She was born October 21, 1907, in
Studzienice near
Pszczyna. She came from a large and poor family. Katarzyna Szymon's memoirs reveal that as a child, when her father once again kicked her out of the house, she went to a roadside cross, where she allegedly experienced an
apparition. According to her account, she first heard a voice from heaven saying: "that her father would change." Her father actually converted after some time and joined the
Third Order of St. Francis. After the death of her father and stepmother, she was forced out of the family farm and had no permanent home. For a while she worked for farmers in Studzienice and
Poręba, lived in Pszczyna until 1976, then in
Łaziska near
Turza Śląska. From 1979 to 1986 she lived in
Kostuchna, Katowice on Karol Stabik Street in the home of Marta Godziek.
Stigmata According to reports, on March 8, 1946, the first Friday of
Lent, stigmatic wounds appeared in her body. She was also often said to experience visions of Jesus' passion in
ecstasy. According to Marta Godziek's account, when Katarzyna Szymon's wounds opened, it was accompanied by the smell of flowers. In addition to the
stigmata, she was said to have visions of the future, and claimed to communicate with the dead. She experienced visions during which, according to witnesses, she spoke languages foreign to her, such as
Hebrew and
Aramaic. During martial law, crowds of people gathered under the windows of the house where she lived.
Death Katarzyna Szymon died on August 24, 1986, in Katowice, Poland. The funeral took place on August 28. She was buried in the cemetery at Holy Trinity Parish in Kostuchna. The funeral ceremony was attended by tens of thousands of people. == Worship ==