Triple Novena

Finally, a book that helps the friends of Walter Ciszek to seek his intercession in their needs and pray with his extraordinary experiences in Russia!

Finally, a book that helps the friends of Walter Ciszek to seek his intercession in their needs and pray with his extraordinary experiences in Russia! Preceded by the first introduction to He Leadeth Me, this book offers three novenas, based on Father Walter's unpublished writings. Each novena is set in a distinct setting, with its own test of faith: Lubyanka Prison, the Siberian work camps, and the northern town of Norilsk. There, appropriate with the three novenas, God revealed himself as miracle-worker, giving Walter Ciszek the grace he needed in each moment. In the appendix, the reader finds a selection of memories of co-editor, Sister Rosemary Stets. They show Father Walter as he was- a holy priest, a sure guide, a dear friend to all who sought his acquaintance. The book is illustrated with paintings from the Gulag Collection by Nikolai Getman (1917-2014). Heartbreaking and at the same time full of hope, they reflect perfectly the experiences of Walter Ciszek, which the reader is invited to share, so as to obtain similar graces.

For 23 years in the midst of the Cold War, Father Walter J. Ciszek helped keep faith alive behind the Russian Iron Curtain. Following Polish refugees in the hope of tending to their spiritual needs, Father Ciszek entered Russia on March 19, 1940. One year later, he was arrested by the secret police and spent five years in solitary confinement in Lubianka prison in Moscow. Following his imprisonment, he was sent to the Siberian slave-labor camps above the Arctic Circle. Finally released from the prison camps in 1955 and given restricted freedom, Father Ciszek worked in factories and as an auto mechanic. During this time, he served as a priest to Russian families. Working as secretly as possible, Father Ciszek celebrated Mass, baptized both infants and adults, and served as a "parish" priest for a congregation spiritually hungry and willing to risk arrest and imprisonment. In 1963, Father Ciszek was exchanged along with another American for a Russian couple held for espionage. Upon his return to the United States, Father Ciszek wrote With God in Russia and He Leadeth Me, two books that chronicled his experiences. He also became an internationally known director of the Ignatian Spiritual Excercises. The last 21 years of Father Ciszek's life were devoted to working with the American family and clergy and religious communities of brothers, priests, and sisters. His counseling and retreat work were marked by simplicity in method and humility of heart. His own suffering allowed him to empathize easily with the sufferings and struggles of others. Faith, trust and prayer were the keys to his survival in Russia...constant joy, kindness, peace and patience were the fruits of his faith.