Ursula Ledóchowska
Ursula Ledóchowska USAHJ | |
|---|---|
Photograph taken in 1907. | |
| Born | 17 April 1865 Loosdorf, Melk, Lower Austria, Austrian Empire |
| Died | 29 May 1939 (aged 74) Rome, Kingdom of Italy |
| Venerated in | Roman Catholic Church |
| Beatified | 20 June 1983, Poznań, Poland by Pope John Paul II |
| Canonized | 18 May 2003, Saint Peter's Square, Vatican City by Pope John Paul II |
| Feast | 29 May |
Julia Ledóchowska, USAHJ (17 April 1865 – 29 May 1939), in religion Maria Ursula of Jesus, was a Polish Catholic religious sister who founded the Ursulines of the Agonizing Heart of Jesus.
Ledóchowska was a prolific supporter of Polish independence which she often spoke about at conferences across Scandinavia while she settled in Russia for a time to open convents until her expulsion. She continued to found convents across Scandinavian countries and even translated a Finnish catechism. She later founded her order, which she managed from Rome at the behest of Pope Benedict XV.
Her death brought calls for a sainthood process, which was opened in 1981 despite diocesan investigations happening decades prior. The confirmation of her heroic virtue allowed for her to be named as Venerable in 1983; Pope John Paul II beatified her in Poznań in 1983 and later canonized her in Saint Peter's Square in 2003.