Sister Sara Salkahazi, a Sister of Social Service, was killed in 1944 for sheltering Jewish people during World War II. On September 17, 2006, she was beatified (a step on the way to being canonized as a saint) during a Mass held outside St. Stephen Basilica in Budapest, Hungary.
Here is an excerpt from the Catholic News Service article “Nun killed for sheltering Jews is beatified in Hungary” (9/18/6).
Sister Sara, born in 1899, had a degree in education and founded Hungary’s Catholic Women’s League. Sister Sara “dedicated special attention to the dignity of women” and recognized the burdens of the working class, Cardinal Erdo said at the beatification Mass … “It was her love for Christ which urged Sister Sara to welcome and shelter those persecuted for their political views or because they were Jewish,” Cardinal Erdo said.
Archived Comments
- November 1, 2006 at 4:44 pm
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It is wonderful to read about the beatification of Sister Sarah Salkahazi. So often women religious have been mispresented by the media who display them through the use of negative images. I hope that the story of Sr. Sarah and her heroism will be widely known.
- November 1, 2006 at 5:04 pm
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I totally agree with you about how women religious are often misrepresented by the media. We also need to be able to present positive images to the media. We need to have more sisters who are writing blogs or doing a radio talk show or sponsoring some ‘infomercials’ that show who we are. Wouldn’t be great if women religious (individual communities or groups of communities) got together and sponsor a series of “The More You Know” (NBC) type TV spots that speak to issues of compassion, justice, and peace? That would give both a positive representation of women religious at the same time that it proclaims the Gospel. What do you think?
- May 28, 2007 at 8:18 pm
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As a first generation Jew of Hungarian immigrants, I must confess ignorance of Salkahazi Sara. Perhaps she was sheltering some of my own relatives and was murdered alongside of them. What a tragic and sad part of Hungarian history.
