Bl. Marianna Biernacka

Marianna Biernacka was born in 1888 at Lipsk in north-eastern Poland. She lived a simple life of farm work, family and faith, and after her husband died she kept the family going.

During the German occupation in the Second World War, in July 1943, the soldiers came to take her pregnant daughter-in-law. Marianna offered herself in her place. She was shot at Naumowicze near Grodno.

John Paul II beatified her in 1999 among the 108 Polish martyrs of the Second World War.

The Church has declared Marianna Biernacka Blessed.

Beatification allows public veneration, usually in a particular region or religious family. Canonization extends it to the whole Church.