Blessed Restituta Kafka (1884-1943)
Of working-class parents
Born Helene Kafka in
Brno, Moravia, Czech Republic, under the Austro-Hungarian empire, her
father was a shoe-maker.
When she was two, her parents went to Vienna,
where Helene attended school until at fifteen she went into domestic
service.
Joins the Franciscan Sisters of Christian Charity
After
school, Helene wanted to join a German nursing order called the
Franciscan Sisters of Christian Charity (Hartmann Sisters), but her
parents were too poor to provide a dowry.
She was employed as a
salesgirl and later as a nurse.
A bequest from the diocese provided the
dowry for her to join the Sisters in 1914.
She took the name Restituta,
after the Roman maiden Restituta of Sora, beheaded with her companions
at Sora in Campania under the emperor Aurelian.
A skilled theatre sister
A novice at the outbreak
of World War I, she worked at a hospital where casualties poured in and
she became a highly skilled theatre sister who became known for her
strength of will (called "Sister Resoluta") and sense of fun.
Refused to take down crucifixes in the hospital wards
During
World War II she worked with a fanatical Nazi doctor, who turned a
blind eye to her praying with the dying, but when she refused to take
down the crucifixes in the hospital wards, he could no longer ignore her
and called in the Gestapo.
While in prison she cared for the other
prisoners, as even communist prisoners later attested. Martin Bornman,
Hitler's secretary, decided to make an example of her and sentenced her
to be guillotined, deeming her execution necessary for effective
intimidation.
Her body was thrown into a mass grave and never recovered.
"Sister Restituta Street" in Vienna
Restituta was beatified by Pope John Paul II on 20th June 1998.
The only
relic found was a piece of her habit.
The hospital where she worked in
Vienna is situated in a street called "Sister Restituta Street".