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SISTER IRENE BURZYNSKI, O.S.B.
Born: Jun 28, 1938
Date of Passing: Oct 21, 2023
Send Flowers to the Family Offer Condolences or MemorySISTER IRENE BURZYNSKI, O.S.B.
On Saturday, October 21, 2023, Sr. Irene Burzynski died peacefully at St. Boniface Hospital, Winnipeg, Manitoba Canada.
Sr. Irene was born in Karazum, Kostopol, Poland on June 28, 1938, just before the outbreak of the Second World War. Her parents were Bronislaw and Frances Burzynski. She was the older of two children, having a brother Andy, eight years her junior. Irene and her family were taken from Poland to Germany in 1943 and lived in several refugee camps until 1949 when they were accepted to immigrate to Canada under a contract to work on a sugar beet farm for two years in Lettelier, Manitoba. When the contract was completed the family moved to Winnipeg where Sr. Irene then attended Holy Ghost School.
Sr. Irene entered the Monastery of the Sisters of St. Benedict on August 22, 1957, and made her first Monastic profession on August 29, 1959, and perpetual profession on September 1, 1962. She was a prayerful, compassionate person. Throughout her life she identified most keenly with the Exodus story. The family had only one book in their possession in Germany. Her father taught Irene to read from the Bible. The exodus story always touched her and was her favourite.
Sr. Irene’s education included a Bachelor of Arts and Bachelor of Education in special education at the University of Manitoba; a master’s degree in special education from the University of San Francisco; a spirituality CREDO program certificate from Gonzaga University, a spiritual leadership program in Chicago, and a master’s degree in pastoral studies at Loyola University.
Her ministries over the years embraced teaching in a public school in Winnipeg, a Catholic Separate school in Oyen, Alberta, and serving as a consultant to blind students in the Calgary Catholic schools for 20 years, ministering as a volunteer coordinator at St. Joseph’s Personal Care Home, Winnipeg. She served as director of personnel, sub-prioress and lastly prioress of the monastery for eight years. In the year 2008 when Irene’s term as prioress came to an end, she and a companion went on a sabbatical to Rome, Poland and Germany, tracing her roots and life experience as a child. Upon her return from her travels, she was appointed formation director and secretary-treasurer for the Sisters of St. Benedict, a position she held until her retirement.
Sr. Irene was preceded in death by her parents, her much beloved grandmother Elizabeth, grandfathers, Martin and Felix, and uncles, Fred and Andrew. She is survived by her Benedictine community, her brother Andrew and wife Jane, nephew Jeff, niece Kate and their families, several cousins and many co-workers and friends.
Sister Irene’s cremated remains will arrive at the Monastery just prior to a private Evening Prayer service on Thursday, October 26, 2023. The Mass of Christian Burial will be celebrated on Friday, October 27, 2023, at 11:00 a.m. at the Monastery Chapel, 419 Youville Street, with Father Richard Arsenault presiding. Sister Dorothy Levandosky, canonical administrator, will lead the private interment in the Monastery cemetery at a later time.
Flowers are gratefully declined. Memorial donations may be made to the Sisters of St. Benedict, 419 Youville Street, Winnipeg, MB R2H 2T4.
The Sisters of St. Benedict express their gratitude to the ambulance and paramedic personnel who responded so promptly and graciously, as well as to the medical staff at St. Boniface Hospital Emergency for their compassionate care.
As published in Winnipeg Free Press on Oct 25, 2023
Condolences & Memories (1 entries)
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Expressing our deepest condolences Andy, your immediate family along with the entire Burzynski family, on the untimely passing of Sister Irene. What a beautiful story of this spiritual woman who dedicated her life to Our Lord Jesus Christ. Andy, what an honor it must be to have your biological sister become a Spiritual Sister who accomplished so many things in life serving Our Father in Heaven. Sister Irene has earned her golden wings and is now looking down on you from Heaven. Living in a rural setting, prior to the time I was old enough to attend catechism, my parents provided two weeks of accommodations for two Sisters while they taught catechism to the children of our small parish. A treasured forever memory in my life. We literally lived in the church yard as the previous owners of our home donated an acre of land so a church could be built at the crossroads. My parents were the first couple to be married in this church. Little did they know, at the time, that in five years they would purchase the 19 acres where they would spend the rest of their lives raising their four daughters, in the shadow of the church gathering the roots of our Christian faith. With my mother's parents living a short distance, my Baba became the head Sisterhood of our church, doing the precious work of beautifying the interior for every Mass and indeed every special celebration. Those were the days we love and cherish. God Bless you Andy and your family, during the lose of your Sister Irene. "She is not gone, she is just away." With Sympathy, Valerie and Tony Kent from the Okanagan Valley. - Posted by: Valerie Kent (Andy's Former Coworker ) on: Feb 16, 2024
