“The life of Helena Kmieć shows her commitment to proclaim to everyone the truth about the victorious Christ” – indicated Archbishop Marek Jędraszewski in the chapel of the Archbishops of Krakow, the venue of the first sitting of the tribunal in the beatification cause of the lay missionary killed 7 years ago.
Apart from the Archbishop Metropolitan of Krakow, the ceremony was attended by auxiliary bishop Robert Chrząszcz, Fr. Józef Figiel SDS, Provincial of the Polish Province of the Society of the Divine Saviour, and Fr. Dr Paweł Wróbel SDS, postulator of the beatification process.
Archbishop Jędraszewski stressed that the beatification process, inaugurated at a diocesan level, urges us to look up to the model of Helena Kmieć’s life. He pointed out: “I am supremely confident that the work of the tribunal will move forward in accordance with the relevant principles, but also with a concern for time, in order to gather as thoroughly as possible all the documents about her life and her witness to Christ”. The archbishop moreover encouraged prayers for the process to proceed as efficiently as possible and emphasised Helena’s evangelising commitment: “She offered herself to God as the ultimate sacrifice”, he said.
Fr. Józef Figiel SDS, Provincial of the Polish Province of the Society of the Divine Saviour, known as the Salvatorians, noted that during the last years of her life Helena Kmieć was engaged in the Salvatorians’ missionary voluntary service. As he noted, “It fills us with a great joy, and we are thankful to the bishop for his decision. We hope that Helena will become known in many corners of the world, and that her example will encourage people to follow the path of holiness”.
Fr. Pawel Wróbel SDS, postulator of Helena Kmieć’s beatification process, recalled that after her death the fame of the girl’s holy life spread thanks to the testimonies of her friends and collaborators. He pointed out that many people prayed to God through her intercession and observed: “The figure of the Servant of God Helena Kmieć can inspire the Church, and above all young people, to carry out their vocation to holiness in their young age, through voluntary and missionary activities, in secular life with great passion and commitment. In addition, she can offer an example of how proceedings steadfastly on the path of sacramental is an assurance of perfection, and that a missionary vocation can be pursued not only by travelling abroad, but also by making Christ known in one’s own environment”.
Helena Kmieć was born on 9 February 1991 in Krakow. In 2012 she joined the Salvator Missionary Voluntary Service, which operates at the Salvatorian religious congregation. On behalf of the Voluntary Service, she was twice sent on short missions, during which she conducted after-school activities for children at Salvatorian parishes, once in Galgahévíz, Hungary, and the second time in Timisoara, Romania. In 2013, she went on a mission to Zambia. There, she worked with street children, teaching them reading, writing, English, and maths and accompanying them in their daily lives at the Salvation Home centre in Zambia’s capital, Lusaka, and at the Kulanga Bana Farm youth centre in Chamulimba, about 70 km away. On 8 January 2017, she began her service at the missionary outpost of the Servant Sisters of the Immaculate Virgin Mary in Cochabamba, central Bolivia. On the morning of 24 January, the local child care centre was attacked by robbers. Helena was staying there with another volunteer Anita. During the incident, the attacker stabbed Helena. Despite attempts to save her life, she died.
The Postulator’s Office of the Cause for Beatification of Helena Kmieć seeks contact with people who would like to share information about Helena, e.g. how they have been inspired by her life and story, and those who have been asking her intercession in their private prayers and can attribute to her the graces granted to them. Address: 16 Św. Jacka St., 30-364 Krakow, phone +48 12 352 27 55, e-mail: [email protected].
