BLESSEDS MICHAŁ TOMASZEK AND ZBIGNIEW STRZAŁKOWSKI, PRIESTS AND MARTYRS - 9 AUGUST

 

ALL SAINTS CELEBRATED IN AUGUST

Saints celebrated on the 9th of August

Prayer to the Angels and the Saints

Heavenly Father, in praising Your Angels and Saints we praise Your glory, for by honouring them we honour You, their Creator. Their splendour shows us Your greatness, which infinitely surpasses that of all creation.

In Your loving providence, You saw fit to send Your Angels to watch over us. Grant that we may always be under their protection and one day enjoy their company in heaven.

Heavenly Father, You are glorified in Your Saints, for their glory is the crowning of Your gifts. You provide an example for us by their lives on earth, You give us their friendship by our communion with them, You grant us strength and protection through their prayer for the Church, and You spur us on to victory over evil and the prize of eternal glory by this great company of witnesses.

Grant that we who aspire to take part in their joy may be filled with the Spirit that blessed their lives, so that, after sharing their faith on earth, we may also experience their peace in heaven. Amen.

BLESSEDS MICHAŁ TOMASZEK AND ZBIGNIEW STRZAŁKOWSKI, PRIESTS AND MARTYRS

Michał Tomaszek, Zbigniew Strzałkowski and Alessandro Dordi were killed by the guerrillas of Shining Path, Peru’s Maoist insurgency. They were targeted because of their pastoral work among the inhabitants of the Andes and the assistance they granted to those in need.

In August 1991, the guerrillas escalated their violence against the Roman Catholic Church and announced that they would kill a priest every week in the Diocese of Chimbote. 

THEY ESCALATED THEIR VIOLENCE AGAINST THE CATHOLIC CHURCH

The first priest they picked out luckily escaped execution.

On August 9, they abducted two Polish friars from the church at the end of the evening's Eucharistic celebration. After a brief show trial, they were led out of the village and killed near the cemetery, along with the local mayor. On August 25, they ambushed the car in which Father Alessandro Dordi was travelling to a church and executed him after he got out of the vehicle.

THEY AMBUSHED FR ALESSANDRO'S CAR

Michał Tomaszek and Zbigniew Strzałkowski arrived in Peru two years earlier and were based in Pariacoto, the Diocese of Chimbote. They were 31 and 33 years of age respectively at the time of death.

"OUT OF HATRED FOR RELIGION"

Abimael Guzman, founder and leader of Shining Path, now serving a life sentence, confessed in a conversation with a Peruvian bishop: "I ordered to kill those Polish missionaries out of hatred for religion. I thought then that it was the opium of the people. That’s what I thought and now I plead for forgiveness." 

(Excerpts from Radio Poland's report of the beatification ceremony)