Kunegunda Siwiec was born in Siwcowka, diocese of Krakow, in 1876, the ninth of ten children of the Siwiec family. She was called by all by the diminutive of Kundusia.
She breathed in the serenity of the landscape and her family, whose father, even in old age, went out to the pasture whistling and singing, and in the evening he was enchanted admiring the nuances of the sunset, while sitting in front of the house. Kundusia learned to read and to sign by participating, in the winter months, in a kind of «evening school», in which her teachers were the most educated inhabitants in the village. On the other hand, she grew up determined, strong-willed and deeply religious, with a boyfriend, whom she cared about a lot and with whom she was already making marriage plans.
The turning point of her life came in 1896, while taking part in a popular mission preached by a Redemptorist priest: Kundusia, with her 20 years and marriage in sight, suddenly discovered her vocation: «to live in the world, but only for Christ». She thus reorganized her life around this ideal, giving absolute priority to spiritual things. She began by enrolling in the Apostolate of Prayer, then attended a catechesis course preparing the highland girls for marriage and children for first communion. Finally she joined the Carmelite Third Order. In the village they observed her gradual metamorphosis, from a girl «like every other» to one more and more «of Jesus»: they did not know, but they could guess that behind all this there was a great intimacy with paradise, arising and supported by long hours of «heart to heart» prayer with Jesus.
In 1929 she offered the land that would have been her inheritance to build an "educational centre": a regular school, in short, the one she was never able to attend, run by qualified nuns, who moreover took care of the education of children and adults. Attached to the Centre a chapel was also built and it was only from that year, therefore, that Kundusia had the joy and opportunity of attending daily Mass. The Eucharist gave wings to her spirituality and increased her intimacy with Jesus. It is not known exactly when, but, particularly after communion, she began to have «interior locutions». Kundusia revealed this to her confessor only in 1942, with some embarrassment, admitting that this had been happening for some time. This gradually led her to mature the decision to offer her life in reparation for the sins of the world and to grow in her a complete self-giving, in union with the sacrifice of Jesus on the cross.
To Kundusia began to flow simple and cultured people, priests and religious for advice, spiritual help, and encouragement to good: everyone received from this illiterate woman what they needed. Entering her house they would find her engaged with her brothers in reading mystical works, which she commented on with a depth and competence that amazed even the best of theologians. Her complete union with Jesus reached its climax with the joyful acceptance of suffering: in 1948 she was struck by a bone tumour with widespread metastases, bringing unspeakable suffering hidden behind her usual smiling and playful attitude. Everything was offered in reparation for the sins of the world, all lived in union with the sacrifice of the cross.
Despite excruciating pain, she died peacefully on June 27, 1955.
The Diocesan Inquiry into her "Life, Virtue and Fame for Holiness" was opened on 21st of December 2007 and closed on 28th of October 2011 at the Archdiocese of Krakow. The decree of validity was granted on March 1st, 2013.
