VATICAN CITY - Toiling quietly behind the scenes in Pope John Paul II's final hours were five Polish nuns who dedicated their lives to his service, beginning when he was Bishop Karol Wojtyla of Krakow.
Sisters Tobiana, Germana, Fernanda, Matylda and Eufrosyana, from the Servants of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, were "the pillars" that supported the pope, a Vatican insider told AFP.
Paragons of discretion and deference, three of them were among those at the 84-year-old pope's deathbed along with his private secretary Stanislaw Dziwisz and the pontiff's personal doctor Renato Buzzonetti, according to Vatican spokesman Joaquin Navarro-Valls, who did not name them.
Almost certainly present was Sister Tobiana. Described as "the pope's shadow," Tobiana is a qualified doctor and assists Buzzonetti.
"It takes just a glance from the pope for her to know what he wants," a Vatican source said.
Since the pope fell ill again on February 1 and until his death Saturday, Sister Tobiana had been by his bedside day and night.
Both she and Sister Germana had rooms in the pope's permanent suite at Rome's Gemelli clinic, where he had been hospitalized nine times in his 26-year papacy, including twice since February.
Sister Germana's vegetable pies -- especially spinach -- wowed the late Italian president Sandro Pertini, who was a regular at papal working luncheons and dinners when John Paul II was well enough to entertain guests.
Others fondly remember the carp served on Christmas Eve as a typical Polish delicacy.
For Polish visitors to the Vatican, the obligatory dishes included piroshki -- dumplings with meat or fruit filling -- pates, cheesecake and fish in aspic.
Sister Fernanda was in charge of the pope's pantry, replenishing it mainly with fruit, vegetables and milk from Castelgandolfo, the pontiff's summer holiday home just outside Rome.
John Paul II's wardrobe was the responsibility of Sister Matylda, who must have suffered immense humiliation during a papal visit to France, when a horrified French bishop gasped: "There's a smudge on the pontiff's robe!"
Sister Eufrosyna was the one who handled the pope's private correspondence, bringing him letters to sign.
At the Vatican, the five women were distinguished only by their old-fashioned dress, with "somewhat higher" cornets covering their hair, and by their proficiency in facilitating life for the ailing pontiff.
The Servants of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, who describe themselves as "a lay apostolate of the holy Roman Catholic Church ... loyal to the Magisterium of the Church and our Holy Father, Pope John Paul II," are active in charities that help children, the sick and the needy.
The group was founded in 1894 by Polish priest Joseph Sebastian Peczar, whom the pope beatified in 1991.
04/02/2005 20:44 GMT