of the Blessed Sacrament
(Marianna Zalewska)
February 10, 1913 – July 23, 2004
Sacred Heart Province
Des Plaines, Illinois
“How I wish I could spend my entire life before the Blessed Sacrament and die there to pass from adoration on earth into eternal adoration in heaven.” (Words of Mother Foundress)
Sister Godwin was born in Chicago, February 10, 1913, baptized Marianna on February 16, at St. Hedwig Church. She was the daughter of Susanna (Wojtach) and Alexander Zalewski, who immigrated to the United States from Poland. Sister grew up with her older sisters, Bernice and Helen and her brother Stanley, who died at the age of two. Regina, John and Josephine were younger. In 1924, her parents adopted Anthony who became one of the Zalewski children.
When Sister Godwin expressed her desire to enter Nazareth to Sister Zdzislawa, her eighth grade teacher, her mother revealed a secret she held in her heart since Sister was a year old. During the interview with Sister Zdzislawa and her mother, regarding Marianna’s entrance to Nazareth her mother told her this story. At the age of one, you were seriously ill and I had bargained with God for your life and so handed you over to the Lord. Now when the Lord is pressing me to the wall, I can do absolutely nothing but surrender you quietly to Him. On August 15, 1927, in the anguish of a mother’s heart once again she was given to the Lord, thus beginning a long and grace-filled life in Nazareth.
Sister Godwin spent her novitiate in Des Plaines. She made her first profession of vows on July 17, 1930. On May 1, 1937, Sister surrendered her entire being to the service of the Lord and the Church, vowing to live her life in total Poverty, Chastity, and Obedience, taking the Blessed Sacrament as her mystery, a commitment she lived faithfully for seventy-seven years.
Sister attended Holy Family Academy, received her Bachelor of Arts degree from De Paul University, a Master of Arts degree in History from Marquette University. She did post graduate studies at Ann Arbor University, where she received a degree in Educational Gerontology.
All who lived and worked with Sister remember her gentle, warm smile, her attention to detail, her ability to speak eloquently in English and Polish. She was always very refined and called a “real lady.” Everything about Sister was simple elegance. Her gentle spirit touched the lives of many people in different places around the world. Her assignments included Assumption BVM, St. Francis Assisi, St. Ann, and St. John the Baptist in the Archdiocese of Chicago. She was assigned principal and local superior at St. Margaret Mary, Neenah, Wisconsin, and superior in Dallas Texas. Sister also worked in the missions in Montgomery, Alabama.
In 1960, Sister was sent to Sydney Australia where she was the vice provincial of the newly founded province. Sister spent thirteen years in Australia. As vice provincial, the Sisters recall her conferring with each of them at the time of visitation by the shores of the Indian Ocean, only several blocks away from the convent. This was just another indication of her love for nature and her serene spirit. Several weeks before Sisters death, she prepared a history of Marayong and a congratulatory letter for the 50th anniversary of its founding.
Upon returning to the United States, she taught history at Holy Family Academy; in 1979, she became a member of the Provincial Administration and served in this capacity for ten years. During this time she used her expertise and knowledge of gerontology to instruct the Sisters about Retirement Reality. While a member of the Administration, with the help of several Sisters, she founded the provinces first group of Associates. She held the position of director unti1 1998. It was also during this time, she ventured out to a little town in Evansville, Indiana, as pastoral associate. In 1989, she became the local superior at Immaculate Heart of Mary, Chicago. On July 1, 1995, Sister returned to the Provincialate, where she continued her work with the Associates. The Archdiocese became aware of her ability to speak and translate the Polish language and requested her services as a field advocate for facilitating petitions for annulments of Church marriages, a job she took very seriously and performed with great diligence.
In reviewing her life we know that God was truly pleased with her work. But that was not the only side of Sister Godwin. Sister was a woman of deep faith and prayer. She was gentle and always bore a very warm smile along with a twinkle in her eye. She was pleasant, well organized and kind. Sister was a great historian, an avid storyteller and reader. She loved to spend time working crossword puzzles, playing cards or Scrabble. In her spare time and for a little diversion she loved to shop and visit antique shops. She had a great love for the sick and the elderly sisters. When she was Director of Retirement, she visited the Sisters at Nazarethville very often, planned programs and outings for them. She was a great advocate of the Sisters and very solicitous about their needs in order to bring joy and meaning to their lives. In November, 2002, Sister Godwin’s health and strength began to fail. She requested a transfer to Nazarethville. She returned to the home where she was its first administrator in 1974. Her days were spent visiting the Sisters, reading and playing Scrabble. Each day she took a few minutes to write in her journal and diary that included daily events, doctor visits, family or friends who came to visit. Sister would end each entry of the visit with ... “added joy to my life.”
July 23 began as an ordinary day for Sister Godwin. She enjoyed breakfast and lunch with the Sisters and residents, played Scrabble in the afternoon, and joined the group for supper. Sister loved to surprise others and that evening she surprised everyone. In her quiet, gentle, unobtrusive manner, she informed Sister Lucille that she was not feeling well. Breathing became difficult and while Father Manny anointed her, she quietly slipped away to the Lord she loved and served for ninety-one years of her life and seventy-seven years as His faithful spouse. She was truly a gem to Nazareth, a light to many and God gave us a simple sign that He took her home...as she breathed her last...the light above her bed went out...but the love she spread will live on forever in our hearts. At the beginning of her “Life Portrait,” Sister wrote, “We grow from our roots. ...We are much better as we look at our past...rather than in prophesying the future. ...” She called her story “...The Mystery of Who I Am in the Light of My Experience.” Her experience of God and Nazareth was truly a light...a light that will spread and live in and through the many lives that she touched.
Digitized by S. Brendan O'Brien, CSFN, MA
School of Arts & Sciences
History Department
Holy Family University
9801 Frankford Avenue
Philadelphia, PA 19114
215-637-7700 x3279
srbrendan@holyfamily.edu
http://web3.holyfamily.edu/srbrendan
Last updated: February 2006