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15 August 2019, 14:35

Belarus to open commemorative plaque for Maria Kaczynska

MINSK, 15 August (BelTA) - The Church of St. Andrew the Apostle in the town of Naroch will unveil a commemorative plaque for Maria Kaczynska, the wife of Polish President Lech Kaczynski, BelTA learned from catholic.by.

Maria Kaczynska, who died in a plane crash together with her husband near Smolensk in 2010, was baptized in this church 77 years ago.

Maria Helena Mackiewicz (Maria Kaczynska) was born on 21 August 1942 in Makhovo, near Kobylnik (now the village of Naroch) and was baptized on 27 September of the same year in the local Church of St. Andrew by priest Casimir Pawlowicz, the head of the Kobylnik parish. There is a record about this in the church book of the St. Bernard parish in Sopot (Poland) where the future presidential couple married.

The local church has been recognized the only suitable place to honor her memory in Naroch since Maria's parental house has not survived. The Polish Embassy in Belarus came up with this initiative and applied to the appropriate government agencies and the Church of St. Andrew the Apostle.

With the official permission and the consent of the Roman Catholic Church obtained, the sketch of the plaque was designed and approved. It resembles an open book with a cross on top and an inscription below in the Belarusian and Polish languages that reads: Maria Kaczynska (nee Mackiewicz), born on 21 August 1942 in Makhovo, the wife of Polish President Lech Kaczynski, was baptized in this church on 27 September 1942.

A ceremony to unveil the commemorative plaque will be dedicated to the 77th birthday of Maria Kaczynska and will be held in the Church of St Andrew on Thursday, 22 August, at 18.30 during the Holy Mass to be led by Metropolitan of Minsk and Mogilev Archbishop Tadeusz Kondrusiewicz.

The ceremony will be attended by official representatives of Poland. They said that the country keeps the memory of Lech and Maria Kaczynski, and that the opening of the commemorative plaque in Maria's hometown will contribute to the development of fraternal relations between the peoples of Belarus and Poland who share centuries-old history.

The Polish delegation composed of 88 people died in a plane crash on 10 April 2010. Officials, public figures and members of the clergy of different denominations were on their way to Katyn Memorial to honor the memory of their compatriots. The crash killed Polish President Lech Kaczynski and his spouse Maria.

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