Alfons Maria Mazurek, also known as ''Alfons Maria of the Holy Spirit'' (1891–1944) was a Polish

Discalced Carmelite The Discalced Carmelites, known officially as the Order of the Discalced Carmelites of the Blessed Virgin Mary of Mount Carmel ( la, Ordo Fratrum Carmelitarum Discalceatorum Beatae Mariae Virginis de Monte Carmelo) or the Order of Discalced Carme ...

friar and priest. He was shot by the

Gestapo The (), abbreviated Gestapo (; ), was the official secret police of Nazi Germany and in German-occupied Europe. The force was created by Hermann Göring in 1933 by combining the various political police agencies of Prussia into one organi ...

. He is one of the

108 Martyrs of World War II The 108 Martyrs of World War II, known also as the 108 Blessed Polish Martyrs ( pl, 108 błogosławionych męczenników), were Roman Catholics from Poland killed during World War II by Nazi Germany. Their liturgical feast day is 12 June. The 108 ...

Biography

Józef Mazurek was born to Wojciech and Marianna (née Goździów) Mazurek. After graduating from the local grammar school and the Small Seminary of the Discalced Carmelites in Wadowice, in 1908 he entered the Dicalced Carmelites'

novitiate The novitiate, also called the noviciate, is the period of training and preparation that a Christian ''novice'' (or ''prospective'') monastic, apostolic, or member of a religious order undergoes prior to taking vows in order to discern whether ...

in Czerna, taking the name of ''Alfons Maria of the Holy Spirit''. He studied theology and philosophy in Krakow, Linz, and Vienna, and there in the cathedral of St. Stephen, on July 16, 1916, he was ordained. Mazurek was a professor and rector of the Carmelite seminary and director of the tertiaries at the monastery in Wadowice. In 1930 he was elected

prior Prior (or prioress) is an ecclesiastical title for a superior in some religious orders. The word is derived from the Latin for "earlier" or "first". Its earlier generic usage referred to any monastic superior. In abbeys, a prior would be l ...

of the

convent A convent is a community of monks, nuns, religious brothers or, sisters or priests. Alternatively, ''convent'' means the building used by the community. The word is particularly used in the Catholic Church, Lutheran churches, and the Anglican ...

in Czerna. In 1936, he became the first visitor of the Carmelite communities in Poland; he wrote new statutes for them in 1937. He also left in elaborate hymns in manuscript form (he is the author of ''Tam in the Silence of the Blue Forests''). He prepared for publication a

breviary A breviary (Latin: ''breviarium'') is a liturgical book used in Christianity for praying the canonical hours, usually recited at seven fixed prayer times. Historically, different breviaries were used in the various parts of Christendom, such a ...

for Carmelite tertiaries and retreat texts written by the Carmelite Fr. Marcin Rubczyński. Mazurek also published articles in the pages of ''Głos Karmelu'' ("The Voice of Carmel"). Separated from the friars and residents of Czerna, who had been forced to work on the town's fortifications, Mazurek died on August 28, 1944, shot by an SS soldier. He was beatified by John Paul II on June 13, 1999 along with a group of other Polish martyrs of the Second World War. The relics of Blessed Alfonso are in the church of the Discalced Carmelites in

Wadowice Wadowice (; ger, Frauenstadt – Wadowitz) is a town in southern Poland, southwest of Kraków with 19,200 inhabitants (2006), situated on the Skawa river, confluence of Vistula, in the eastern part of Silesian Foothills (Pogórze Śląskie). Wa ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mazurek, Alfons Maria Discalced Carmelites Venerated Carmelites 1891 births 1944 deaths Polish people executed by Nazi Germany