Today, March 30, in addition to Holy Saturday (previously Holy Saturday), the Catholic calendar celebrates the day of the blessed María Restituta Kafka, virgin and martyr, unfortunately little known among believers and even less so among unbelievers. But, since her life was quite interesting and instructive, we will explain it. She was born in Moravia and, when she was two years old, she moved to Vienna along with her parents and her five siblings. As a young girl she worked as a maid and as a saleswoman in a tobacconist. She later went on to work as a nurse. She entered the Hospital Congregation of the Franciscans of Christian Charity. She became head nurse of the operating room at the Mödling hospital.
The problems began when Adolf Hitler came to power and, thanks to the Anschluss, Germany annexed Austria. Kafka (the Restituta, not the other) was a firm opponent of the Nazis. She said that Hitler was a madman and also hung crucifixes in the hospital rooms. A doctor reported her to the authorities. The Gestapo arrested her, not only for hanging crucifixes, but also for having written a poem mocking Hitler. She was sentenced to death and in 1943 she was guillotined. Many decades later, the glorious Pope John Paul II beatified her.
If I had had a daughter, I would have liked to baptize her with the name Restituta Kafka. Just as the children who were baptized as José Oriol were simply called Oriol, I would have called my Restituta Kafka Kafka and that was that.
–Kafka, put down the Super Mario and let's eat!
In the same way that there are Franciscan, Dominican, Benedictine or Poor Clare religious congregations, so that their figure does not fall into oblivion, some good soul should found a Congregation of Kafkaesque Sisters, or something similar.
