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Sister Maria Restituta (1 May 1894, Husovice, Austria-Hungary (now part of Brno, Czech Republic) – 30 March 1943, Vienna, Austria) was a nun, nurse, who was martyred at the hands of the then national-socialist regime. Her birthname was Helena Kafka.〔Birthname could also have been Helene Kafka or Helena Kafková〕 ==Life== Born on 1 May 1894, the sixth daughter of a shoemaker in Husovice in what was then the Austro-Hungarian Empire,〔("Blessed Maria Restituta Kafka", Catholic News Agency )〕 she was baptised Helena.〔 When she was two years old, her family moved to Vienna, the capital, and home to a Czech migrant community, where she grew up. She worked as a salesclerk and then as a nurse〔("Heroes of the Holocaust:Austria", Catholic Heritage Curricula )〕 at the Lainz public hospital. While working as a nurse, she met the Franciscan Sisters of Christian Charity and entered their community in 1914, at the age of 20. She took the name Restituta after a 4th-century Christian martyr.〔 After the First World War, she began working as a nurse at the Mödling hospital, eventually becoming the leading surgical nurse. The Mödling hospital was not spared the effects of the 1938 Anschluss. When the Nazis took over Austria, Sister Restituta was very vocal in her opposition to the new regime. "A Viennese cannot keep her mouth shut", she said.〔("Biographies of Blesseds, L'Osservatore Romano, June 24 1998 )〕 When a new hospital wing was constructed, Sister Restituta hung a crucifix in every room. The Nazis demanded the crosses be taken down and the sister refused.〔 The Nazis demanded that the crosses be removed, threatening Sr Restituta's dismissal. The crucifixes were not removed, nor was Sr Restituta, since her community said they could not replace her.〔 She was denounced by a doctor who fanatically supported the Nazis. On Ash Wednesday 1942 (18 February of that year), after coming out of the operating theatre Sr. Mary Restituta was arrested by the Gestapo and accused not only of hanging the crosses but also of having written a poem mocking Hitler.〔 On 29 October 1942 she was sentenced to death by the guillotine by the ''Volksgerichtshof'' for ''"favouring the enemy and conspiracy to commit high treason"''. The Nazis offered her freedom if she would abandon the Franciscan sisters, but she refused.〔 When a request for clemency reached the desk of Martin Bormann, a high ranking Nazi official, he replied that her execution would provide “effective intimidation” for others who might want to resist the Nazis.〔 She spent the rest of her days in prison caring for other prisoners. She was beheaded on 30 March 1943.〔 She was 48 years old. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Maria Restituta」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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