All Dominican Saints

The month of November brings to our minds the important doctrine regarding the Communion of Saints. Just as the Universal Church celebrates All Saints and All Souls at the beginning of November, so many religious Orders have their own celebrations. Today the Dominican Order celebrates all the Saints of our Order, and tomorrow we will remember all our deceased. For the intention of prayer for this month, Pope Benedict XVI has designated the Eastern Churches. He said when he gave this intention "that the Eastern Catholic Churches and their venerable traditions may be known and esteemed as a spiritual treasure for the whole Church." with this in mind we decided to bring up the life of Mother Catherine Abrikosova and her Russian Byzantine Dominican community. She and some of her Sisters are considered martyrs under Communism and their causes have been introduced in Rome by the Archdiocese of the Mother of God in Moscow. Not many outside Russia know about these Sisters, not even Dominicans, as so far there is no life of hers in English. But with the help of God, we hope that this work, which is in progress, will be accomplished soon!

Anna Abrikosova was born in Moscow, becoming an orphan shortly after birth. Her mother died in childbirth, while her father was also dying of tuberculosis. He died a few days later. Fortunately the Abrikosov family was a large loving one and her aunt and uncle, although with a large family themselves, adopted her and her brothers as their own. The family still exists in Russia and still own the confectionary business that made them famous. She studied at Cambridge because in Russia revolutionaries made university life quite dangerous. Shortly after her return she married her cousin and they spent the next ten years traveling in Western Europe. While the family was deeply Orthodox the younger generation, like almost all their fellows, were quite oblivious of God. One day while Anna and her husband Vladimir were walking the streets of Paris they simultaneously had a powerful vision:

Looking at the people walking about, they suddenly saw walking skeletons with torn clothes instead of real persons. They started thinking of their spiritual life, neglected up to that moment.

The Church they began to attend in Paris was a Dominican one, and soon they both began to read St. Catherine of Siena and St. Thomas Aquinas. They felt very drawn to Dominican life and wondered if they should enter religious life. They entered the Dominican Laity and traveled to Rome, where they had an audience with Pope Pius X. They were hoping that he would allow them to become Roman Catholics, but he refused them this permission. He reminded them of his letter Dignitatis Orientalis, and said that since Russians belong to the Byzantine Rite, they should remain in the Byzantine Rite. They accepted this decision and it radically changed their lifes, as well as that of Russian Catholics. (This rule of Pope St. Pius remains in effect till this day) At that point they were summoned home to Russia. A few years later they were able to return to Rome and make Final Profession as Dominican Laity by the Procurator General. In Russia at that time being a Byzantine Catholic was full of suffering. Many Latin rite priests sought to bring all Russians into the Latin rite despite the teaching of the Pope. Vladimir was ordained a priest (which is possible in the Eastern rite) and Anna, taking the name of Catherine, started a Third Order of Dominican Sisters. There was already in Russia a Byzantine rite Dominican Laity community. With the takeover of Russia by Lenin and the Bolsheviks they knew great suffering was to come to them and Mother Catherine and the Sisters took a vow to offer their lives as victims for Russia. God accepted their vows and in 1923 they were all arrested. Then began the long martyrdom of Mother Catherine and her Sisters. Mother Catherine herself died in prison in 1936. Fr. Vladimir was sentenced to death but this was communted to perpetual exile. The Sisters spent most of the following years in and out of prisons and labor camps until 1954, quite a few of them dying as martyrs. Some day we hope to share the lives of some of the Sisters as well. What witnesses they are!