Homily for Memorial of the Salesian Polish Martyrs

Homily for the Memorial of the
Salesian Martyrs of Poland

June 12, 2021
2 Cor 5: 14-21
Provincial House, New Rochelle, N.Y.

The Salesian ordo (liturgical calendar) allows an option for today's celebration: either Immaculate Heart of Mary or the 5 young martyrs of the Poznan Salesian oratory.

“The love of Christ impels us” (2 Cor 5: 14).

Paul’s “us” possibly means himself and Timothy, in whose name, too, this letter was written.  Christ’s love is the driving force in their apostolic ministry.  “Us” could also mean all of the Christian community at Corinth, all for whom Christ died, all who are called to live for him.

It was that living for Christ, that being impelled or driven by Christ, that made the difference in the lives of Francis Kesy, Chester Jozwiak, Edward Kazmierski, Edward Klinik, and Jarogniew Wojciechowski.  (I tried and failed to find an English equivalent for “Jarogniew,” as well as trying and probably failing to pronounce these names correctly.)

As you know, these 5 youths were leaders in the Salesian oratory at Poznan, one of Poland’s largest and oldest cities.  The youngsters of the oratory engaged in all the usual Salesian activities, religious, cultural, recreational, including singing in their parish choir, and summer camp activities that included singing in other parish churches.

Germany invaded Poland and launched WWII on Sept. 1, 1939.  Within a few months, if not weeks, the oratory and numerous other religious and civic activities were shut down.  But our 5 blesseds continued to lead activities secretly in the woods, the fields, and gardens.  They knew they were in danger from that even tho they weren’t directly challenging the Nazi authorities.  But the love of Christ impelled them.

For the Gestapo, an indirect challenge, even suspicion, was sufficient cause to arrest Polish civilians.  So in September 1940, Francis, the 2 Edwards, Chester, and Jarogniew were arrested separately.  At that time they were 19, 20, 21, 21, and 17 years old, respectively—3 of them not even legally adults.  They were jailed, interrogated, tortured, and moved to different prisons.  Sometimes 2 of them would be together; at other times they were totally separated from each other tho not from other prisoners.  A constant concern was how their friends were faring, as well as how their families, especially younger siblings, were holding up at home.

“In Christ, the old things have passed away; behold, new things have come” (5:17).  For St. Paul, the old things were the Law and rabbinic traditions.  For the Corinthians, they were the pagan gods and their pagan ways of life.  In Poland, the Nazis announced a new world order, the 1,000-year reich (empire).  For our oratorians, Christ’s new order, already 1,900 years old, remained the guiding rule.  But their old things had passed away:  the freedom and joy of the oratory and their family lives, the oratory’s public worship and service to the community.  In prison, there was a new order:  sharing faith and prayer in very limited circumstances, encouraging and cheering up each other when possible, and other prisoners too, and their families when they were able to smuggle out some correspondence.

So they lived for 23 months, shuttled around, eventually no longer harassed or tortured, ever hopeful of eventual release, always aware that they might face death.  They remained faithful to the prayers they’d learned at the oratory:  morning and evening, Rosary, novenas to Don Bosco and MHC, and the Church’s cycle of feasts.

“We are ambassadors for Christ” (5:20).  Paul and Timothy preached publicly and reminded the Christian community that they too represented Christ in their daily lives.  Our 5 young men necessarily had to do that in secret even before their arrests, and of course once they were imprisoned—altho they made no attempt to hide who they were within the confinement of their cells.

The end came rather suddenly:  they were shipped back to Poznan and summarily tried for treason—against the Reich, not Poland—and condemned.  By then their ages ranged from 19 to 23.  They were transported to Dresden in Germany for execution.  As you may read in the Divine Office, they were joyful about that, consoled by the opportunity for the sacraments and by their date being set for the 24th of August (1942).  Having lived for Christ, been tortured like him and jailed for him, they died heroically for him.  Their final ambassadorship for Christ cam in the secrecy of the prison yard by guillotine.  To the end, they counted on Christ to “redeem their lives from destruction, to crown them with kindness and compassion” (Ps 103:4).

The yard of the prison in Dresden where the executions were carried out.

In 1999 St. John Paul II beatified Francis, Chester, the 2 Edwards, and Jarogniew with 103 other Polish martyrs sacrificed by the Third Reich.  All 108 are commemorated on June 12.