[2] The Sisters of the Holy Family of Nazareth had arrived in Nowogródek, then part of the Second Polish Republic, in 1929 at the request of Zygmunt Łoziński, Bishop of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Pinsk.

[2] The Nazi terror in Nowogródek began in 1942 with the extermination of the town's Jewish population as part of Operation Reinhard.

After discussing the matter, the Sisters unanimously expressed their desire to offer their lives in sacrifice for the prisoners.

[3] At a secluded spot in the woods about 3 miles from the town, the eleven women were machine gunned to death and buried in a common grave.

Eventually, Banas located their grave, quietly tending to it and the parish church during the war years and during the post-war Soviet occupation, until her death in 1966.

[2][3][4] The beatification process for the eleven Religious Sisters was officially opened on 18 September 1991, and, on 28 June 1999, it was announced by the Congregation for the Causes of Saints of the Holy See that Pope John Paul II had confirmed that they were martyrs, having died for others in the name of the Catholic faith.