Salawa, Aniela, Bl.
SALAWA, ANIELA, BL.
Domestic servant, Franciscan tertiary; b. Sept. 9, 1881, Siepraw (near Krakow), Poland; d. Mar. 12, 1922, Krakow, Poland. Raised in a family of modest means, Aniela Salawa entered domestic service in Krakow at age sixteen (1897). Following the death of her sister Teresa (1899), Aniela was moved to dedicate her life to God. Thereafter she exercised an active apostolate among other servants in the city and fed her spiritual life through prayer, while never neglecting her duty to her employers. She joined the Third Order of Saint Francis in 1912, following the deaths of her mother and her mistress in 1911. During World War I, Aniela comforted wounded soldiers in Krakow's hospitals during her free time. After falling seriously ill in 1917, Aniela was forced into retirement. In the five years before her death at age forty, she offered her continual pain to God in expiation of sins and for the conversion of sinners. Pope John Paul II beatified Aniela, Aug. 13, 1991, in the Market Square at Krakow.
Feast: March 12.
Bibliography: i. borkiewicz, Aniela Salawa: opowiadania o zyciu (Warsaw 1987). j. stabinska, Charyzmat sluzby: zycie Anieli Salawy (Warsaw 1988); Z nadmiaru milosci: zycie wewnetrzne Anieli Salawy (Warsaw 1987). a. wojtczak, Aniela Salawa (Warsaw 1983).
[k. i. rabenstein]