Page 23 - Michael August 2021

Cardinal Stefan Wyszynski

Giant of Faith in Poland

Will Be Beatified on September 12, 2021

Cardinal Stefan Wyszynski (1901-1981), called the mother-in-law was very kind to him and his siblings,
“primate of the millennium” (because he had presided he missed his mother very much.
over in 1966 the grandiose ceremonies of the millen- Stefan began his studies for the priesthood in
nium of Christianity in Poland, with the baptism of King 1917 at the Włocekawek Seminary, and was ordained
Mieszko I in 966), is considered as a national hero in a priest by Bishop Owczarek on August 3, 1924, on
Poland just like his compatriot Pope Saint John Paul II, his 23rd birthday. After a year of work in a parish, he
for having, among other things, contributed to the fall undertook further studies at the Catholic University of
of Communism. He will be officially declared blessed Lublin. There he studied canon law and Catholic social
by the Catholic Church on September 21, 2021 in War- sciences. In 1929, his dissertation in Canon Law was
saw. entitled The Rights of the Family, Church and State to
On October 2, 2019, Pope Francis recognized a Schools.
miracle due to the intercession of the late cardinal — a The social doctrine of the Church
19-year-old young woman with an incurable thyroid After graduation, he traveled to Italy, France, Bel-
tumor was cured in 1989 thanks to the intercession gium, the Netherlands and Germany to further his
of the servant of God. Her cancer has never returned education on Catholic social sciences. After returning
since. This recognition of the miracle thus gave the to Poland, Father Wyszynski served in many different
green light for the cardinal’s beatification, which was places. He worked as a parish vicar, was editor-in-chief
initially scheduled for June 7, 2020, but due to the of the monthly Ateneum Kapłanskie for the clergy, and
coronavirus pandemic, the ceremony was postponed professor at the Włocławek Seminary. There too, he
until September 2021. organized a Christian workers’ university, where he
by Thérèse Tardif taught Catholic social sciences.
His Childhood World War II
Stefan Wyszynski was born on August 3, 1901 After World War II broke out, the Gestapo began
in Zuzela as the second of five children of Stanisław to search for him. His bishop, Most Rev. Michał Kozal
Wyszynski, organist, and Julianna Karp, who died on (who died in the Dachau concentration camp in 1943,
October 10, 1910. Stefan was then 9 years old. (Karol and was declared blessed by John Paul II in 1987) or-
Wojtyła, the future Pope John Paul II, was the same dered him to leave Włocławek so that he could avoid
age when he lost his mother.) being arrested by the Nazis. Father Wyszynski then or-
ganized underground education. During the Warsaw
Uprising, he was chaplain of the insurgents’ hospital in
Laski, and of the Zoliborz military district of the Armia
Krajowa, the Polish underground resistance organisa-
tion. He escaped death ten times.
When Father Wyszynski returned to Włocławek
after the end of the war, he found there a serious
shortage of priests: 2,500 priests in Poland had been
killed or sent to extermination camps. Father Wyszyn-
ski then moved to Włocławek’s seminary as rector,
teacher, spiritual father and director. He was also the
chief editor of a Catholic weekly.
Bishop
The then Polish Primate, Cardinal August Hlond,
knew that, in these difficult times, Poland needed
Stanisław and Julianna Wyszynski with their children reliable bishops who could keep the faith and hope
(from left to right): Stanisława, Janina, Stefan (the future among the faithful and educate the youth. In 1946,
primate) and Anastasia. Photo taken in 1906. he proposed the name of Father Wyszynski who, on
A year later, his father married Eugenia Podlew- March 25 of the same year, was appointed bishop
ska, a good friend of his first wife. Although Stefan’s of Lublin by Pope Pius XII. On May 12, 1946, he was u

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