Laura Meozzi

After her religious profession, Sister Laura began her work as an educator in Genoa, then was sent to Sicily where she worked primarily until 1921, notably in Alì Marina, Catania, and Nunziata. She quickly distinguished herself by her gentleness and her keen sense of spiritual motherhood toward young girls from working-class backgrounds. She frequently reminded her sisters: "Be mothers first, then teachers."

In 1922, following a decision by the Institute's General Chapter to expand missionary action, she was designated by the Superior General, Mother Caterina Daghero, to lead the first group of Salesian Sisters sent to Poland. Accompanied by two Italian sisters and three Polish sisters, she settled in Różanystok to found a home for orphans of the First World War.

Despite extreme destitution, Mother Laura displayed remarkable energy in structuring the work. She opened orphanages, schools, vocational workshops, as well as formation houses for postulants and novices. Her maternal kindness earned her the affectionate nickname "Mateczka" (little mother) from the children and the local population. In 1931, the Visitatorate of Poland was officially erected in Wilno (Vilnius), and by 1934, the house in Laurów was already hosting 150 orphans.

During the Second World War (1939-1945), Poland suffered under German and then Soviet occupation. Mother Laura refused to return to Italy in order to remain with her sisters and the suffering populations. She shared their hardships, hid under peasant clothing in Sakiszki, and supported her communities through clandestine letters. Under her leadership, the sisters opened their doors to refugees, the persecuted, and the sick, and also participated in the rescue of Jewish children from the Vilnius ghetto.

At the end of the conflict, as Poland's borders were redrawn and Vilnius was integrated into the Soviet Union, the sisters and 104 children had to evacuate by a special train. Mother Laura agreed to hide numerous clandestine individuals and unauthorized partisans with their families on board, exposing herself to the risk of execution by firing squad. Faced with the concern of her provincial superior, she declared: "Fear nothing, I will pray." The journey, which lasted 16 days, took place without incident, an outcome the community attributed to divine protection.

After the war, under the new communist regime, Mother Laura had to rebuild the work from scratch within the new Polish borders. In close collaboration with Cardinal Auguste Hlond, she managed to open 12 new houses. In 1946, she established the novitiate in Pogrzebień, in a former castle that had been used by German occupation forces as a transit and extermination camp for women and children, bringing life, joy, and hope back to the site.

The reputation of holiness of Mother Laura Meozzi spread rapidly after her death. The diocesan process regarding her life, virtues, and reputation of holiness was opened on October 1, 1986, in the Diocese of Katowice, Poland, and concluded in 1994.

On June 27, 2011, Pope Benedict XVI authorized the Congregation for the Causes of Saints to promulgate the decree recognizing the heroic nature of her theological and cardinal virtues. Since then, she has been declared Venerable by the Catholic Church.

Mother Laura Meozzi's spirituality is based on absolute trust in Providence and a deep Marian devotion, lived through the prism of the Salesian charism. Her life bears witness to a heroic charity and a universal spiritual motherhood that made no distinction of nationality or religion. When asked about her attachment to her native land, she confided: "I have two homelands: Italy and Poland, and I could not say which I love more."

She passed away on August 30, 1951, in Pogrzebień, weakened by illness, surrounded by her sisters. Her body rests today at the entrance of the Saint Bartholomew parish church in Pogrzebień. She leaves a lasting legacy in Poland, where the Daughters of Mary Help of Christians continue her educational and charitable work.