Sister Asia

AFTER a short illness, Little Sister Asia, a member of the Order of the Little Sisters of Jesus, based in Bishopscourt, died on May 5 in the City Hospital, Belfast. Her passing was a tragic loss to her religious sisters and family, and received with shock and sadness in the wider Downpatrick community and far beyond.

Joanna-Beata Misiak was born in Osweicim, Poland in 1964. She graduated in Food Technology at Krakow University, and had post-graduate qualifications in Philosophy, Human Development and Leadership.  As a teenager, she excelled at sport, first as a shot-putter, then as a member of the Polish national swimming team, competing in the 1984 Olympics. 

Aged 25, she joined the Little Sisters, a religious community inspired by the life and writings of Blessed Charles de Foucauld, and founded in 1939 by Little Sister Magdeleine of Jesus (Madeleine Hutin).

There are about 1400 Little Sisters of Jesus scattered in small communities around the world. Asia worked in Poland, the Czech Republic, France, Italy, Algeria and the USA. For the past eight years she was a member of the community in Bishopscourt, and developed a love for Ireland and a passion for peace and reconciliation.

Living in small groups, the Little Sisters seek to lead a contemplative life in the midst of people. They are inspired by the thirty years Jesus spent in Nazareth, and by his humble birth in Bethlehem. Little Sisters understand Nazareth not as a particular place, but as the ordinariness of people’s lives. 

In that tradition, for over five years Asia worked joyfully as a cleaner and kitchen/ restaurant assistant in Paddy’s Barn in Saul, near Downpatrick. She enjoyed happy relationships with the Mustard Seed Group, Glebe House and all who came in contact with her.

She had a passion for people and wanted to engage closely with them, with no barriers of education or status.  She too aimed to live like Jesus at Nazareth, hidden in the ordinary. 

Asia, with her Little Sisters Helene, Claire and Emiko, brought something special to those who know them. Living together from Poland, France, Belgium and Japan, they see themselves as witnesses to the divine project of peace for all the nations. Day by day they have surmounted personality and cultural differences.  

Thinking big, acting small, in the words of the poet Patrick Kavanagh, they fill “the bits and pieces of everyday” with God’s gentle presence.  Their lives have been “a pearl necklace around the neck of poverty”.

Asia’s surname, Misha, means Teddy Bear in Polish, an appropriate reflection of such a hugely loving and loveable personality, who lit up a room when she entered.  Inspired by the Holy Spirit, she joyously pursued her ministry of Christ-centred friendship, love and reconciliation…welcoming and forging connections between people of all faiths and of none. 

In recent months Asia was seeking a new job, to continue to be a worker among workers. She applied without success to Tesco, Lidl, Sports Direct, Home Bargains and to Translink.  She had an ambition to get a job as a postman, and actually got a call for interview from the Post Office during her brief final illness.  But God had other work for Asia.

She was devastated in a short time by an aggressive cancer.  Her tragic death made the whole local community keenly aware of the depth at which Asia and the Little Sisters had touched  them.

Asia’s mother, Rosalia, and her two sisters, Goshia and Anete, came from Poland to see her in Dundonald Hospital as her health rapidly declined.  She was delighted that her mother felt so welcomed among the people of Dunsford and South Down. They returned for the funeral at which Little Sisters from across Europe and friends from far and near gathered. 

The service at St. Nicholas’ Church,  Ardglass, was concelebrated by seven priests, including Bishop Tony Farquhar, Fr. Gerry McCloskey, P.P., and the Little Sisters’ pastor, Fr. Gerry Reynolds of Clonard.  It was a joyful celebration in English and Polish.

At Asia’s request, she was buried in nearby Dunsford cemetery. Paddy’s Barn shut for the day to host the reception for their beloved worker, making Asia the only Polish nun ever to have closed an Irish pub.

After the burial her sister, Gosia, asked us not to forget to visit her grave, to keep that Polish custom alive. The Little Sisters’ ministry in Bishopscourt continues unabated, but tinged with sadness at the unexpected loss of such a loving presence, and faithful servant of Jesus of Nazareth. May she rest in peace.

Asia’s Month’s Mind mass will be held in St Mary’s Church, Dunsford, at 10am on Tuesday, June 2.