Sister Cecylia Roszak passed away this month after celebrating her 110th birthday last March. She celebrated in her convent with joy and a visit from the Archbishop Marek Jedraszewski of Krakow. Many sources are claiming that she was the oldest known nun.
She faced challenges such as hip and knee replacements that come with age, however she still participated in her life in the convent as much as she was able, joining her fellow sisters for prayers and comforting those who were sick in their community.
Sister Cecylia joined the Dominican sisters at the age of twenty-one and helped found a new convent near Vilnius (Lithuania, then Poland) in 1938, just as the second world war came through the area. The sisters risked their lives not only hiding seventeen activists in underground movement in the convent during first the Soviets rule and then the German occupation. The nuns also worked in the ghetto smuggling supplies and weapons to those who were forming a resistance.
The convent was closed following the arrest of Anna Borkowska, the mother superior of the convent, in 1943. Both Anna Borkowska and Sister Cecylia survived the war and returned to the convent in Krakow where they served with their order as they slowly were able to return to their mother house.
In 1984, she and the sisters who founded and served in the convent of Vilnius were awarded the honor of Righteous Among the Nations by Yad Vashem, for their heroic efforts.
Eternal rest, grant unto her, O Lord, and let perpetual light shine upon her. May the souls of the faithful departed through the mercy of God rest in peace.
