Venerable Stefan Wyszyński

Stefan Wyszyński was a Polish Roman Catholic prelate who served as Archbishop of Warsaw and Archbishop of Gniezno from 1948 to 1981. He previously served as Bishop of Lublin from 1946 to 1948. He was created a cardinal on 12 January 1953 by Pope Pius XII. As Archbishop of Gniezno, Wyszyński possessed the title, "Primate of Poland". The case for Wyszyński's canonization was opened in 1989. He is well known for his stands against both Nazism and Communism, and because of his connections to Pope John Paul II; he played a key role in urging Wojtyła to accept being elected as pope. Pope Francis beatified Wyszyński on 12 September 2021. To many, Wyszyński was the unquestionable spiritual leader of the Polish nation, credited with the survival of Polish Christianity in the face of repression and persecution during the 1945–1989 Communist regime. He himself was imprisoned for three years, and is considered by many to be one of Poland's national heroes. Wyszyński was born in the village of Zuzela in eastern Mazovia on the Bug River. During the Partitions of Poland, this area was part of the Russian Empire (more specifically, Congress Poland) until the end of the First World War. The Wyszyński family counted itself among the nobility of Poland (the szlachta), with the coat of arms of Trzywdar and the title of baron, although it was not materially well off. Wyszyński's mother died when he was nine. In 1912, his father sent him to Warsaw. In the years 1914–1916 Stefan attended the high-school in Łomża. The following year he enrolled in the seminary in Włocławek, and on his 23rd birthday (3 August 1924), after being hospitalised with a serious illness, he received his priestly ordination from Bishop Wojciech Stanisław Owczarek. Wyszyński celebrated his first Solemn High Mass of Thanksgiving, at Jasna Góra in Częstochowa, a place of special spiritual significance for many Catholic Poles.