Róża Czacka

The life and work of Mother Elżbieta Czacka are inseparable from the congregation she founded and the famous Laski center, located near Warsaw, on the edge of the Kampinos Forest. In 1922, she established a vast educational and social complex there for the blind, which became the heart of her mission. Mother Czacka revolutionized the care of visual impairment in Poland, establishing herself as the pioneer of Polish typhlology. With the help of Sister Teresa Landy, she adapted the Braille alphabet to the Polish phonetic system. This system, which allowed for full literacy and education, was officially approved by the Polish Ministry of Education in 1934 to be taught in all specialized schools in the country. Under her leadership, the Laski center was not limited to material or educational assistance. It became a major spiritual and intellectual home in interwar Poland. In collaboration with Father Władysław Korniłowicz, she fostered an open Catholicism there, conducive to dialogue between believers and non-believers, attracting many intellectuals, artists, and seekers of truth. During the Second World War, Laski went through severe trials. In September 1939, during the bombing of Warsaw, Mother Czacka was seriously wounded and lost an eye. Despite this, she refused to abandon her work. During the Warsaw Uprising in 1944, the Laski center served as a field hospital for the wounded, supported the fighters of the Home Army (Armia Krajowa), and served as a refuge to hide Jews persecuted by the Nazis. In 1950, due to the deterioration of her health, Mother Czacka retired from her position as Superior General. She spent the last eleven years of her life in prayer, silence, and the offering of her sufferings at Laski, where she passed away on May 15, 1961.

The cause for the beatification and canonization of Mother Elżbieta Czacka opened in the Diocese of Warsaw in 1987. After a meticulous examination of her writings and her life, Pope Francis recognized the heroic nature of her virtues on October 9, 2017, conferring upon her the title of Venerable. The path to her beatification was sealed by the recognition of a miracle that occurred in 2010. It concerns the scientifically inexplicable healing of a 7-year-old child. After suffering a severe head injury in a swing accident, the young girl was in a desperate state and in a coma. Her family, her parish, and the Congregation of the Franciscan Sisters Servants of the Cross intensely invoked the intercession of Mother Czacka. Against all medical expectations, the child recovered suddenly and completely, without any neurological sequelae. This miracle was officially approved by a decree from Pope Francis on October 27, 2020.

Mother Elżbieta Róża Czacka was solemnly proclaimed blessed on September 12, 2021, at the Temple of Divine Providence in Warsaw (Wilanów). The ceremony was presided over by Cardinal Marcello Semeraro, Prefect of the Congregation for the Causes of Saints, representing Pope Francis. Notably, she was beatified on the same day as Cardinal Stefan Wyszyński, the "Primate of the Millennium." This double beatification highlights the deep spiritual bond that united these two major figures of the 20th-century Polish Church. Cardinal Wyszyński had indeed been the chaplain for the sisters and the blind at Laski during the war and remained a close friend of Mother Czacka until her death. Her liturgical feast is set for May 19, a date celebrated with particular fervor in Poland.

The spirituality of Mother Elżbieta Czacka is deeply rooted in the mystery of the Cross, as evidenced by the name of her congregation. She considered her own blindness not as a punishment or a fatality, but as a gift of Divine Providence and a means of apostolate. For her, physical blindness was only a reflection of the "spiritual blindness" of the world, distant from God. She offered her sufferings and the work of her community for the spiritual illumination of those who did not see the truth of the Gospel. Her legacy remains alive through the work of Laski (Dzieło Lasek), which continues to welcome, educate, and accompany blind children and adults by combining pedagogical excellence and spiritual depth. In recognition of her historical role as a pioneer, the Senate of the Republic of Poland officially declared the year 2026 as the "Year of Blessed Mother Elżbieta Róża Czacka".