Martyrdom Cause of 9 Polish Salesians Moves Ahead

Theological Consultants Approve Positio super Martyrio of Salesians Jan Swierc and Companions

(ANS – Vatican City – December 5, 2024) – On December 3, the theological consultants of the Dicastery for the Causes of Saints, during their special meeting, answered in the affirmative regarding the Positio super martyrio of the Servants of God Jan Swierc and 8 Companions, priests of the Society of St. Francis de Sales, killed out of hatred for the faith in the Nazi death camps in 1941-1942. The Positio had been delivered on July 21, 2022, with Fr. Szczepan Tadeusz Praskiewicz, OCD, as rapporteur, Fr. Pierluigi Cameroni, SDB, as postulator, and Dr. Mariafrancesca Oggianu as collaborator. The 9 consultants were called upon to answer the question concerning the reputation of martyrdom and its cause. On the basis of this judgement, the cardinal and bishop members of the dicastery will be able subsequently to express their judgment concerning their martyrdom.

On June 27, 1941, Frs. Swierc, Ignacy Dobiasz, Franciszek Harazim, and Kazimierz Wojciechowski died at the hands of the SS in the Nazi concentration camp at Auschwitz, Poland. The last 2 of these Servants of God, specifically, were killed, side by side at the same time. Servant of God Fr. Ignacy Antonowicz died 3 weeks later, on July 21, 1941, as a result of the mistreatment suffered precisely on June 27, 1941. On January 5, 1942, the Servant of God Fr. Ludwik Mroczek also died due to torture and numerous surgical operations. A few months later, on May 14, 1942, Fr. Karol Golda was shot in the same camp, accused of having heard the confessions of 2 German soldiers. On September 7, 1942, the Servant of God Wlodzimierz Szembek also died in the Auschwitz camp: in his case too, it was the mistreatment that caused his death. All the Servants of God mentioned belonged to the Krakow Province. Servant of God Fr. Franciszek Miska, a member of the Salesians’ Pila Province, died in the Dachau concentration camp (Germany) on May 30, 1942, as a result of ill-treatment and torture.

Servants of God Fr. Jan Swierc and 8 Companions witness that just when death seems to have achieved its victory, the real winners are those who suffered for the faith and were able to participate in an extraordinary way in the Cross of Christ and adhere to its saving plan. Taking up the words of Pope Francis, “the Lord always gives us the strength; he does not fail us. The Lord no longer tests us for what we can tolerate. He is always with us.” This is why the 9 Servants of God were able to accept martyrdom, supported by the same certainty with which the apostle Paul wrote, “I can do all things in Him who gives me strength” (Phil 4:13).

This news was received with great joy especially by the provinces of Krakow and Pila, the Salesian Family of Poland, and the Christian communities of origin of the Servants of God. Fr. Cameroni, postulator general for the Causes of Saints of the Salesian Family, said, “The martyrdom of these Salesian confreres who faced persecution and death with fortitude for the name of Jesus is an example for us. They are our intercessors in living our Baptism consistently and persevering in faith in the hour of trial and temptation.”