27 December – Blessed Sára Salkaházi S.S.S.

[Weedy]

27 December – Blessed Sára Salkaházi S.S.S.

Martyr, Religious Sister of The Sisters of Social Service, Teacher,
bookbinder, milliner, journalist – born as Schalkház Sarolta Klotild
on 11 May 1899 in Kassa, Hungary (modern Košice, Slovakia) and died by
being shot on 27 December 1944. Sára was a Hungarian Catholic
religious sister who saved the lives of Jews during World War II.
Denounced and summarily executed by the pro-Nazi Arrow Cross Party,
Blessed Sara was Beatified on 17 September 2006 by Pope Benedict XVI.
Recognition of the Beatification was celebrated at Budapest, Hungary
by Cardinal Peter Erdo. Blessed Sára was the first non-aristocrat
Hungarian to be beatified.

Teacher, bookbinder, milliner, journalist – this was the resume of
Sára Salkaházi when she applied to join the Sisters of Social Service,
a Hungarian religious society that today is also active in the United
States, Canada, Mexico, Taiwan and the Philippines. The Sisters of
that new congregation, founded in 1923 by Margit Slachta and devoted
to charitable, social and women’s causes, were reluctant to accept
this chain-smoking, successful woman journalist and she was at first
turned away from their Motherhouse in Budapest. But 16 years later,
she became the Society’s first Martyr, at the hands of the Nazis.

Fun-loving and intelligent, Sára was born into a well-to-do family at
Kassa-Kosice, Upper Hungary, now Slovak territory, on 11 May 1899. She
studied to become a teacher. In the classroom, she learned through her
students about the social problems of the poor, which she publicised
via newspaper articles. To widen her horizon and experience first-hand
what discrimination meant, Sára became a bookbinder’s apprentice,
where she was given the hardest and dirtiest work. She learned that
trade, then went to work in a millinery shop, all the while continuing
to write articles for newspapers. She became a member of the Christian
Socialist Party and then worked as editor of that party’s newspaper,
focusing on women’s social problems.

After she had come into contact with the Sisters of Social Service,
Sára felt a strong call to join them. Following her initial rebuff,
she quit smoking – with great difficulty – and was admitted to the
Society at age 30, in 1929. She chose as her motto Isaiah’s “Here I
am! Send me!” (Isa 6: 8b). Her first assignment was to her native
Kassa (which at the end of World War I had been incorporated into
Czechoslovakia) to organize the work of Catholic Charities;
subsequently, she was sent to Komarom, for the same task. In addition,
she wrote, edited and published a Catholic women’s journal, managed a
religious bookstore, supervised a shelter for the poor and taught. The
Bishops of Slovakia then entrusted her with the organization of the
National Girls’ Movement. She thus began giving leadership courses and
publishing manuals.

In one year alone, she received 15 different assignments, from cooking
to teaching at the Social Training Centre, all of which exhausted her
physically and spiritually. When several novices left the Society,
Sára also considered leaving, especially since her superiors would not
allow her to renew her temporary vows (she was deemed “unworthy”), nor
permit her to wear the habit for a year. These decisions hurt her
deeply. But Sára accepted these hardships and made up her mind to
remain faithful to her calling for the sake of the One who called her.
Her faithfulness paid off as she received permission to renew her vows
some time later.

She wanted to go on missions to China or Brazil but the outbreak of
World War II made it impossible to leave the country. She worked
instead as a social lecturer and administrator in Upper Hungary and
Sub-Carpathia (which had also been part of Hungary until the end of
World War l) and took her final vows in 1940.

As national director of the Catholic Working Girls’ Movement, Sister
Sára built the first Hungarian college for working women, near Lake
Balaton. In Budapest, she opened Homes for working girls and organized
training courses. To protest the rising Nazi ideology Sister Sára
changed her last name to the more Hungarian-sounding “Salkaházi”. As
the Hungarian Nazi Party gained strength and also began to persecute
the Jews, the Sisters of Social Service provided safe havens. Sister
Sára opened the Working Girls’ Homes to them where, even in the most
stressful situations, she managed to cheer up the anxious and
discouraged.

