BL. MALGORZATA LUCJA (Margaret Lucy) SZEWCZYK was born in 1828 in
Szeptówka in Volyn, Ukraine (now Poland)
to a noble family. Orphaned at an early age, she was cared for by her
half-sister. In the difficult situation of partitions and
persecution of the Church at the age of 20, she made her tertiary profession in
the Third Order of St Francis.
With the aid of her confessorBl Honoratus (Capuchin priest), she founded the Congregation, which with time came to be known as the Daughters of the Sorrowful Mother of God – Seraphic Sisters.
After 10 years, she moved to Galicia. She built a convent in Oświęcim (Auschwitz) which became the General House of the congregation whose aim is to bring help to the deserted and sick, as well as to educate the children of orphanages and shelters. She died on 5 June 1905.
She was then beatified together with another religious and founder of the congregation, Zofia Czeska-Maciejowska, on June 9, 2013, in the Divine Mercy Sanctuary in Krakow. Cardinal Angelo Amato presided over the ceremony on behalf of Pope Francis .
Her feast day is June 5.
