Michał Kozal (27 September 1893 – 26 January 1943) was a Polish

Roman Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics worldwide as of 2025. It is among the world's oldest and largest international institut ...

bishop. Kozal was noted for his intelligence and dedication to studies and studied to become a priest during

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

, which disrupted his studies but did not prevent his

ordination Ordination is the process by which individuals are Consecration in Christianity, consecrated, that is, set apart and elevated from the laity class to the clergy, who are thus then authorized (usually by the religious denomination, denominationa ...

in 1918; he gained fame for his abilities and rose to several positions that superiors endowed upon him all culminating in being named a

Monsignor Monsignor (; ) is a form of address or title for certain members of the clergy in the Catholic Church. Monsignor is the apocopic form of the Italian ''monsignore'', meaning "my lord". "Monsignor" can be abbreviated as Mons.... or Msgr. In some ...

in 1932 and then appointed to the

episcopate A bishop is an ordained member of the clergy who is entrusted with a position of authority and oversight in a religious institution. In Christianity, bishops are normally responsible for the governance and administration of dioceses. The role ...

in 1939 just before

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

started. But his pastoral mission as a bishop did not last long since the

Nazi Nazism (), formally named National Socialism (NS; , ), is the far-right politics, far-right Totalitarianism, totalitarian socio-political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in Germany. During H ...

forces arrested and tortured him and sent him to Dachau where he died after being injected with a lethal substance. His beatification was celebrated in

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It extends from the Baltic Sea in the north to the Sudetes and Carpathian Mountains in the south, bordered by Lithuania and Russia to the northeast, Belarus and Ukrai ...

on 14 June 1987 after

Pope John Paul II Pope John Paul II (born Karol Józef Wojtyła; 18 May 19202 April 2005) was head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 16 October 1978 until Death and funeral of Pope John Paul II, his death in 2005. In his you ...

had made his apostolic visit to that nation.

Life

Kozal was born on 27 September 1893 in

Congress Poland Congress Poland or Congress Kingdom of Poland, formally known as the Kingdom of Poland, was a polity created in 1815 by the Congress of Vienna as a semi-autonomous Polish state, a successor to Napoleon's Duchy of Warsaw. It was established w ...

to the peasants Jan Kozal and Marianna Płaczek. His father married in 1888 to his mother, who was widowed with five children at the time; Kozal had six siblings, including brother Wojciech, who participated in the Greater Poland Uprising and the Polish-Bolshevik War, in which he was killed at

Grodno Grodno, or Hrodna, is a city in western Belarus. It is one of the oldest cities in Belarus. The city is located on the Neman, Neman River, from Minsk, about from the Belarus–Poland border, border with Poland, and from the Belarus–Lithua ...

in 1920. Kozal commenced his education on 27 April 1905 at

Krotoszyn Krotoszyn (, ''Krotoshin'') is a town in west-central Poland with 29,485 inhabitants . It is the seat of Krotoszyn County in the Greater Poland Voivodeship. Founded in the late medieval period, Krotoszyn prospered as a regional center of tra ...

and at one stage participated in a student strike to take action against the forced Germanization and the forced teaching of the German language. He passed his examinations in 1914 and was offered further studies but rejected the offer to instead pursue a path to the priesthood first in

Poznań Poznań ( ) is a city on the Warta, River Warta in west Poland, within the Greater Poland region. The city is an important cultural and business center and one of Poland's most populous regions with many regional customs such as Saint John's ...

and then in

Gniezno Gniezno (; ; ) is a city in central-western Poland, about east of Poznań. Its population in 2021 was 66,769, making it the sixth-largest city in the Greater Poland Voivodeship. The city is the administrative seat of Gniezno County (''powiat'') ...

for theological and philosophical studies. Kozal was

ordained Ordination is the process by which individuals are Consecration in Christianity, consecrated, that is, set apart and elevated from the laity class to the clergy, who are thus then authorized (usually by the religious denomination, denominationa ...

