We really appreciate that Choralis Wood Art was able to participate in the preparation of the gift for Pope Francis during his visit to Slovakia in September 2021.
The religious sisters gave a symbolic gift to Pope Francis which includes a corpus from our workshop.
The gift consisted of a stone plate the size of 40 centimetres, expressing the severity of the intervention against the religious brothers and sisters during the period of communist totalitarianism. There is a baroque corpus of the Crucified in the size of 21 centimetres on the stone plate. The sight of the suffering Jesus gave our brothers and sisters the strength to go further, providing assurance of God's love and closeness even in times of oppression, persecution, and violence. It is a symbol of religious loyalty even during the trials. We enclose a quote from the article on the page of the Conference of Senior Religious Superiors in Slovakia:
"Chairman and Deputy Chairman of the Conference of Senior Religious Superiors in Slovakia (KVRPS) – Fr. Václav Hypius, CSsR and sr. Agnesa Jenčíková, CI, will bring two symbolic gifts to Pope Francis on behalf of the consecrated, which they hand over during the meeting of bishops, priests, consecrated and catechists in St. Martin's Cathedral in Bratislava on September 13, 2021. The first is the stone cross, which is a symbol of Barbarian Night whose 70th anniversary we commemorated last year. The state power in 1950 attacked and liquidated men's and later women's monasteries and interned religious brothers and sisters in work camps."
Sr. Jana Kurkinová continues in the article: “During the brutal attack of the communist government, 76 monasteries from 17 convents were destroyed and 1,200 religious were deported, as well as 140 female monasteries from 24 convents and 2,000 nuns were interned in the work camps (another 1,600 nurses continued to work in hospitals). Most of the monks were convicted, spent some time on forced labour, and others were imprisoned. However, the flame of religious life in Slovakia has not been extinguished, it is still burning… Thank God for his support and protection at this time of trial! ”- these words are written (in Italian) on the back of the cross.”
We would like to thank the representatives of the Conference of Senior Religious Superiors in Slovakia that Choralis Wood Art could have been a part of such a significant event.
And here you can see photos from the handing over of the gift to Pope Francis from the broadcast of TV LUX:
