Recently, we have bidden farewell to Joaquin Navarro Valls who went for eternity. Now, we are saddened to hear that Sr Eurozyna, another person from the close circle of St. John Paul II, have died. Everyone who met her was captivated by discretion, humility and kindness of this unique woman.
A Parish, Studies, and the Army
Teresa Aniela Rumian was born on November 7, 1925 in Raciborowice. Her father had been there a head of school since 1920, and her mother was a teacher. She had five siblings. Her parents were friends with the local vicar, Fr. Adam Biela, who was an older colleague of Karol Wojtyła from the gymnasium in Wadowice. John Paul II mentioned in his book Gift and Mystery:
“I was sent by the Archbishop [Adam Sapieha] to the parish in Raciborowice, on the outskirts of Krakow. I must express my deep gratitude to the parish priest, Father Józef Jamróz, and the curates of that parish who became life-long friends to a young clandestine seminarian. […] I spent a lot of time in the old church in Raciborowice, which dated back to the time of Jan Długosz. There I spent many hours in meditation, walking in the cemetery. I brought to Raciborowice my study equipment – volumes of St. Thomas with commentaries. I was learning my theology, so to speak, from the ‘center’ of a great theological tradition. I already was writing about St. John of the Cross”.
Perhaps he visited the Rumians’ home and met Teresa. She was the youngest of three sisters. After university studies at the Faculty of Pharmacy she was appointed, from her workplace in Bytom, to fulfill military training, which took place in Śrem near Poznan. After finishing it, she received a lieutenant’s degree. Let us add that this fact explains the subsequent nominations for captain (2004) and major (2006), and the medal Pro Memoria which she received from the hands of the field bishops.
A Discreet Secretary
After completing the “adventure” with the army, Teresa joined the Congregation of the Sisters Servants of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus, taking the name Sr Eufrozyna. She made her first profession in 1955, and her perpetual vows on August 2, 1961, in a monastery at the Garncarska Street in Krakow (in the mother house of the Congregation).
In 1967-1978, she worked at the secretariat of Cardinal Karol Wojtyła in Krakow, and from 1978 to 2005, in the Vatican, as a personal secretary of Pope John Paul II.
Among the “papal” sisters – five sisters from the Congregation of the Sisters Servants of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus – Sr Eufrozyna was the oldest. Her duties included running a part of the papal correspondence. She translated the Pope’s texts into French as well as into Italian. She typed them on the typewriter, and then on the computer. In the archives of the Center for Documentation and Research of the Pontificate in Rome you can see some traces of her work. For example, small pieces of paper, found in the books used by the Holy Father, on which he asked Sr Eufrozyna to translate or summarize texts or thanked her for her work. John Paul II had a great deal of trust in her. He also liked her jokes and highlanders’ witticisms.
The Atmosphere of A Family Home
The sisters from the Congregation of the Sisters Servants of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus served the Holy Father in the Vatican throughout his pontificate, but little is known about their ministry. They generally avoided public statements about their work with the Holy Father in the Apostolic Palace. Despite expectations and requests for memories, the sisters remain relentless. “We decided on it and let it all be like this” – Sr Eufrozyna said.
Their decision on the discretion should be respected. In the times when an unrestrained curiosity is the rule, the discretion of sisters has a special meaning. It is significant what can be read from some statements of Cardinal Stanisław Dziwisz and Archbishop Mieczysław Mokrzycki: the sisters created in the papal apartments the atmosphere of a true home, full of warmth, friendship and joy. They lived through, with the Holy Father, the beautiful and difficult moments of his pontificate, and then his illness and departure for eternity. They remain silent witnesses of his holiness, his service to the Church, and to the world.
An Angel of Goodness
After returning to Poland in 2005, Sr Eufrozyna continued her work as a secretary in the office of Cardinal Stanisław Dziwisz, the Metropolitan of Krakow. Due to her state of health, since spring 2014, she resided in the convent of the Congregation of the Sisters Servants of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus in Krakow.
It is precisely from the meetings in the mother house of our Congregation in Krakow that I most remember Sr Eufrozyna. It was evident at the end of her life that she was a happy person, very cheerful, absorbed in prayer and very supportive. I met her last time two weeks ago. She came to visit paralyzed Sr Katarzyna Stępień (a long-term employee of the Center of the Pontificate in Rome) in the convent infirmary. This way I learned that Sr Eufrozyna as a good Angel accompanied the sick.
The spirituality of our congregation shaped the heart of Sr Eufrozyna in the service of the Heart of Jesus. The attitude of John Paul II – who not only taught about the love of God but lived it every day – influenced her significantly. “We feel in some sense impelled to make our lives a daily offering by showing mercy to our brothers and sisters, drawing upon the gift of God’s merciful love” – he said at Błonia, in Krakow, in 2002. Sr Eufrozyna offered her life to a quiet and humble love that burns in the daily service to God and to people. She went to the Lord on August 14, 2017. We trust that the risen Christ will bring her into His Kingdom where only the content of the heart, selflessly offered in the service of men, matters.
Sr Remigia Sawicka SSCJ