Mission to Magadan - September 2007 Update

If it seems like I just did an update on Magadan a month ago, it is because I did. I do these updates shortly after I get the newsletter from the Archdiocese of Anchorage & it seems like the last 1 came out late while this 1 was more on schedule.

This time the newsletter includes the story of Adele Dirsyte. Adele was born 75 April 1909 in Promislavis, Lithuania. She was the youngest of 6 children. In 1928 she went to Vatautas Magnus College where she majored in philosophy. While there she joined the Catholic Federation. After he graduation she began writing articles & poems. She also became Board Secretary of the Lithuanian Catholic Women's Association Center as well as Director of Caritas.

She was arrested in March of 1946 because she had hid a person who had escaped Soviet Security arrest. Her sentance was 10 years in a concentration camp & 5 yrs restriction of her rights. It was the Summer of 1947 when she was taken from prison in Vilnus & sent to the forced labor camp of Chuma. It was a harsh environment. But the inmates kept up their devotional practices. They made rosary beads from the bread they were given.

In 1949 she was tranfered to the Taishet labor camp. They were used to work on railroad construction. Adele became a spiritual leader to the inmates. The next Winter she was moved to the Ui camp in Kolym. There she had some freedom to orginize religious & literary meetings. In the Summer of 1950 she was sent to Magadan's concentration camp. During this time she wrote Prayer Book for Girls Exiled in Siberia. Over time she rewrote the prayers & added new ones. (Many of these prayers have been translated into English & are available in Mary, Save Us published by Our Sunday Visitor.)

Hard as the labor was at Magadan, she continued to find time to minister to her fellow prisoners. She was able to arrange for the Eucharist to be brought to the camp. It was this activity that eventually brought her to the attention of the Soviet guards. They began to regularly taken to a cold underground cell where she was beaten. When her fellow prisoners became upset at her treatment she told them to pray for the guards instead.

In the Autumn of 1953 she was taken aware to an unknown location for the Winter. The next April she was returned to Magadan. Her hair was cut short. She was disheveled & heavily bruised. The 1 time she talked about it she said: "There were very cruel interrogators in that place, especially one who tore out half of my hair."

At the end of 1954 she was sent to the portion of the camp hospital for the mentally ill. She wasted away rapidly. Her death certificate states that she died 26 Sept 1955 in Khabarovsk, Russia.

The Archdiocese of Kaunas (lithuania) began the work for her beatification/canonization. On 14 January 2000 the Congregation of the Causes of Sants issued the decree nulla osta for her cause.

The Soviet Union declared her a counterrevolutionary for her living out her faith. & she was. She stood up for the truth of the Gospel. & by standing up for Christ she stood for the opposite of what Communism stood for. Communism was & is a horrible evil. She stood for God & good. She trusted in her Savior. She was willing to die for her faith. & like Christ, St. Stephen & many martyrs since she was willing to forgive those who wronged her.

There is an old saying about the blood of the martyrs being a seed of the Church. (Tertullian) Adele's blood was shed & is bearing fruit in the work that the Magadan Mission is doing. What they are doing to preach the Gospel & bring light into an area that has been in darkness for way too long is important. But, it does take money to do so. I can't say it enough as to how important it is for us to support good ministries like this. Follow the links to the Magadan or Archdiocesan websites for info on how to support this ministry. Please help them to help those who are still suffering from the damage done by decades of communism.