From: richarra@gmail.com   
      
   June 13th - Blessed Alice Kotowska   
   1899-1939   
      
   Mary Jadwiga Kotowska was born in Warsaw, Poland, on November 20, 1899.   
   Poland is a notably Catholic country, and for many Poles religion and   
   patriotism are inseparable. Mary Kotowska was one of those people.  War   
   dominated her life until 1919 when the Treaty of Versailles acknowledged   
   Polish independence. During the closing months of the war, 18-year-old Mary   
   Kotowska had shown her devotion to the Polish homeland by joining the   
   Organized Polish Army, serving in the trenches as a medic. With peace   
   achieved, the patriotic laywoman studied medicine and devoted her medical   
   skill especially to the casualties of the Polish-Bolshevik War. The Polish   
   government later awarded Mary the decoration "Poland Restored" for her   
   compassion and bravery.   
      
   By the time she was 22, Mary Kotowska felt called to commit herself more   
   fully to the needs of the people. She wrote the superior general of the   
   Sisters of the Resurrection asking to be received into membership. "I desire   
   to live and die for Christ," she said, "loving Him above all, since He is   
   the Greatest Love, Lord, God and my All." The offer was accepted, and Mary   
   Jadwiga Kotowska became Sister Alice.   
      
   As a young teaching nun, Sister Alice was soon chosen to direct high school   
   education and serve as convent superior in Wejherowo.  She proved very   
   capable in both tasks. Particularly convinced of the need for prayer as   
   reinforcement for teaching, she herself spent hours before the Holy   
   Eucharist and promoted Eucharistic devotion among both her fellow nuns and   
   her students.   
      
   Poland lost its independence once more with the outbreak of World War II.   
   The Nazis invaded Poland, reaching Wejherowo on September 9, 1939.   
      
   When Sister Alice learned the Germans were drawing near Wejherowo, she and   
   'Francis,' the convent custodian, buried their most precious liturgical   
   vessels in the convent garden to prevent their desecration by the Gestapo.   
   Francis, however, was actually a spy for the Germans, and within a few days   
   the Gestapo led by Francis unearthed and desecrated the holy vessels,   
   warning Sister Alice she would be next.   
      
   One of the occupying army's first steps was to establish a "black list" of   
   Polish leaders. Sister Alice was singled out because of her former   
   connection to the organized Polish Army as a nurse and because she was a   
   teacher. To the Gestapo she was a leader, and their policy was to replace   
   leaders with nonentities.   
      
      
   On Oct. 24, 1939, the sisters' prayer in the chapel was interrupted by   
   shouts and banging on the front door. Sister Alice knew it was time. Without   
   flinching, she bowed reverently before the altar and calmly walked to the   
   door, taking time to turn and say, "I forgive Francis for everything."   
      
   While she was, imprisoned, guards took pleasure in tormenting her, often   
   waking her by shining bright searchlights on her face. On Nov. 11, a number   
   of trucks carrying shovels were lined up at the prison gates. Then the   
   soldiers led rows of prisoners from their cells to the truck area.   
      
   Among the victims were several Jewish children, some Polish laymen and women   
   and at the end, Sister Alice. Most were in anguish. Sister Alice was calm   
   and at peace, and this had a calming effect on the others. When the signal   
   was given to climb into the trucks, the Sister Superior went quickly to the   
   Jewish children, took one of them with her, and bravely climbed into the   
   first truck with the other children. The trucks drove to a forest near   
   Piasnicy, a few miles away.   
      
   There, after the condemned finished digging shallow graves for themselves,   
   the executioners shot and buried one and all. Later on, the Gestapo returned   
   to the site, dug up these remains and burned them. At one gravesite, a piece   
   of a black rosary was found such as those belonging to the Sisters of the   
   Resurrection.   
      
   From these ashes Blessed Alice will rise again, young and ardent, a light in   
   the forest. Sister Alice, according to her sister-companions, followed   
   diligently the rule of her Community day by day. Then came that   
   extraordinary moment when she was given the choice of betraying God and   
   country. With no hesitation, she made the right choice.   
      
   During his major pastoral tour of Poland in June 1999, Pope John Paul II, at   
   a special Mass celebrated at Warsaw on June 13, beatified Sister Alice   
   Kotowska as one of the first of 108 Polish martyrs of the World War II   
   period.   
      
      
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   THIRTY-ONE DAYS OF PRAYER FOR THE HOLY SOULS   
   FROM THE PURGATORIAN MANUAL   
    (Imprimatur 1946)   
      
   Third Day   
      
   DOCTRINE OF PURGATORY   
      
        The destiny awaiting us at death is not the same for all men: "He will   
   render to every man according to his works." (Matt. xvi. 27.) Heaven, Hell,   
   and Purgatory are the three places into which the souls of the departed are   
   received. Heaven is the happy destination of perfectly pure and holy souls   
   only; Hell the final doom of the reprobate; Purgatory, temporarily for the   
   just, who are not as yet entirely purified. There God completes the   
   punishment due to their faults, which were not sufficiently atoned for on   
   earth; there He submits these holy souls to the last purgation, to cleanse   
   them from the least stain, and, by fire, to bring them to that degree of   
   perfected purity, which is necessary for them before being admitted to   
   eternal bliss.   
      
   Hence there are two classes of souls in Purgatory:   
      
     1. Those who depart this life, stained by venial sins and imperfections.   
      
     2. Those who have repented sincerely 'of their mortal sins and confessed   
   them, if possible, without having done sufficient penance for them. Judging   
   from our lives, experience teaches us that most men deserve Purgatory for   
   both causes.   
      
   Prayer: Graciously hear, O God, the fervent prayers we offer Thee for the   
   suffering souls in Purgatory, who, not having satisfied Thy divine justice,   
   confide in Thine infinite mercy and our intercessions. Extend unto them Thy   
   consolations, and redeem them, through Christ, our Lord. Amen.   
      
   Special Intercession: Pray for the souls of those who suffer in Purgatory   
   for little faults.   
      
   Eternal rest grant unto them, O Lord, and let perpetual light shine upon   
   them; may they rest in peace. Amen.  (Three times)   
      
   Practice: Be conscientious and faithful in the performance of little duties,   
   and offer the inconvenience for the suffering souls.   
      
   Invocation: My Jesus, mercy!   
      
   See entire 31day prayer at:   
   http://www.faithfuldeparted.net/prayers.html   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)