"In November 1950, three nuns found themselves in the Arctic Circle, in a Russian gulag (or prison camp) named Vorkuta. Found guilty of proclaiming the gospel of Christ, they were assigned to work in a plant there that made bricks.
"Chapter 18 of the book of Wisdom recalls another prison camp, where Hebrew slaves made bricks for their Egyptian masters. But it also recalls that the Lord, a fierce warrior, bore into the doomed land the sharp sword of his inexorable decree, filling every place with death (Wisdom 18:14-16).
"No one saw Vorkuta as doomed, and death already filled it; more prisoners died there than in Auschwitz. Further, no one had mistaken the nuns for fierce warriors, but perhaps they knew a different art of war. All the camp's commandant knew was that these nuns were troublesome. They refused to work, claiming that anything they did to support Communism was tantamount to working for the anti-Christ.
"Dead nuns make good martyrs but poor slaves, so the commandant did not want them killed; he wanted them to change their minds. . . ."
In a recent commentary, Deacon Richard Marcantonio reflected on a miracle that occurred in Vorkuta when the commandant continued his efforts.
To access his complete article, please visit:
Faith & Culture: The Miracle of the Nuns (July 2019)
"Chapter 18 of the book of Wisdom recalls another prison camp, where Hebrew slaves made bricks for their Egyptian masters. But it also recalls that the Lord, a fierce warrior, bore into the doomed land the sharp sword of his inexorable decree, filling every place with death (Wisdom 18:14-16).
"No one saw Vorkuta as doomed, and death already filled it; more prisoners died there than in Auschwitz. Further, no one had mistaken the nuns for fierce warriors, but perhaps they knew a different art of war. All the camp's commandant knew was that these nuns were troublesome. They refused to work, claiming that anything they did to support Communism was tantamount to working for the anti-Christ.
"Dead nuns make good martyrs but poor slaves, so the commandant did not want them killed; he wanted them to change their minds. . . ."
In a recent commentary, Deacon Richard Marcantonio reflected on a miracle that occurred in Vorkuta when the commandant continued his efforts.
To access his complete article, please visit:
Faith & Culture: The Miracle of the Nuns (July 2019)
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