Our Blessed Missionaries - Martyrs:
FEASTDAY: JUNE 12
The SVD is blest with four martyrs beatified on June 13, 1999. They are Louis Mzyk (1905-1940), Stanislaus Kubista (1890-1940), Aloysius Liguda (1892-1942), and Gregory Frackowiak (1911-1943). They are among the 108 beatified Polish martyrs who gave their lives during World War II.
World War II and the SVD
World War II is usually said to have begun in September 1939 with the German invasion of Poland. Some historians point back to the seizure of Manchuria and part of Mongolia by the Japanese in 1931-32 as the start of the global war. USA entered the war with the bombing of Pearl Harbor in 1941. In that same year, Japan invaded the Philippines. World War II was a holocaust, that is, a massive and widespread destruction. Human values were ignored and human dignity violated. Justice and peace and integrity of creation became meaningless. The war brought difficult times and trials for the whole church, although some local churches suffered more than others.
WW II came to an end in 1945 when Berlin fell to the Allies (France, Britain, USSR, and USA), when Hitler committed suicide, and when Japan surrendered in August when USA dropped atomic bombs in Hiroshima and Nagasaki
The SVD mission activities were drastically affected by WW II. Many SVDs in various mission countries were mercilessly persecuted and even put to death. German SVDs suffered in the hands of Chinese and American missionaries in the cruelty of Japanese. In the Philippines, William Finnemann, SVD Bishop of Calapan, was martyred by the Japanese in October 1942. His beatification process has started. More than a hundred German and Dutch Missionaries, including SSpS Sisters, were persecuted and martyred in Indonesia and Papua New Guinea.
The Church in Poland was a special target of Hitler who already came to power in 1933. Hitler’s Nazi ideology considered by the Poles of inferior race; besides, Poland was heavily populated by Jews. The Catholic Church stood on the way of Nazi ideology; it was a threat to the Nazi racist and militaristic policies. The Society of the Divine Word was already active in the evangelization of Poland.
The SVD in the Church in Poland
The Society of the Divine Word established its first house in Poland in 1922. In a short time, the Society spread throughout the country. When the war broke, there were 128 members, not counting the 45 priests and brothers who were sent to foreign ministries. SVD mission activities totally disappeared during the war. All SVD houses were confiscated and members imprisoned and persecuted. Twenty-three of them were killed mostly in concentration camps. Among these were the four beatified SVD martyrs, three priests, and one brother.
Their martyrdom was the consequence of their decision to witness the Word there and then. It was the fruit of their religious missionary vocation as SVDs. It was the dictate of Arnoldus spirituality. They were persecuted and murdered because they rejected the atheistic new world order of Nazism. They gave the highest form of witness possible: to give their lives for others and for the kingdom. “No one has greater love than this, to lay down one’s life for his friends.” (Jn 15:13)
Br. Gregory Frąckowiak, SVD (1911-1943).
Bro. Gregory Frackowiak was a religious brother. He was born and grew up in a small village in the vicinity of Poznan. He also came from a large and deeply religious family. In the novitiate he already manifested great joy in being an SVD missionary brother. He worked as a professional binder in the printing press.
Bro. Gregory had a special love for the poor who were his frequent visitors. He welcomed them warmly, had nice words for them, and gave them something to eat. He was known as “the friend of the poor.” When he made his final vows on September 8, 1938, he committed his life to witnessing the Word. In five years, he gave his life by dying for others.
When the war broke he had to leave the SVD community in Gorna Grupa because the place was converted into a concentration camp for priests. He spent time distributing anti-Nazi materials. His activity was later discovered by the Gestapo. He was arrested with many others and put in the prison of Dresden. Among those who was arrested were family men. Bro. Gregory saved their lives by assuming the whole responsibility for the anti- Nazi activities. He voluntarily offered his life as a substitute for others. He was beheaded at the age of 31, the youngest of the four SVD martyrs.
