An Albanian nun who conducted several baptisms under communist persecution has died at the age of 92.
Sister Marije Kaleta risked her life to bring Holy Communion to the sick and dying under the regime of dictator Enver Hoxha. The communist government of Albania destroyed churches and martyred Catholics aiming to create an atheist state.
Albania is a country of 2.8 million people on southeastern Europe’s Balkan Peninsula, bordered by Montenegro, Kosovo, North Macedonia, and Greece. It was under communist rule from the 1940s to 1992.
In a meeting with Pope Francis in Albania in 2014, the Stigmatine sister shared the story of how she baptized babies in secret during this time of persecution.
Pope Francis was so moved by Kaleta’s story that he mentioned it in a homily four years later as “a beautiful example of the Church as a mother.”
“I baptized not only the children of the villages but also all those who showed up at my door,” Kaleta told the pope in the cathedral of Tirana.
She was a great example of faith under cruel Christian persecution.