As we celebrate the Solemnity of the Body and Blood of Christ, we share with you the story of Blesseds Fr. Vicente Matuszewski and Fr. José Kurzawa, who died martyrs for their courage in defending the Corpus Christi procession in the streets of the city.
It should be noted that this year the Corpus Christi holiday will be celebrated on Thursday, May 30. However, several dioceses will move this solemnity to Sunday, June 2, for pastoral reasons and so that more people can attend the Eucharistic procession.
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according to the book Christian Year from the Library of Christian Authors, the heroic feat of the blessed martyrs dates back to the year 1940 in the city of Osiecyni, Poland. By then the Nazis had taken control of the area, but the priests refused to leave because they were convinced that their mission was to be with their faithful.
The priests continued with their parish service and on the day of Corpus Christi they took out the Holy Eucharist in a public procession. The Nazis became angry and the former mayor of the town went to the blesseds to ask them to leave.
The parish priest Vincent Matuszewski told him that he would not do so, but that Father José Kurzawa was free to leave. However, the coadjutor priest responded that he would not abandon his parish priest.
The Diócesis polac de Kaliska indicates that that day was May 23 and that at night the Nazi authorities arrived at the house where the blessed were sleeping, who were savagely beaten. Father Kurzawa tried to protect the priest, but his efforts were in vain. They put them in a car and took them out of the city.
The priests were tied to the vehicle and dragged mercilessly into the forest. There they suffered torture and were killed with a shot to the head. Their bodies were left in a ditch next to the road. The numerous faithful turned the funeral of the blessed into a protest against slavery and anti-Catholic German policy.
The bravery of the so-called “martyrs of the Eucharist and priestly unity” was recognized on June 13, 1999the day one of their compatriots, Pope Saint John Paul II, beatified them in Warsaw, Poland.
Abel Camasca
Journalist graduated from the Communication Sciences degree at the University of Lima. He has been part of the ACI Prensa journalistic team since 2014. Between 2016 and 2022 he was in charge of the production of the television program EWTN Noticias and Más que Noticias, a World Catholic Radio program. He often writes articles about the lives of saints.