Bro. Gregory is the SVD version of St. Maximillian Kolbe, a Franciscan, who gave his life for someone else in the concentration camp of Auschwitz. They were both martyrs of the same war.
Fr. Stanislaus Kubista, SVD (1898-1940)
Fr. Stanislaus Kubista, like Fr. Mzyk, had the childhood dream of becoming a missionary. He first entered the seminary in Nysa before his novitiate and theological studies in St. Gabriel (Austria). He was ordained priest in May 1927. His peers saw him gentle, modest, faithful, and ever ready to do any sacrifice. He requested to be assigned missionary to either China, the Philippines, or Papua New Guinea, He took it nicely as the will of God for him when he was retained in Poland.
Fr. Kubista’s mission work was in the communications apostolate. Inspired by the Founder, he put up a printing press. Through the press apostolate the SVD became well known as a religious missionary congregation. His mission ended with the outbreak of the war. His press was dismantled, all his equipments were destroyed. In February 1940 he was brought to the concentration camp in Sachsenhausen. There he was brutally treated by forced labor. He died at age 42.
Fr. Luis (Ludwik) Mzyk, SVD (1905-1940)
Fr. Louis Mzyk was the first novice master of the young SVD Polish Province. After six years in the minor seminary in Nysa (Poland), he entered the novitiate and took studies in philosophy in St. Augustine (Germany). Because of his intellectual capacity he was sent to Rome for theological studies. After ordination in 1932, Louis remained in Rome for his doctorate in theology at the Gregorian University.
Fr. Mzyk hoped to go to the missions either in Japan or in China. His superiors, however, retained him in the Polish Province for formation work. He was well liked by the novices because of his simplicity, humility, and for being a community man.
In January 1940 the Gestapo rounded up the priests in the Poznan area. Fr. Louis was among those arrested and put to prison. He was martyred in the maximum security prison in Poznan. Before he was shot twice in the head, he was insulted, beaten, kicked, and dragged by the prison guard. He was only 35.
Fr. Aloysius Liguda, SVD (1898-1942).
Fr. Aloysius Liguda also started at the SVD minor seminary in Nysa. He proceeded to St. Gabriel for his novitiate and higher studies. He was ordained in 1927 and requested mission assignment to either China or Papua New Guinea. Like Frs. Mzyk and Kubista, the superiors sent him back to Poland instead. Fr. Liguda was of the intellectual type. Before his mission in the classroom he took university studies in literature and history.
Fr. Aloysius was well loved and appreciated as a teacher. His students remembered him as a good, kind, and an always well-prepared teacher. In addition to his full-time teaching he helped out in spiritual formation of seminarians by giving conferences and retreats. He was also confessor of various religious communities.
Fr. Aloysius was known for his sense of justice. Even at the concentration camp in Dachau he was never afraid to defend others. Because of this he was subjected to forced labor, beatings, hunger and other inhuman treatments. According to the eye witnesses he was drowned on December 9, 1942 along with nine other prisoners. He was 44 when he died.
FEASTDAY JUNE 12
Aside from their common witnessing by giving their lives to God and others, it is interesting to note the similarities in the lives of the four martyrs. They all come from big families, grew up in deeply religious family atmosphere, imbibed the missionary zeal at their early age, applied for foreign mission but were not granted by the Society, and were martyred in their youthful age.
Our four martyrs did not seek martyrdom. They simply lived radically the demand of their religious-missionary vocation during their time and in their place. May their example give us the courage to face thee various challenges and threats of mission work today. “Blessed are they who are persecuted for the sake of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of God.” (Mt 5:10
St. Arnold Janssen and St. Joseph Freinademetz Pray for us !
Blessed Maria Helena and Josefa Pray for us!
Blessed Luis Mzyk , Blessed Stanislaus Kubista , Blessed Aloysius Liguda and Blessed Gregory Frackowiak Pray for us!