Stefan Wyszyński

• Type — Cardinal • Honorific Prefix — Blessed • Name — Stefan Wyszyński • Title — Cardinal Archbishop of Gniezno Archbishop of Warsaw Primate of Poland • Church — Catholic Church • Appointed — 12 November 1948 • Term Start — 2 February 1949 (Gniezno) 6 February 1949 (Warsaw) • Term End — 28 May 1981 • Predecessor — August Hlond • Successor — Józef Glemp • Other Post — Apostolic Administrator of Lviv of the Armenians (1954-81) President of the Polish Episcopal Conference (1956-81) Cardinal-Priest of Santa Maria in Trastevere (1957–81) • Rank — Cardinal-Priest • Ordination — 3 August 1924 • Ordained By — Wojciech Stanisław Owczarek • Consecration — 12 May 1946 • Consecrated By — August Hlond • Cardinal — 12 January 1953 • Created Cardinal By — Pope Pius XII • Birth Name — Stefan Wyszyński • Born — 3 August 1901 • Birthplace — Zuzela, Congress Poland, Russian Empire • Died — 28 May 1981 • Place of death — Warsaw, Poland • Previous Post — Bishop of Lublin (1946–48) President of the Polish Episcopal Conference (1948-53) • Motto — Soli Deo ("To God alone") • Buried — Saint John's Archcathedral • Feast Day — 28 May • Venerated — Catholic Church • Beatified Date — 12 September 2021 • Beatified Place — Temple of Divine Providence, Wilanów, Warsaw, Poland • Beatified By — Cardinal Marcello Semeraro on behalf of Pope Francis • Attributes — Cardinal's attire • Patronage — * Civitas Christiana • Persecuted Christians

• Cardinal Name — Stefan Wyszyński • Dipstyle — His Eminence • Offstyle — Your Eminence • Deathstyle — Blessed • See — Warsaw Stefan Wyszyński (3 August 1901 – 28 May 1981) 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. Wyszyński was the spiritual leader of the Polish nation, credited with the survival of Polish Christianity in the face of repression and persecution during the Communist regime, especially in the Stalinist period from 1947 to 1956. He himself was imprisoned for three years, and is held by some as 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.

Just a year later, on 25 March 1946, Pope Pius XII appointed him Bishop of Lublin; he was consecrated by Cardinal August Hlond on 12 May that year. Asked by delegates of the Central Committee of Polish Jews to condemn the Kielce pogrom of 4 July 1946, bishop Wyszyński explained the massacre as popular retribution for Jewish participation in the new Communist government, adding that "the Germans wanted to exterminate the Jewish nation because the Jews spread Communism" (see Żydokomuna). He also claimed that Jewish books consulted during trial of Beilis had not dispelled the accusations of ritual murder, and demanded that the Jews leave Poland. Nevertheless, these accusations have been challenged. In her biography of the cardinal, Ewa K. Czaczkowska writes that such an interpretation of Wyszyński's meeting with the Central Committee of Polish Jews is selective, as a full reading of the protocols from the meeting contains the following: "The bishop condemns all forms of murder from the perspective of Christian ethics, and in the specific case of Kielce he has nothing to add or condemn in particular because the Church always supports the ideal of condemning evil." Meanwhile, in a letter published in The Times Wyszyński wrote to a Polish Jewish Holocaust survivor who attended the unveiling of the Majdanek memorial: "We have seen among us the common suffering of the war deluge the children of Israel. We have felt with them in their agony and wherever possible we helped them in the common prison which Poland was then, occupied by the invaders. We believe that these sufferings will bring forth the blessed fruit of a better life. Today we rejoice that the martyrs of Maidenek [sic] are honored with a memorial. Let these stones cry to heaven for a durable peace on earth and a mutual love between nations." After Hlond's death on 22 October 1948, Wyszyński was named Archbishop of Gniezno and Warsaw, and thus Primate of Poland, on 12 November 1948. As the cardinal lay dying, he had asked that Wyszyński's name be forwarded to Rome as a potential replacement.

