Sister Zdenka, from the Congregation of Sisters of Mercy of the Holy Cross, was born around midnight on December 24, 1916 in Krivá in Orava, the mountainous region of northeastern Slovakia. Her family name was Cecília Schelingová. Cecilia attended the local elementary school in the village for 8 years from 1922 to 1930. On July 6, 1931,she joined the Congregation of the Sisters of Mercy of the Holy Cross in Podunajské Biskupice as a candidate. After years of formation, she made first vows on January 30, 1937. She began working in Bratislava in the Government Hospital in the radiology department. In 1941 – 1942, she worked as a nurse in the Regional Hospital in Humenné. From 1942 until February 29, 1952, she worked in the Government Hospital in Bratislava on Miczkiewiczova Street as a laboratory assistant. On January28, 1943, she made her final vows.
After the political change in 1948, the Communist Party in
the former Czechoslovakia began open persecution of the Church. Many believers
were discriminated against for their faith. Bishops and priests were
arrested and persecuted. Religious congregations were dissolved and their
members were sent to do forced labour. Sister Zdenka realized the need to
protect the Church. She performed courageous deeds, and in accordance with
her knowledge, strength and possibilities she expressed her protest against
unjust violence. Her attitudes expressed her inner readiness to bring big
sacrifices for the suffering Church. Twice she was involved in preparing
escapes for imprisoned priests.
On the morning of February 29, 1952, the state police
arrested Sister Zdenka. She was kept in pre-trial custody in the Palace of
Justice in Bratislava. There she was interrogated, suffered many humiliations
and was tortured. On June 17, 1952, she received a fabricated sentence for
treason. She lost her freedom for 12 years and civil rights for 10 years.
She was imprisoned in Rimavská Sobota, Pardubice, Brno, and
in the prison hospital in Pankrác – Prague, where she met with Mrs. Helena
Wilde – Kordová. She was the only person to whom Sr. Zdenka confided important
details, especially suffering in pre-trial custody. After 40 years, testimony
of Mrs. Helena Wilde– Kordová became known after her arrival in Slovakia on
September 27, 1994.
Sister Zdenka was released from the Prague prison on
April 16, 1955, because she was terminally ill and she was admitted into the
hospital in Trnava.
Sister Zdenka died on July 31, 1955, at 7:45 a.m. in the
oncology department in the Trnava hospital after receiving the Sacraments. She
was almost 39 years old. On August 2, 1955, her mortal remains were buried in
the old cemetery in Trnava. On April 6, 1970, Július Matečný, JUDr of the
Regional Court of Bratislava declared that Sister Zdenka – Cecília
Schelingová - was innocent. She had received a “false accusation...
issued with a sentence of high betrayal... based on facts manipulated by
the state police themselves.“ On November 18, 1970, the High Court SSR
annulled the judgement in its entirety, and so granted Sister Zdenka her full
civil rights again.
In 1979, the old cemetery in Trnava where Sr. Zdenka was
buried was liquidated. On October 15, 1979, Sister Zdenka´s remains were
exhumed together with ten other Sisters of Mercy of the Holy Cross. On October
16, they were transferred to the cemetery in Podunajské Biskupice.
Archbishop Ján Sokol opened the diocesan process of
beatification of Sister Zdenka in Trnava on September 18, 2000. The
second exhumation of her remains was on June16, 2003. On July 7, 2003,the
Roman phase of the process of beatification was finished and the Holy
Father John Paul II granted beatification to Sister Zdenka Schelingová.
On September 14,2003, on the Feast of the Exaltation of the Cross, Slovakia got
its first beatified religious sister from the Congregation of Sisters of Mercy
of the Holy Cross – Sister Zdenka.
In Rome, on March 11, 2014, the documents for the Roman
phase of the canonization of Sister Zdenka were accepted. She was a
representative of all martyrs during the communist regime in Czechoslovakia.
Prayer for canonization of blessed Zdenka
Our
Father, you presented blessed Zdenka with light and power of the Holy Spirit
and gave her grace to live a true Christian and religious life up to martyrdom
following the example of Jesus Christ. Please give us the grace... which we ask
from you through her intercession, in hope that Church will soon add her to
your saints. Give as well that she would become an ideal of a convincing
Christian life and a great esteem towards the Sacrament of Ordination for people
of our times. Through Christ, our Lord. Amen.
Bl. Zdenka, pray for us!
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