As if her days were not busy enough, she managed to write a play on
the life of St Margaret of Hungary, canonised on 19 November 1943. The
first performance, in March 1944, was also the last, since German
troops occupied Hungary that very day and immediately suppressed this
religious production.

The life of St Margaret may have provided the inspiration for Sister
Sára to offer herself as a victim-soul for the safety and protection
of her fellow-Sisters of Social Service. For this, she needed the
permission of her superiors, which was eventually granted. At the
time, they alone knew about her self-offering.

Meanwhile, she kept hiding additional groups of refugees in the
various Girls’ Homes, under increasingly dangerous circumstances.
Providing them with food and supplies became more and more complicated
every day, given the system of ration cards and the frequent air
raids. Nevertheless, Sister Sára herself is credited with the saving
of 100 Jewish lives and her Community, with saving 1,000.

The Russian siege of Budapest began on Christmas 1944. On the morning
of 27 December, Sister Sára still delivered a meditation to her
fellow-Sisters. Her topic? Martyrdom! For her, it would become a
reality that very day. Before noon, Sister Sára and another Sister
were returning on foot from a visit to another Girls’ Home. They could
already see in the distance, armed Nazis standing in front of the
house. Sister Sára had time to get away but she decided that, being
the director, her place was at this Home. Upon entering the house, she
too was accompanied down into the air raid shelter where the Nazis
were already checking the papers of the 150 residents. About 10 of
them were refugees with false papers. Some were declared suspicious
and were to be taken to the ghetto, while those in charge would have
to “give statements at Nazi headquarters before being released”. As
she was led out, Sister Sára managed to step into the chapel and
quickly genuflected before the altar but her captors dragged her away.
One of the Nazis suggested, “Why don’t we finish them off here in the
yard?”. But another gestured, “No”.

That night, a group of people was driven by agents of the pro-Nazi
Arrow Cross regime to the Danube Embankment. Sister Sára was among
them. As they were lined up, she knelt and made the Sign of the Cross
before a bullet mowed her down. Her stripped corpse and those of her
companions were thrown into the river.

The other Sisters anxiously awaited Sister Sára’s return. A youngster
from the neighbourhood brought them news of the shooting the following
day. It seems that the Lord had accepted Sister Sára’s sacrifice,
because none of the other Sisters of her Community was harmed.

Every year, on 27 December, the anniversary of her martyrdom, the
Sisters of Social Service hold a candlelight memorial service on the
Danube Embankment for Sister Sára Salkaházi. The voluntary offering of
their first martyr saved not only many persecuted Jews but also her
Religious Community….Vatican.va

Speaking at the Beatification Mass, Rabbi József Schweitzer said of
Sister Sára, “I know from personal experience … how dangerous and
heroic it was in those times to help Jews and save them from death.
Originating in her faith, she kept the commandment of love until
death.”

Peter Cardinal Erdo, the Archbishop of Budapest, read a proclamation
from Pope Benedict XVI beatifying Sister Sara. The proclamation said,
“She was willing to assume risks for the persecuted…in days of great
fear. Her martyrdom is still topical… and presents the foundations for
our humanity.”
For the Lord, all things are possible. Trust Him to the end!
“Here I am! Send me!” (Isa 6: 8b)

https://anastpaul.com/2018/12/27/


“To love, even when it is difficult,
even when my heart has complaints,
when, I feel rejected!
Yes, this is what God wants!
I will try; I want to start – even if I would fail –
until I will be able to love.
The Lord God gives me grace
and I have to work with that grace!”
--Blessed Sára Salkaházi (1899–1944) Martyr

“I want to follow You wherever You take me,
freely, willingly, joyfully.
Break my will!
Let Your will reign in me!
I do not want to make my own plans.
Let Your will be done in me and through me.
No matter how hard it might be,
I want to love Your will!
I want to be one with You,
my Beloved, my Spouse.”
--Blessed Sára Salkaházi in her spiritual diary


<><><><>
If I Love You
By Bl Sára Salkaházi (1899–1944) Martyr

I am grateful to You
for the love You have given me.
My dear Jesus,
I place this love into Your hands:
keep it chaste
and bless it,
so that it may always
be rooted in You.
And increase in me my love for You.
I know that if I love You,
I can never get lost.
If I want to be Yours
with all my heart,
You will never let me
stray from You.
Amen