Helena Kmiec (1991-2017) (Photos courtesy of the Helena Kmiec Foundation)The beatification cause for Helena Kmiec, a former flight attendant from Poland who was stabbed to death at the age of 25, was sworn in on May 10 at a ceremony in the Bishop’s Palace in Krakow, Poland.
The Pillar is reporting on the latest development in the cause of Helena Kmiec who was born in Krakow in 1991, just a few months before Carlos Acutis, the first millennial to be beatified. Her mother died a few weeks after her birth and she was raised by her father and stepmother. A gifted student, she won a scholarship abroad and eventually earned a degree in chemical engineering and technology at the Silesian University of Technology in Gliwice.
During her studies, Helena, a gifted singer, attended Mass almost daily, volunteered helping children at a nearby Caritas community center and activities hosted by the university’s chaplaincy. Also during this time she became involved in the Missionary Volunteering Salvator group, run by the Society of the Divine Savior, known as the Salvatorians, and embarked on her first mission helping children at a summer camp in Galgaheviz, Hungary in 2012.
From there, she went to work with street children in Zambia and with young people in Timișoara, Romania.
Upon graduation in 2014, Kmiec worked for a time as a flight attendant for Wizz Air, a Hungarian low-cost airline and oversaw a parish committee welcoming pilgrims attending World Youth Day in Kraków in 2016.
“I have been given God’s grace … and I have to share this gift,” she wrote in an application for missionary work. “All the skills I have, the abilities I acquire, the talents I develop, are not to serve me, but are there for me to use to help others.”
“The greatest gift is that I know God and I can’t keep it to myself, I have to spread it! If I can help someone, make someone smile, make them happier, maybe teach them something, I want to do it!”
Sadly, on January 24, 2017, just six days after arriving on a six-month mission at a children’s orphanage run by the Servant Sisters of Debicka in central Bolivia, a man named Romualdo Mamio Dos Santos broke into the orphanage. Intending to rob it, he encountered Helena and stabbed her 14 times with a knife. It was the same number of wounds inflicted on St. Maria Goretti, an Italian girl who was killed on July 6, 1902 by a neighbor while resisting assault. Although St. Maria lingered for a few days before succumbing to her injuries, efforts to resuscitate Kmiec failed and she was declared dead at the scene. Her killer was arrested and sentenced to 30 years in jail.
Fr. Paweł Wróbel, the postulator of her cause, confirms that the collection of Helena’s writings includes emails and social media posts and said that when the Polish millennial’s writings were gathered for the opening of her cause, they included instant messages.
“…[I]t’s a sign of the times — when examining the compatibility of the writings of candidates for beatification with the teachings of the Church, one also examines messages on Messenger, on WhatsApp, or electronic correspondence,” Fr. Wrobel told Vatican News in an interview last month.
He added: “She often wrote email messages. Most of her communications were written through electronic media and not through traditional letters or other messages written on paper. This is also a sign of the times, the saints are moving with the times.”
On April 7 of this year, after consultation with the Polish bishop’s conference and after obtaining consent from the Vatican Dicastery for the Causes of Saints, Krakow’s Archbishop Marek Jedraszewski announced the opening on Helena’s cause.
The Decree states: “After the death of Helena Kmieć, an opinion spontaneously appeared among the faithful about her holy life devoted to God and the Church. Many people prayed and continue to pray through her intercession.”
“The example of the Servant of God can certainly be an inspiration for people — especially young people — to pursue their vocation to holiness with great passion and commitment through volunteering and missionary activity.”
The decree is asking for anyone who has documents, letters or any other information regarding the Servant of God, Helena Kmiec, both positive and negative, to submit these by June 30. The faithful are also encouraged to pray for a miracle through the intercession of Servant of God, Helena Kmiec.
We pray that if it be God’s will, this daughter of the Most High, who was filled with love for God and neighbor, and who used her feminine genius to bring healing and hope to the less fortunate around the world, might become the second millennial saint and an example for young women everywhere.
More information about Helena is available through the Helena Kmiec Foundation.
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