section • Illustration — Wyszyński's cell in St. Joseph Church in Prudnik World War II ended in 1945; however, beginning in the eastern portion of present-day Poland, and later in the west, hostilities continued for several years between a large segment of Poles and the Stalinist government. The Catholic Church hoped for the return of the Polish government-in-exile from London and the removal of Stalin's puppet regime; it actively supported the anti-Communists. One of the prime issues was the confiscation of church property by the Communist government. In 1950, Wyszyński decided to enter into a secret agreement with the Communist authorities, which was signed on 14 April 1950 by the Polish episcopate and the government. The agreement settled the political disputes of the church versus the government in Poland. It allowed the church to hold onto "reasonable" property, separated the church from politics, and even allowed authorities to select a bishop from a list of three candidates. Beginning in 1953, another wave of persecution swept Poland. The bishops continued their support for anti-Communist resistance, the government began holding mass trials and imprisoning priests. In February 1953 the regime issued a decree which made Church appointments subject to regime approval as well as requiring oath of allegiance. The episcopate, including Wyszyński, released a non possumus where they made their opposition clear. Subsequently Bishop Czesław Kaczmarek was arrested and Wyszyński was asked to condemn him. On 25 September 1953 he was imprisoned at Rywałd, and later placed under house arrest in Stoczek Klasztorny near Lidzbark Warmiński, in Prudnik near Opole and in the Komańcza monastery in the Bieszczady Mountains. While imprisoned, he observed the brutal torture and mistreatment of detainees, some of it highly perverse in nature. He was released on 26 October 1956 following Polish October.

• Illustration — Mausoleum chapel of Cardinal Stefan Wyszyński in St. John's Archcathedral in Warsaw. On 12 January 1953, Wyszyński was elevated to the rank of cardinal by Pope Pius XII, but it was not until 18 May 1957 that he was designated Cardinal-Priest of Santa Maria in Trastevere. His crowning achievement was the celebration of Poland's Millennium of Christianity in 1966 – the thousandth anniversary of the baptism of Poland's first historical ruler, Mieszko I. During the celebration, the Communist authorities refused to allow Pope Paul VI to visit Poland and they also prevented Cardinal Wyszyński from attending celebrations abroad. Wyszyński triumphed in 1978, when Karol Wojtyła of Kraków was elected Pope John Paul II, followed by a spectacular papal visit to Poland in 1979. Wyszyński did not turn a blind eye towards the civil unrest in 1980. When the Solidarity trade union was created in Poland, he appealed to both sides, the government as well as the striking workers, to act responsibly. Cardinal Wyszyński, often called the Primate of the Millennium, died on 28 May 1981 at the age of 80 of abdominal cancer. He is buried in St. John's Archcathedral in Warsaw. To commemorate the twentieth anniversary of his death, the year 2001 was announced by the Sejm as the Year of Cardinal Stefan Wyszyński. The Sejm also honoured the Cardinal as a "great Pole, chaplain and statesman".

• Honorific Prefix — Blessed • Name — Stefan Wyszyński • Honorific Suffix — Archbishop of Warsaw, Primate of Poland • Born — 3 August 1901 • Died — 28 May 1981 (aged 79) • Feast Day — 28 May • Venerated In — Catholic Church • Titles — Cardinal and Confessor • Beatified Date — 12 September 2021 • Beatified Place — Warsaw, Poland • Beatified By — Cardinal Marcello Semeraro on behalf of Pope Francis • Attributes — Cardinal's attire • Patronage — Persecuted Christians, Civitas Christiana The official "nihil obstat" was declared for the late cardinal on 26 April 1989 at the behest of Pope John Paul II. This gave Wyszyński the title of Servant of God and was the first step on the road to sainthood. The diocesan process of the cause commenced on 29 May 1989 and it concluded its business on 6 February 2001; the process was ratified by the Congregation for the Causes of Saints on 8 February 2002 in Rome. The Positio was assembled and was submitted to the Congregation for the Causes of Saints in November 2015 in which documents were submitted to the Cardinal Prefect Angelo Amato from Cardinal Kazimierz Nycz. Theologians met to discuss the contents of the Positio on 26 April 2016 and voted in favor of the late cardinal's life of heroic virtue. It must be passed onto the members of the C.C.S. before receiving papal approval. The C.C.S. cardinal and bishop members voted and approved the cause in their meeting on 12 December 2017. Pope Francis confirmed his heroic virtue on 18 December 2017 and titled the late cardinal as Venerable. An investigation on a diocesan level was initiated on 27 March 2012 for an alleged miracle attributed to him which concluded its business on 28 May 2013; the process was validated on 10 October 2014. The documentation proceeded from that point to Rome for further evaluation, but this evaluation could only take place upon the declaration of his heroic virtue (this happened in 2017 allowing for the miracle to be further assessed). The medical experts in Rome approved the miracle on 29 November 2018 with theologians later confirming it as well as the cardinals and bishops comprising the Congregation on 24 September 2019. On 3 October 2019, the Congregation for the Causes of the Saints officially approved the miracle, the last step to his beatification after the Congregation's members themselves approved the miracle on 24 September. The beatification was scheduled to take place in Warsaw on 7 June 2020 but was delayed because of the COVID-19 pandemic. The beatification was rescheduled and celebrated on 12 September 2021 with Cardinal Marcello Semeraro presiding on the Pope's behalf.