With courage and selflessness

In Lviv the Albertine Sisters have become a symbol, appearing wherever there is poverty and abandonment. During the pandemic, they delivered food in places where others feared to go. When large-scale war broke out in February 2022, they went to Lviv central station to transport people who, terrorized and exhausted by the war, got off the evacuation trains and did not know what to do next. The sisters have relocated to the recently completed Albertine refuge they manage, offering daily meals and shelter to young mothers.

The start of the war was dramatic. The emotional tension was tremendous. Crowds of people passed through Lviv as they fled towards the western border. Trains full of refugees arrived at the station in Lviv. Tired, dirty and confused people poured out of the train cars and into the square in front of the station. They wandered around the city, hoping to find shelter. “We are constantly on alert, especially now in this moment of tension, and we walk through the streets every day to meet with those who wander around and don’t know what to do”, affirmed Sister Geronima, speaking to Vatican Radio on the third day of war. “Even yesterday in the cathedral, there was a group of young girls who were crying a lot. They were from Odessa and didn’t know where to take refuge. There is great despair, fear, anxiety and uncertainty among the people. We sustain them spiritually. Many people call us asking for a prayer, because a son or husband has gone to war”.

The risk of a humanitarian catastrophe

We soon realized that without help from outside, the exodus of people heading for the Polish border risked becoming a humanitarian catastrophe. The lines of cars on the road towards the border went on for kilometres. Women, mothers, grandmothers, aunts with small children in their arms searched for food. They looked for a place to warm themselves and for a word of comfort and support. At the time, in February 2022, the Albertine community of Lviv had three religious sisters: Geronima, Dorotea and Radosława. On the sixth day of war, the sisters arrived at Rawa Ruska to help the people at the Ukrainian-Polish border. They were near the wall of the Caritas-Spes building, which is in the former Franciscan monastery, a few minutes from the border crossing. In fact, in 2022 this former monastery of the Friars Minor was just a pile of ruins. Portable hygiene facilities with toilets were quickly provided, and tables were set up in front of the gate. Wearing the Roman Catholic Caritas-Spes jackets, the sisters started distributing hot drinks and sandwiches. It’s what Svetlana from Zaporizhzhia told a Vatican Radio journalist, standing next to one of the Albertine sisters’ tables. She was carrying her grandson in her arms: “I want to save my life. I want it all to end because this is our land, my country, my city, my place. I want to return here so that everything goes well for me and my children. I want my grandson to live in the country where he was born. Because one’s own land is the homeland. There are many uncertainties and tears”.

A refuge for homeless women

Today, there are only four Albertine Sisters in Ukraine. Two are Polish, two are Ukrainian. Until 1945, the sisters had various shelters and homes in Ukraine. They would care for the poor. When the Soviet power arrived after the Second World War, it did not allow them to remain in Soviet Ukraine. The State was now in charge of looking after the poor. In effect, the poor were no longer supposed to exist — this is what the Communist Party officials promised.

The Albertine Sisters returned to Lviv some years ago. At the famous cemetery of Janów, they found the forgotten tombs of the sisters who had lived there before 1945. They built a symbolic monument for them. Their task was to build a shelter for women without homes or in other situations of hardship. They opened it in September 2023. That day, Cardinal Krajewski visited them. The Papal Almoner consecrated the house on behalf of the Pope, who had supported their work from the start. The papal almoner was there for the first time in 2020. The first stone was placed on that occasion. At the time, no one expected a large-scale war to break out or Russian missiles to reach Lviv. Sister Geronima, the then superior of the Albertine Sisters of Lviv, commented on this event: “It will be a home for homeless women and for mothers with children. We want to make this house, precisely as the name ‘refuge’ says, a welcoming place for all. Regardless of religion, we want to give these women warmth and safety so that they can reconquer their dignity”. Now nearly 100 meals are served daily in this house. Young mothers and women who have fled the cities bombed by the Russian military are welcomed.

Through the streets among the poor

The sisters are very familiar with the streets of Lviv. They know even better where poor people hide. They live in hovels and eat trash. When the pandemic broke out, no one wanted to go near them. There were no tourists in the city and restoration work was on hold. There was much less waste from restaurants. Hunger dominated among the poor. Wearing face masks and carrying bags full of food, the sisters would walk around the city in search of those who needed help. “Of course we were afraid of contracting Covid, but love for the poor, which comes from our Albertine charism, was stronger than fear of the virus”, affirmed Sister Radosława. Despite the extremely dangerous health situation, throughout the pandemic period, the sisters went to the homes of poor and abandoned elderly people.

Today, new women continuously arrive to the refuge of Lviv. Some people delicately tell the women that such a place exists, others take them there. The initiative is starting to take off. Via Chlebowa (Bread Road) in Lviv is becoming famous, not only because of the bakery that has been there for years, but also because of the ecumenical house of mercy.

#sistersproject

Fr Mariusz Krawiec, ssp – Ukraine