Leonia Maria Nastał

Within her congregation, Sister Leonia Maria Nastał distinguished herself through her intellectual, pedagogical, and literary talents, which she placed entirely at the service of the community and education. In 1933, she was sent to Poznań to support other religious sisters in their pedagogical studies. The following year, after her perpetual vows, she was tasked with organizing a new house in Poznań for sisters studying to become teachers or nurses. Sister Leonia was also a prolific writer for the needs of her institute. She composed numerous poems, plays, speeches, and educational texts used by the sisters in their teaching activities and during liturgical celebrations. Returning to Stara Wieś in 1937 due to her declining health, she taught Polish literature, psychology, and biology to the novices. Her major work, however, remained invisible during her lifetime: her Spiritual Journal (Dziennik duchowy), written in eight notebooks (totaling more than 700 pages) between 1935 and 1940 at the order of her spiritual director, Father Kazimierz Schmelzer, as well as her autobiography, completed on January 2, 1940, just a few days before her death. These writings reveal a mystical life of exceptional depth.

From the moment of her death on January 10, 1940, in the midst of the Second World War, Sister Leonia passed away in the odor of sanctity. Despite the context of the war, many faithful immediately began to visit her grave at the Stara Wieś cemetery, reporting graces obtained through her intercession and taking earth from her burial site as a relic. In view of the persistence of her reputation for holiness, the cause for beatification was officially opened. The diocesan cognitive process took place within the ecclesiastical curia of Przemyśl of the Latins from May 24, 1977, to September 12, 1980, collecting the testimonies of fifty-two people. In 1979, as part of this process, her mortal remains were exhumed from the parish cemetery and solemnly transferred to the crypt of the congregation's motherhouse in Stara Wieś, where they now rest.

The file for the cause (the Positio) was then sent to Rome to be examined by the Congregation (now Dicastery) for the Causes of Saints. On December 1, 2016, Pope Francis authorized the promulgation of the decree recognizing the heroic nature of her theological virtues (faith, hope, charity) and cardinal virtues. Sister Leonia Maria Nastał was then officially declared Venerable of the Catholic Church. The cause is currently ongoing, awaiting the official recognition of a miracle attributed to her intercession, which is necessary to pave the way for her beatification.

The spirituality of the Venerable Leonia Maria Nastał is articulated around the path of "niemowlęctwo duchowe" (spiritual childhood or, more precisely, spiritual infancy / mystical childhood). Initially inspired by the "little way" of Saint Thérèse of Lisieux, Leonia deepened this intuition by insisting on the state of total dependence and absolute abandonment proper to an infant in the arms of God. This spiritual path is characterized by deep humility, the awareness of one's own powerlessness without divine grace, simplicity, gentleness, and unlimited trust in the love of God. In December 1935, she experienced the mystical event of spiritual betrothal to the Child Jesus. Her written legacy, published under the title Uwierzyłam Miłości (translated into French as J'ai cru à l'Amour: journal spirituel), continues to inspire many faithful throughout the world. She is particularly invoked today by childless couples hoping for the grace of a birth, as well as by expectant mothers.