Teaching life and love: A century of service to the blind
By Tomasz Zielenkiewicz
Outside Warsaw, the religious sisters of the Congregation of the Franciscan Sisters Servants of the Cross dedicate themselves to educating the blind and visually impaired, preparing them for professions, and providing spiritual support.
The Congregation has 151 sisters, 75 of whom serve here in Laski. Their daily care revolves around their charges—children who cannot see or only see faintly. Yet their day follows a strict rhythm of prayer. Dawn is especially significant.
“Each of us every morning prays the Act of Offering of the Cross, a special prayer reminding us of our pledge to atone for people’s spiritual blindness,” Sister Kamila says.
At 6:00 AM, they pray the Morning Prayer; at 6:30 AM, they celebrate Mass. Then come the day’s duties, and Vespers and a communal Rosary in the evening. None of this would exist without the foundress and the remarkable course of her life.
From Horseback Riding to Building Laski
“Blessed Mother Elizabeth Ró?a Czacka is the blind mother of all our blind family,” says Sister Angelica Jose of the Franciscan Sisters Servants of the Cross as she guides Vatican News through the small on-site museum at Laski. There are photographs of the Czacki family, personal effects, a kneeler, and the hairshirt worn by the sister.
Only a day before the interview, a group of Koreans visited. News of Mother Czacka’s work has spread worldwide. “She shows how suffering, how the Cross, can become a path to heaven not just for oneself but for thousands of those she has educated over the years,” emphasizes Sister Angelica.
Born in 1876 in Bila Tserkva, Ró?a was highly educated, spoke several languages, and inherited significant estates. 120 years ago, at age 18, she fell from a horse.
One of the doctors, Boles?aw Gepner, pronounced her case hopeless and urged her to devote herself to the blind. That is what she did. Ró?a traveled widely to study methods of caring for the blind, then chose the religious life. In 1917, she took her final vows, and in 1918, her new Congregation was officially recognized.
Laski: A Gift to the Blind
Following her calling, with her funds, Ró?a Czacka established a shelter for the blind in Warsaw and founded the Society for the Care of the Blind. The aid became organized and continuous, but a more fitting location was needed.
In 1921, she began constructing the Laski Institute for the Blind, which soon included a primary school, a nursery, and a library. In workshops there, blind people learned practical skills.
“One day, a tiny, crying boy arrived at Laski, one among many children. Mother Ró?a heard his sobs and had a sister bring him to her. ‘What’s your name?’ she asked.
‘W?adziu,’ he answered. She embraced him and said, ‘W?adziu, you will be happy; I am happy, too.’
W?adziu went on to complete kindergarten, primary school, and vocational training, and then, as Mr. W?adys?aw, he remembered that embrace and those words. He said, ‘She brought me God.’
Through Mother Czacka, the children experienced the presence of God and the grace of His mercy,” recounts Sister Angelica.
Embracing the Cross as the Key to Happiness
Today, the Laski Center is a work that successive generations of Franciscan Sisters have elevated to new heights. They run early development support, a kindergarten, a primary school, a special primary school for students with multiple disabilities, a general secondary school, a massage technical school, a music school, and a vocational preparation program. Here, a blind child can be guided by the hand toward independence.
“This work is from God and for God. It has no other raison d’être. Were it to stray from that path, it should cease to exist—so said Mother Czacka. She wanted to prepare an elite of blind individuals who, by accepting their condition, would bear witness to the triumph of spirit over physical limitation,” explains Sister Benita, a Franciscan Servant of the Cross, a specialist in blindness studies.
Graduates of Laski continue to emerge: each year, about 20–30 educated young people leave the Center. “Mother Czacka said that turning away from God is a greater misfortune than physical blindness. That is the true disability,” adds Sister Benita.
Even little blind children can give immense love and joy to their caregivers and teachers.
“Sister, are you sad today? You sound so sad,” one child asked. Another wished one sister to live as many years as Noah and Abraham combined—easily over a thousand. The sisters are undoubtedly ready for that.
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