to the priesthood in the

Gniezno Cathedral The Royal Gniezno Cathedral (The Primatial Cathedral Basilica of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary and Shrine of St. Adalbert, ) is a Brick Gothic cathedral located in the historic city of Gniezno that served as the coronation place for ...

in 1918. On 1 June 1920 he was appointed as the administrator of the Saint Nicholas parish until 1923 and around this time collaborated with the

Catholic Action Catholic Action is a movement of Catholic laity, lay people within the Catholic Church which advocates for increased Catholic influence on society. Catholic Action groups were especially active in the nineteenth century in historically Catholic cou ...

movement and the

Polish Red Cross Polish Red Cross (, abbr. PCK) is the Polish member of the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement. Its 19th-century roots may be found in the Russian and Austrian Partitions of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth. On regaining its ind ...

. Cardinal Edmund Dalbor – in 1923 – moved him to Białośliwiu as a parish priest and that April served as a catechist and teacher as well. Cardinal

August Hlond August Hlond, SDB (5 July 1881 – 22 October 1948) was a Polish Salesian prelate who served as Archbishop of Poznań and Gniezno and as Primate of Poland. He was later appointed Archbishop of Gniezno and Warsaw and was made a cardinal of ...

– on 1 November 1927 – placed him in a leadership position at Gniezno in addition to serving as a theological and liturgical studies professor; he was appointed as the rector on 25 September 1929. In 1932 he became titled as a

after Cardinal Hlond sought papal approval for this. On 10 June 1939,

Pope Pius XII Pope Pius XII (; born Eugenio Maria Giuseppe Giovanni Pacelli; 2 March 18769 October 1958) was the head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 2 March 1939 until his death on 9 October 1958. He is the most recent p ...

appointed him as the Titular Bishop of Lappa and the Auxiliary Bishop of Włocławek, and he received his

episcopal consecration A bishop is an ordained member of the clergy who is entrusted with a position of authority and oversight in a religious institution. In Christianity, bishops are normally responsible for the governance and administration of dioceses. The role ...

as such the following 13 August in the Włocławek Cathedral. The outbreak of

saw him tend to the wounded victims and those who were displaced due to the war and the Polish invasion; he was expelled from his diocese when the Germans arrived on 14 September 1939, and one German warned him to leave lest he risk being killed. The

Gestapo The (, ), Syllabic abbreviation, 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 F ...

called him and a fellow priest forward in October 1939 and instructed them to preach in German, but both refused; both said German was not well understood among the people, so the Gestapo ordered sermons to be submitted for translation, but again the two refused to do this. The Gestapo arrested him and 44 other priests and seminarians on 7 November 1939, and he was tortured and jailed in his diocese; he was later moved to Lad before being sent to both Szczeglin and

Berlin Berlin ( ; ) is the Capital of Germany, capital and largest city of Germany, by both area and List of cities in Germany by population, population. With 3.7 million inhabitants, it has the List of cities in the European Union by population withi ...

before the fatal transfer to Dachau, from which he would never again leave. He was locked in confinement where the guards tried to break his resolve when banging on the doors with the butts of their rifles. On 16 January 1940 he was relocated to a

Cistercian The Cistercians (), officially the Order of Cistercians (, abbreviated as OCist or SOCist), are a Catholic religious order of monks and nuns that branched off from the Benedictines and follow the Rule of Saint Benedict, as well as the contri ...

convent A convent is an enclosed community of monks, nuns, friars or religious sisters. Alternatively, ''convent'' means the building used by the community. The term is particularly used in the Catholic Church, Lutheran churches, and the Anglican ...

turned camp for a brief imprisonment and suffered frostbite on his ears and nose during the cold in his transfer; he was there until 3 April 1941 when moved to

Inowrocław Inowrocław (; , ) is a city in central Poland with a total population of 68,101 (as of December 2022). It is situated in the Kuyavian-Pomeranian Voivodeship. It is one of the largest and most historically significant cities within the historic re ...

