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Mother Catherine Abrikosova, OPL
Anna Ivanovna Abrikosova was born on the 2nd of January 1883 in Moscow, into a family of the merchants. In 1903 she graduated from Girton College of Cambridge University, returned to Russia, and married Vladimir Vladimirovich Abrikosov. She was received into the Catholic Church on the 20th of December 1908, in Paris. In 1913 she was received into the Third Order of St. Dominic. In 1917 she became a foundress and leader of the community of Third Order sisters. In 1923 she was arrested together with the Sisters of her community and later sentenced to ten years of imprisonment. In 1932 she underwent surgery for breast cancer and was released because of the state of her health. In 1933 she was arrested again and sentenced to eight years in the camps. She died on the 23rd of June, 1936, in the hospital of the Butyrka prison in Moscow, and her body was cremated on the 27th of June, 1936.
Mother Catherine was prepared to accept martyrdom for Christ. When not long before her arrest it would have been possible for her to emigrate and go abroad she wrote: "None the less I prefer to live only the supernatural life and to realize up to the end my sacrificial vow for the priests and for Russia" In the camps and in the prisons she always retained her firmness in the confession of the Catholic faith. When it was possible she gave spiritual support to the Sisters of her community and the other prisoners.
The memory of her martyr's death is kept by many of the faithful in Russia and abroad, specifically among Russian Catholics of the Byzantine Rite and among several groups of Third Order Dominicans. In Russia, and outside Russia too, several publications have appeared about her. Many of the faithful offer prayers for her intercession.
Article about Mother Catherine
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