Anna Kolesárová

Although Anna Kolesárová did not found any institution or write theological works, her "life and work" reside in the ordinary holiness of her daily life and her heroic testimony. Her life was that of a young laywoman devoted to her family and her parish community. After her mother's death, she became the pillar of the household, performing household and agricultural tasks with care and humility. Her spiritual life was not ostentatious but deeply rooted in the sacraments. She was in the habit of going to church every morning to attend Mass with her friends and reciting the Rosary while working. It was this continuous spiritual preparation, this intimacy with God cultivated day after day, that gave her the supernatural strength to face martyrdom when the time came. Her "work" is thus a model of lay fidelity and Christian purity in the midst of the ordinary duties of life.

After her tragic death, Anna Kolesárová was immediately considered a martyr by the local population. Due to the circumstances of the war, she was initially buried quickly and discreetly. The parish priest of the neighboring parish of Pavlovce nad Uhom, Father Anton Lukáč, inscribed in the parish register next to her name the Latin phrase: "Hostia sanctae castitatis" (Victim of holy chastity).

However, with the advent of the communist regime in Czechoslovakia after the war, Anna's story was deliberately silenced by the authorities, as her murderer was a soldier of the liberating Red Army. Despite this official censorship, her memory was preserved clandestinely by the faithful and local priests.

After the fall of the communist regime in 1989, devotion to Anna Kolesárová could finally be expressed freely. Starting in 1999, regular pilgrimages of young people began to be organized to her grave in Vysoká nad Uhom. The diocesan inquiry for her beatification was officially opened in the Archdiocese of Košice on April 2, 2005, and concluded on February 14, 2012.

On March 6, 2018, Pope Francis authorized the Congregation for the Causes of Saints to promulgate the decree recognizing the martyrdom of Anna Kolesárová, killed in hatred of the faith (in odium fidei) and in defense of her chastity (in defensum castitatis).

The beatification ceremony was celebrated on September 1, 2018, at the Lokomotíva Stadium in Košice, Slovakia. The Mass was presided over by Cardinal Giovanni Angelo Becciu, Prefect of the Congregation for the Causes of Saints, representing Pope Francis, before a crowd of more than 30,000 faithful, including many young people. Her relics are now venerated in St. Elizabeth's Cathedral in Košice as well as in the parish church of Vysoká nad Uhom. Her liturgical feast is set for November 22 (the day of her death), while the Archdiocese of Košice celebrates it on November 20.

The spirituality of Anna Kolesárová is often compared to that of Saint Maria Goretti, another young martyr of purity. Pope Francis himself described her as the "Slovak Maria Goretti" and a "heroine of love." Her life bears witness to the inestimable value of human dignity, chastity, and fidelity to the Gospel, even at the cost of her own life.

Her legacy is particularly vibrant among Slovak youth. In Vysoká nad Uhom, the "Domček" (the little house) pastoral center was founded in her honor. This place welcomes thousands of young people each year for retreats, meetings, and times of prayer focused on preparation for marriage, the value of purity, and spiritual growth.

In September 2021, during his apostolic journey to Slovakia, Pope Francis met with young people precisely at the Lokomotíva stadium in Košice, the very site of Anna's beatification. He once again proposed the young blessed as a model of courage and authentic love, urging young people to "dream without fear" and not to let their lives simply drift by.