Almost one-hundred years ago, in 1919, a beautiful woman died of breast cancer. She was born in 1876, and, therefore, was only 42, dying before her 43rd birthday. A gentle woman of great intelligence, she was graced with many gifts. Among these were loveliness in face, eyes, hair and figure. She wrote and published, ran a household which included her six children and organized a life for a husband who had an international career.
Anna Dostalovou, nee Brzoradovou loved her country to the point of grief that she could not return. Her love of God sustained her through pain and suffering, as there were no operations to take away the disease.
In her dying days, she could not bear to see her baby as her heart was breaking. Her last words were, "Is there any news from home?"
This noble woman had not heard from her family regularly because of the Great War. She waited in the twilight hours of her life for a letter or a postcard from her brother, as her parents had passed away.
Eduard's card came just a day after she died. But, the secrets of her family died with her.
"The Little Jewess", as her fond husband called her, descended from a wealthy family in Bratislava, and her father or father's father had converted to Catholicism. Anna left her home at eighteen to go to the New World, after her mother and father died, and after her brother had given her permission to marry her beloved, who was already in northern Iowa.
Imagine a young woman of eighteen travelling by herself in 1894.
The secrets of her family died with her as she never spoke of her beloved family but waited to hear from them in the Old Country. And, her family went back to another country, far away, in dust and desert, where her God walked with His apostles.
Her mourning may have been increased by the distance of her past, her new nation, created in part, by her own husband. But, to that country of dark forests, beautiful rivers and hills, gentile manners and culture, she never returned.
Her people are still my people. Her genes form some of my genes. Her love of the Church and her place of birth is my love of Europe and the old ways. Anna is to me like the great Esther of the Bible, a regal figure of love and kindness, faith and courage, to be cherished forever in memory. Her Catholicism brought life into my family and her death brought a longing for completeness.
The Talmud states that Esther was called Hadassah for this reason:
Why was she called Hadassah? Because the righteous are called myrtles. As it states (Zechariah 1:8), “And he was standing among the myrtles
[the righteous prophets Chananiah, Mishael andAzariah].”
And the Midrash states this: Just as a myrtle has a sweet smell and a bitter taste, so too Esther was good and listened (“sweet”) to the righteous Mordechai, and was adverse (“bitter”) to the wicked Haman.
The name Esther has another meaning.
The name Esther (Heb. אסתר) is derived from the Hebrew word hester (Heb. הסתר), which means “hiddenness,”
A famous Rabbi wrote: Hadassah was the name of Queen Esther, who was not afraid to live among non-Jews and to show an example of how a Jew must be proud of his or her inheritance, and to live everyday life in the same direction, with happiness and much success.
All references are from here-http://goo.gl/kn4EtU
My great-grandmother's life was a hidden grace. I pray for her grief at not returning to Europe to be healed in me and that the long memory of her people be at peace in her. I pray that I may be worthy of her gifts and virtues.
Holiness in suffering may be hidden and may come in many forms. But, the Kingdom of God witnesses to many lives which suffered at a great cost for the building of this kingdom.
God bless Anna, and may her descendants honor her name, like her people honored a known lady of courage, St Esther.
