Róża received instruction from pious parents and Jesuit priests
Servant of God, Kolumba Bialecka
This is part of an ongoing biography of Mother Kolumba Bialecka, foundress of the Dominican Sisters of the Immaculate Conception.
As a child, Mother Bialecka possessed unusual gifts. She was a beautiful child, and drew the admiration of others. One of her biographers, Sr. Benwenuta Pasławska, said that even as a child of two and three years old, Róża (her baptismal name) was “characterized by extraordinary submission and gentleness. She never demonstrated any obstinacy, whims; she was never a cause of any trouble to people.”
When she was five years old and older, the three sisters in the family would get into trouble and earn the admonishment of their mother. Róża would kneel down and kiss their mother’s leg, apologizing, even though she was the most obedient and innocent of the three.
One wonders how much Róża’s even-temperament was due to the favorable influence of her family. Her father, Franciszek Białecki, was a man “full of faith, he truly loved Church, Country and his family,” Sr. Benwenuta recalls. He gave shelter to Jesuit priests who were persecuted throughout the area at the time, and would become emotional when a priest would sing the Preface of the Mass with reverence.
Róża’s mother, Anna Ernestyna, was a pious person with great integrity. She lived a long life, and bore heavy crosses “with an extraordinary freedom of spirit,” Sr. Benwenuta says. Her mother, who outlived her daughter by two years, called Róża her “little angel” even after her daughter died.
Róża was well educated not only by her devout mother but also, as her biographer says, mainly by the Jesuit priests who often came by. Seeing the exceptional gifts of the Lord in this child, the priests convinced the mother that Róża would become a nun.
