Saint of August 29: Blessed Dominik Jedrzejewski. Catholic Santoral

Every August 29, the Catholic Church remembers the martyr Dominik Jedrzejewski, beatified in 1999 by San Juan Pablo II, in a ceremony in which he pronounced a homily that takes on special news for being a call to hope and fidelity for all the children of the Church.

On June 13, 1999, Pope Peregrine beatified in Warsaw, Polandto Fr. Jedrzejewski, as part of a group of 108 martyrs of World War II.

“His living faith, his unwavering hope and his generous love were reputed to them as justice, because they were deeply rooted in the Pascual mystery of Christ. So, rightly so We ask God to grant us faithfully to Christ, like them”.

“Precisely today,” said the Holy Father – we are celebrating the victory of those who, in our time, gave life for Christ; they gave temporary life, to possess it for centuries in their glory. It is a particular victory, because they have achieved it representatives of the clergy and laity, young and old, people of all classes and states”.

“If we are happy today for the beatification of 108 martyrs, clergy and laity, we do it first of all because they are a Testimony of the victory of Christ, the gift that returns hope. In a sense, while we perform this solemn act, the certainty that, Regardless of the circumstances, we can obtain a full victory in everythingthanks to the one who has loved us. ”

To conclude his homily, Saint John Paul II stressed that “the blessed martyrs tell us in our hearts: believe that God is love. Believe it in good and evil. HAVE HOPE. That hope produces as a fruit in you the faithfulness to God in any proof”.

Dominik Jedrzejewski was born in Kowal, Poland, and was the youngest of six brothers. He entered the Wloclawek seminar and was ordered priest on June 18, 1911.

He served in three parishes and was chaplain in a prison, prefect of a local high school and dedicated himself to work with young people.

He was arrested on August 26, 1940 by the Germans and sent to the Sachsenhausen concentration camp.

In December of that same year he was transferred to the Dachau concentration camp, where he refused to renounce his priesthood in exchange for his freedom.

Very weakened because of the hard works that were imposed, he died on August 29, 1942.

Mons. Franciszek Salezy Korszyński, Obispo Auxiliar de Wloclawek (Polonia), Fallecido EN 1962, wrote in his memoirs that Fr. Jedrzejewski was remembered as a great man who radiated goodness and had a particularly friendly character.

“I was with Father Dominik when it was clear that he was dying; he took me by the hand and said: When the priest leaves the field, please go to Gosławice and tell my parishioners that I will offer my life for them,” the bishop wrote.