jewish children in her bins (garbage cans) during a raid!

The most famous story about Fr. Dmitri is that when he was on the floor being beaten up by the Nazis during one of the raids on the house, the officers were shouting, 'Jew-lover!' and Fr. Dmitri held up his pectoral cross and said, 'Do you know this Jew?'

St. Maria to my mind just embodies a certain kind of indiscriminate love for all people. Once she even turned to the officers who were harassing her and the women she looked after, and told them that if they were the ones in need, she would help them too. And they didn't know what to say to that

I do believe she's on the list of Righteous Among the Nations that Antigonos mentioned.

[Antigonos]

There is of course the famous story about what the Danes did when the occupying Nazis demanded that all Danish Jews wear the Star of David. The next day, all Danes were wearing stars, and the statues of Jesus had yellow armbands with the Star of David on them. The Danes, working at night, managed to get all their Jews to neutral Sweden by ferrying them in privately owned boats.

[brandelynmarie]

These people exemplify selflessness & truly show the love & mercy of God. May we be so bold (with His Grace) to follow in their footsteps & never forget the dignity & worth of our fellow man, especially the unborn.

[FutureSister2009]

I love stories like this!

[marigold]

Antigonos that reminds me of seeing crackly old reels of film showing the mountain and tundra borderlands between northern Sweden (where my family is from) and Norway (where stupid people come from) and where many many Jews were sheltered during the troubles. It's not very well-known but that legacy really survives in some areas up there.

[Antigonos]

Norway, alas, did not have a very good record during the Nazi years, not toward Jews or resisting the Nazis. In fact, they gave the word "quisling" to English, meaning servile collaborator, after Quisling who headed the Nazi-dominated Norwegian government. And sadly, today they appear to have far more anti-Semitism than either Denmark or Sweden. In 2010 my husband and I went cruising on the Queen Mary through the fjords, and visited, among other places, a hotel that had been used by Nazi officers as a resort at Stallheim. I swear there were still emanations of evil in the area [and I'm not sensitive to stuff like that]

[brandelynmarie]

It just didn't feel right? Like compared to a well-kept flower garden or a temple, it felt very wrong?

[Antigonos]

It isn't easy to describe. I kept looking over my shoulder. It is odd, because although the WWII bunker still exists, the hotel itself burned down, and was rebuilt in the 60s. The view from the patio must have reminded some officers of Bertechsgaden [sp?], Hitler's Bavarian hangout in the mountains.

[Strictlyinkblot]

Ireland was neutral during the war but we do have the Vatican Pimpernel, Monsignor Hugh O'Flaherty. He was responsible for saving 6,000 lives by setting up a network to smuggle people out. The Germans had orders to shoot him on sight if he left the Vatican but that didn't stop him. After the war he visited Capler the head of the Gestapo in prison for years and in 1955 he baptised him.