Józef Kowalski (13 March 1911 – 4 July 1942) was a Polish

Roman Catholic Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *'' Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a lette ...

priest from the

Salesian Society , image = File:Stemma big.png , image_size = 150px , caption = Coat of arms , abbreviation = SDB , formation = , founder = John Bosco , founding_location = Valdocco, Turin ...

murdered at the

Auschwitz concentration camp Auschwitz concentration camp ( (); also or ) was a complex of over 40 concentration and extermination camps operated by Nazi Germany in occupied Poland (in a portion annexed into Germany in 1939) during World War II and the Holocaust. It con ...

during World War II. He was

beatified Beatification (from Latin ''beatus'', "blessed" and ''facere'', "to make”) is a recognition accorded by the Catholic Church of a deceased person's entrance into Heaven and capacity to intercede on behalf of individuals who pray in their nam ...

Warsaw Warsaw ( pl, Warszawa, ), officially the Capital City of Warsaw,, abbreviation: ''m.st. Warszawa'' is the capital and largest city of Poland. The metropolis stands on the River Vistula in east-central Poland, and its population is officia ...

on 13 June 1999.

Biography

Józef Kowalski was born in Siedliska (

partitioned Poland Partition may refer to: Computing Hardware * Disk partitioning, the division of a hard disk drive * Memory partition, a subdivision of a computer's memory, usually for use by a single job Software * Partition (database), the division of a ...

) on 13 March 1911 to Wojciech and Zofia Borowiec, the seventh of their nine children. He was ordained a priest on 29 May 1938 in

Kraków Kraków (), or Cracow, is the second-largest and one of the oldest cities in Poland. Situated on the Vistula River in Lesser Poland Voivodeship, the city dates back to the seventh century. Kraków was the official capital of Poland until 1596 ...

as member of the

Salesian , image = File:Stemma big.png , image_size = 150px , caption = Coat of arms , abbreviation = SDB , formation = , founder = John Bosco , founding_location = Valdocco, Turin ...

Religious Society, and took up a post of secretary to the Salesian provincial. During the

German occupation of Poland German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) **Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ger ...

the Salesians continued their educational work. 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 ...

arrested Kowalski on 23 May 1941, along with eleven other Salesians who worked in Kraków. They were taken to

Montelupich Prison The Montelupich prison, so called from the street in which it is located, the ''ulica Montelupich'' ("street of the Montelupi family"),Ulica Montelupich or "street of the Montelupis" itself is named after the Montelupi manor house ( kamienica) loc ...

and tortured.

Auschwitz concentration camp

Kowalski was sent to Auschwitz

concentration camp Internment is the imprisonment of people, commonly in large groups, without charges or intent to file charges. The term is especially used for the confinement "of enemy citizens in wartime or of terrorism suspects". Thus, while it can simply ...

on 26 June 1941 (prisoner number 17,350 or 17,950). There, he ministered secretly to his fellow prisoners in Block 25, and attempted to strengthen their will to survive day-to-day life in the camp. He absolved condemned victims, usually in secret, but at least once in front of everyone at the moment of mass execution. He was known at Auschwitz simply as Father Józef. At one roll call, he was ordered by Blockführer Gerhard Palitzsch to trample upon his

rosary The Rosary (; la, , in the sense of "crown of roses" or "garland of roses"), also known as the Dominican Rosary, or simply the Rosary, refers to a set of prayers used primarily in the Catholic Church, and to the physical string of knots or b ...

when he was discovered with it. Kowalski refused. As punishment, he was assigned to a penal company. In his last letter to his parents, Józef wrote: On 3 July 1942 he was mocked, ridiculed and severely beaten by the guards for being a priest. The same night, his oppressors pulled him out of his barracks, gravely beat him outside and possibly drowned him. Kowalski's body was found the next day and burned with others. He was 31 years of age. Poles began to venerate his memory after World War II.

Pope John Paul II Pope John Paul II ( la, Ioannes Paulus II; it, Giovanni Paolo II; pl, Jan Paweł II; born Karol Józef Wojtyła ; 18 May 19202 April 2005) was the head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 1978 until his ...

had known

Father A father is the male parent of a child. Besides the paternal bonds of a father to his children, the father may have a parental, legal, and social relationship with the child that carries with it certain rights and obligations. An adoptive fathe ...

Kowalski personally before the war, when Kowalski lived and served with the Parish of St. Stanisław Kostka in Dębniki, Kraków. During one of his return visits to Poland, John Paul II beatified Kowalski in

at a ceremonial three-hour mass of 13 June 1999, attended by President

Aleksander Kwaśniewski Aleksander Kwaśniewski (; born 15 November 1954) is a Polish politician and journalist. He served as the President of Poland from 1995 to 2005. He was born in Białogard, and during communist rule, he was active in the Socialist Union of Poli ...

, in front of 600,000 people. Kowalski was one of 108 Polish Martyrs from World War II beatified by the Pope on that day.

References

External links

The Salesians in Pila, Poland

The Salesians in Kraków, Poland
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kowalski, Jozef (priest) Martyred Roman Catholic priests Polish Roman Catholic saints 20th-century Polish Roman Catholic priests Salesians of Don Bosco Polish people who died in Auschwitz concentration camp 1911 births 1942 deaths 108 Blessed Polish Martyrs