ALL SAINTS CELEBRATED IN AUGUST
Saints celebrated on the 21st 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.
BL. LADISLAUS FINDYSZ, PRIEST AND MARTYR
Blessed Ladislaus Findysz was born a son of peasants on December 13, 1907 in the Krosno area (Poland). He was baptised the day after his birth.
He received Catholic schooling and became a member of the Marian Sodality. In autumn 1927 he moved to Przemyśl and entered the major seminary, beginning studies in philosophy and theology at the Institute there. His preparation for the priesthood was guided by the Rector, Blessed Father John Balicki.
He was ordained a priest June 19, 1932. In August the same year Father Findysz took up his posting as assistant curate in the parish of Borysław (today in the Ukraine). He worked in several positions until World War II. His work was always marked by his unfailing commitment to his flock.
From 1945 onwards, he reorganised his parish of Nowy Żmigród through the hard times of the communist regime. Father Findysz continued with the work of moral and religious renewal in the parish, giving his all to protect the faithful from the systematic and intensive atheism imposed by Communism.
He also helped the inhabitants of the parish with material aid, regardless of their nationality or denomination. He saved numerous (Greek Catholic) families who were severely persecuted by the communist authorities. Father Findysz’s pastoral work proved most discomforting for the communist authorities. From 1946 onwards he was placed under surveillance by the secret service.
In 1952 academic authorities suspended him from teaching the Catechism in the secondary school. He was prevented from continuing his activity throughout the parish because, on two occasions (in 1952 and 1954), the district authorities rejected his request for permission to live within the border area where part of the parish was situated.
As far as the ecclesiastical authorities were concerned Father Ladislaus was considered a zealous parish priest. In 1957, he was appointed as vice-dean of the Nowy Żmigród deanery, being appointed dean in 1962.
In 1963 he exhorted parishioners living in irregular religious and moral situations, encouraging them to reorder their Christian lives. The communist authorities reacted very severely to this activity, and accused him of forcing the faithful to participate in religious rites and practices.
On November 25, 1963, after being interrogated by the Procurator of the Voivodeship of Rzeszów, he was arrested and imprisoned in Rzeszów Castle. In December, his trial took place in the Voivodeship tribunal in Rzeszów, and he was condemned and given a custodial sentence of two years and six months. Father Findysz was also publicly discredited, libelled and condemned through specially edited publications in the press. He was kept in the Rzeszów Castle prison where he suffered from malnutrition as well as being subjected to physical, psychological and spiritual humiliation. On January 25, 1964 he was transferred to the central prison in Montelupich Street in Cracow.
Without doubt the interrogation, trial and imprisonment had serious implications for the state of Father Findysz’s health, and he had to be cared for in the prison hospital. Due to a lack of proper care and the requisite medical expertise his health did not improve. Surgery to remove a cancerous growth of the oesophagus and a blockage of the stomach was postponed. In reality, he was condemned to a slow death. The illness ran its course as the results of medical examinations undertaken in the prisons of Rzeszów and Cracow attest. Indeed, the very first clinical examination undertaken by the prison doctor in December 1963 revealed an abscess in the throat with a suspected tumour of the oesophagus.
From the outset of his condemnation to a custodial sentence his lawyer and the diocesan curia of Przemyśl sought recourse to the Procurator and the Tribunal of Rzeszów, petitioning for the suspension of his arrest on the grounds of the precarious state of his health and the risk of death. The requests were refused. They were, however, accepted by the Supreme Court in Warsaw as late as at the end of February 1964.
Given the serious state of his health, Father Ladislaus returned to Nowy Żmigród from prison on February 29, 1964. Manifesting great patience and submission to God’s will he remained in the presbytery, bearing the sufferings of his illness as well as exhaustion. In the April he was admitted to the specialist hospital in Wrocław. Medical examination confirmed that Father Findysz’s tumour, given its advanced state of growth, was no longer operable. Suffering with his pulmonary emphysema, and a relapse into severe anaemia which meant that death was close at hand, he returned home.
During the summer months he took part in the spiritual retreat for priests in the major seminary of Przemyśl. This was to be his last retreat in preparation for death.
On the morning of August 21, 1964, after having received the Sacraments, he died in the presbytery of Nowy Żmigród, and on August 24 was buried in the parish cemetery. Monsignor Stanislaus Jakiel, the Auxiliary Bishop of the Diocese of Przemyśl, presided at the funeral, together with 130 priests and many faithful.
On December 20, 2004, in the presence of His Holiness Pope John Paul II, the decree of the Congregation for the Cause of Saints was promulgated, recognising Father Ladislaus Findysz as a Martyr for the faith.
(Source:
https://www.vatican.va/news_services/liturgy/saints/ns_lit_doc_20050424_findysz_en.html)
Comments
Post a Comment