Pope Francis mentioned Dezeer, a laywoman, during a meeting with local Church groups in Kazakhstan on September 15. Dezeer testified of his faith there when he was exiled to a labor camp in Kazakhstan. Her beatification process started a year ago.
(Vatican News Network)Lay Laity Dayda Dezeer comes from a respected family in the North Caucasus. Like many others, she was exiled to Kazakhstan in 1941 for forced labor on the grounds that she did not hide her beliefs. In 1949, she was arrested after a complaint and exiled to a labor camp. This camp is in the current Almaty region.
“I have seen deep faith and great courage in Dezeer’s life,” said Bishop Del Oro of the Diocese of Karaganda, Kazakhstan. No matter where she is, even in a labor camp, she is not afraid to live To profess the faith and testify to everyone. She often annoys the head of the camp because she talks about God and the faith to everyone. On Sundays, she organizes common prayers between Catholics and Lutherans. All this Attract people to her and follow her.” Last August, Bishop Del Oro started the beatification process for Dezeer.
In recent years, Bishop Del Oro has spoken to many people who know Dezeer and is now interviewing others. Someone told the bishop that after the death of Stalin in 1953, the release of the people in the labor camps began. One witness said Dezeer should have been the first to be released, because then people who stayed in the camp would not have come to faith through her.
Dezel was not really free, however, and was taken to a “special settlement” in Germany near Semey, where she was strictly regulated and forbidden to leave. Dezere was not worried, and she and her sister Valentina went secretly to a neighboring German-inhabited village. They went from house to house to baptize children and adults, giving them scriptures they had copied in secret. If the two of them are found, it means they will be forced to work for another 20 years.
Dezeer came to Karaganda in the late 1950s when the special settlement was abandoned. There she became a member of the Third Franciscan Order, fully dedicated to serving the many local believers until her death in 1971. Dezere is a model for the evangelization of the laity.
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