Blessed Marianna Biernacka is described in many reports as leading a “simple” life. But it’s my experience that there are really no simple lives. Marianna knew heartbreak. She knew fear. She knew backbreaking work. She knew loss. And she knew God’s love.

Marianna was born in 1888. At the age of twenty she married a local man, Louis Biernacki. Together, they had six children, four of whom died shortly after birth. The only source of survival for the family was their family farm.

After the death of Louis in 1929, Marianna lived with her son Stanislaw. Stanislav eventually married a young woman, Anna Szymczyk, and they all lived together. Prayer and song were a large part of their lives. Soon after the couple were married, the two had a daughter.

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*subhead*Martyr.*subhead*