Details, via CNA:
Seven young women in Kirkuk credit the Virgin Mary for their safety after spending a harrowing eight hours hidden underneath beds while Islamic State group fighters used their room as a hideout during an assault on the city. “The Virgin Mary was with them,” Fr. Roni Momika told CNA Oct. 23. The priest, who ministers in refugee camps of Ankawa, Erbil in northern Iraq, was in cell phone contact with two of the girls while they hid under the beds. They gave him a play-by-play account of what was happening. Seven women, university students in Kirkuk, found themselves threatened by the Islamic State group’s assault on the city Friday, Oct. 21. “ISIS entered the house of our students, the girls,” the priest reported. When they heard the militants coming, the women quickly darted under four beds in one of the rooms, where they remained undiscovered for eight hours as ISIS fighters used the room as a refuge to eat, pray and hide from Iraqi Army forces. “I was speaking with them all the time,” Fr. Momika said, noting how there was “a strong girl” who told him “Father, I will continue speaking with you and tell you all our news and what ISIS is saying.” For the duration of their time there, the militants not only ate and prayed, but used the beds to care for two of their fighters who were wounded.
And today we celebrate...