| Birth Date: | 26 April 1920 |
| Birth Place: | Žiar nad Hronom,Czechoslovakia |
| Death Place: | Nitra, Slovakia |
Rozália Danková (26 April 1920 – 14 August 2017) was a Catholic nun, member of the Daughters of Charity of Saint Vincent de Paul and writer, known for documenting prosecution of Christians in communist Czechoslovakia.
Rozália Danková, also known as Sister Stella, was born on 26 April 1920 in Žiar nad Hronom. Her father was disabled as a result of injury suffered in World War I so her mother was responsible for running the household as well as the family textile shop. She was the third child of her parents. Following high school graduation, at the age of 19, she became a novice at the Daughters of Charity convent in Ladce. As a nun, she took the name Stella. Along with her fellow nuns she worked as a nurse during the World War II.[1]
Following the 1948 Czechoslovak coup d'état, the Communist government concentrated over 300 nuns from different orders at the Ladce convent under the surveillance of the StB. Danková worked at the hospital in Trenčín until 1955, when the regime forbid members of religious orders from working in healthcare. Afterwards he worked in a nursing home in Čechy.[2] Danková's continued participation in monastic life led to persecution by the authorities. In 1958 she was arrested with three fellow sisters and sentenced to two and a half years in prison for "subverting the republic".[3] [4]
After her release from prison in 1960, she was not allowed to return home. Instead she was sent to work the village of Bílá Voda. During this time, she was able to complete training as a nurse to be able to better take care of aging nuns. During the Prague Spring, the persecution of Christians in Czechoslovakia eased and Danková was able to travel to Paris, where she worked at the headquarters of her order. Danková return to Czechoslovakia in 1977. After return, she worked at a nursing home in Přelouč. In 1983 she was repeatedly arrested, but not sentenced of any crime. Instead, the authorities ordered the entire order of Daughters of Charity to Bíla Voda. There, the nuns were tasked by the Church with production of sacramental bread for the entire Czechoslovakia. Danková was able to launch the production with the financial support from the Kirche in Not. The German organization refused to donate to the Communist regime and so the machinery was personally owned by Danková.
Following the Velvet Revolution, Danková placed the sacramental bread production under the management of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Olomouc and returned. There she taught at a nursing school in Nitra. After her retirement, she continued teaching French at the local seminary until 2013. Heeding the call of the Pope John Paul II to document the persecution of the Church by the Communists, she co-authored two books documenting the persecution of Catholics in Czechoslovakia.
Rozália Stella Danková died on 14 August 2017 at the age of 97. Her funeral mass was celebrated by the Bishop Viliam Judák on 19 August.[5]