For 23 years in the midst of the Cold War, Father Walter J. Ciszek helped keep faith alive behind the Russian Iron Curtain. Following Polish refugees in the hope of tending to their spiritual needs, Father Ciszek entered Russia on March 19, 1940. One year later, he was arrested by the secret police and spent five years in solitary confinement in Lubianka prison in Moscow. Following his imprisonment, he was sent to the Siberian slave-labor camps above the Arctic Circle. Finally released from the prison camps in 1955 and given restricted freedom, Father Ciszek worked in factories and as an auto mechanic. During this time, he served as a priest to Russian families. Working as secretly as possible, Father Ciszek celebrated Mass, baptized both infants and adults, and served as a "parish" priest for a congregation spiritually hungry and willing to risk arrest and imprisonment. In 1963, Father Ciszek was exchanged along with another American for a Russian couple held for espionage. Upon his return to the United States, Father Ciszek wrote With God in Russia and He Leadeth Me, two books that chronicled his experiences. He also became an internationally known director of the Ignatian Spiritual Excercises. The last 21 years of Father Ciszek's life were devoted to working with the American family and clergy and religious communities of brothers, priests, and sisters. His counseling and retreat work were marked by simplicity in method and humility of heart. His own suffering allowed him to empathize easily with the sufferings and struggles of others. Faith, trust and prayer were the keys to his survival in Russia...constant joy, kindness, peace and patience were the fruits of his faith. Marc Lindeijer, born in 1966 in Den Helder, The Netherlands, converted to Catholicism as a history student in Nijmegen. In 1994, he joined the Jesuit Order. He studied Philosophy in Leuven, Belgium, and Theology in London. He was ordained a priest in 2002 and then worked for a few years as parish chaplain and as archivist of the Dutch Jesuits. In 2009 he obtained a PhD in Church History, as a preparation for his new mission, namely assistant of the Jesuit postulator general in Rome. He worked for the causes of the saints from 2009 to 2016. In that context, he learned about Walter Ciszek. He completed the diocesan inquiry into Father Ciszek's life and virtues and prepared the dossier to demonstrate the latter's holiness. He also co-edited, with John DeJak, a volume with Walter Ciszek's unpublished writings, With God in America (2017). Having left Rome, he worked for four years as a member of the Bollandist Society, one of the world's oldest research institutes, specialized in the critical study of the lives of the saints. In 2020, he returned to pastoral work, as vicar general of the Diocese of Breda, The Netherlands, and parish priest in that same diocese. As a Bollandist, he made a critical study of the autobiographies of Walter Ciszek and of the historical sources regarding his life. He learned that Father Ciszek had experienced at three instances in his life God's miraculous intervention. Knowing the desire of many devotees of Walter Ciszek to invoke his intercession in their needs, he edited from unpublished material the Triple Novena, so that people can pray with Father Ciszek and obtain the graces they need. Those who have already prayed the novenas attest to their efficacy. In Sister Rosemary Stets, he found an excellent co-editor. Her memories of Walter Ciszek bring him back to life for those who haven't had the privilege of his personal counsel and friendship. Their hope is that the Triple Novena, which is ultimately Father Ciszek's work, will become as beloved and treasured as his two unforgettable autobiographies. May it also help to obtain the miracles necessary for his beatification and canonization, so that the Church can duly honor this great son of the United States and of the Society of Jesus. Sister Rosemary Stets is a Bernardine Franciscan Sister currently serving as Congregational Councilor for an international congregation, the Bernardine Franciscan Sisters whose Motherhouse is located in Reading, Pennsylvania. Her educational background is English, Education, and Pastoral Counseling, teaching at the high school level, and more recently, at Alvernia University located in Reading, founded in 1958, and now sponsored by the Bernardine Franciscan Sisters. She met Father Ciszek as a novice, upon his release from Russia and his return to the U.S., through his two biological sisters who were also Bernardine Franciscans. In 1972, she began a correspondence with him that spanned 12 years, until his death in 1984, and through visits and retreats, knew his profound spirituality through many years of spiritual direction. Her activities for the Father Walter Ciszek Prayer League include presentations on his life after his return to the U.S., drawn from her conversations, personal visits, and directed retreats with him where he shared many insights and anecdotes about his spiritual journey. She counts his friendship and direction among the greatest graces of her life.
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