. It was there he was beaten upon arrival, and his first interrogation saw him suffer an inflamed ear due to the severe torture; he received the prisoner number 24544 on 25 April 1941. Kozal never shirked from his duties and spent his time in imprisonment ministering to fellow prisoners despite extensive abuse he received from the guards at the camp. Kozal suffered from

typhoid Typhoid fever, also known simply as typhoid, is a disease caused by ''Salmonella enterica'' serotype Typhi bacteria, also called ''Salmonella'' Typhi. Symptoms vary from mild to severe, and usually begin six to 30 days after exposure. Often ther ...

, and his situation grew worse on 17 January 1943; on 26 January the

doctor Joseph Sneiss gave him a

lethal injection Lethal injection is the practice of injecting one or more drugs into a person (typically a barbiturate, paralytic, and potassium) for the express purpose of causing death. The main application for this procedure is capital punishment, but t ...

phenol Phenol (also known as carbolic acid, phenolic acid, or benzenol) is an aromatic organic compound with the molecular formula . It is a white crystalline solid that is volatile and can catch fire. The molecule consists of a phenyl group () ...

in his right arm, and his remains were

cremated Cremation is a method of Disposal of human corpses, final disposition of a corpse through Combustion, burning. Cremation may serve as a funeral or post-funeral rite and as an alternative to burial. In some countries, including India, Nepal, and ...

in the camp's crematorium on 30 January. His death was announced on Polish radio on 1 February. Kozal's paternal cousin Ceslao was also a prisoner and heard the words Sneiss said to the bishop before his murder: "Now the way to eternity will be easier".

Beatification

The beatification process commenced under

Pope John XXIII Pope John XXIII (born Angelo Giuseppe Roncalli; 25 November 18813 June 1963) was head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 28 October 1958 until his death on 3 June 1963. He is the most recent pope to take ...

on 8 October 1960, and Kozal became titled as a

Servant of God Servant of God () is a title used in the Catholic Church to indicate that an individual is on the first step toward possible canonization as a saint. Terminology The expression ''Servant of God'' appears nine times in the Bible, the first five in ...

as a result; Cardinal

Stefan Wyszyński 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 ...

opened the informative process on 8 October 1960, and this process later closed on 29 August 1964 with the

Congregation for the Causes of Saints In the Catholic Church, the Dicastery for the Causes of Saints, previously named the Congregation for the Causes of Saints (), is the dicastery of the Roman Curia that oversees the complex process that leads to the canonization of saints, passi ...

later validating the process on 27 September 1986 and receiving the

Positio A ''positio'' (short for the Latin ''positio super virtutibus'': "position on the virtues") is a document or collection of documents used in the process by which a Catholic person is declared Venerable, the second of four steps on the path to can ...

in 1987. Theologians approved the cause on 24 March 1987, as did the C.C.S. on 28 April 1987. On 8 May 1987 he was confirmed to have died "in odium fidei" (in hatred of the faith), and so

approved the beatification. John Paul II beatified Bishop Kozal during his visit to Poland on 14 June 1987. Kozal has been the patron for Włocławek since 8 October 2002 and the patron for Krotoszyn since 9 June 2013. Since 2004 he has been the co-patron for the diocese of Bydgoszcz.

References

External links

Hagiography Circle

Saints SQPN

Santi e Beati

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kozal, Michał 1893 births 1943 deaths 20th-century venerated Christians 20th-century Roman Catholic bishops in Poland Auxiliary bishops Beatifications by Pope John Paul II Catholic resistance to Nazi Germany Catholic saints and blesseds of the Nazi era Executed Roman Catholic priests Martyred Roman Catholic priests People executed by Nazi Germany by lethal injection People from Krotoszyn Polish beatified people Polish people who died in Dachau concentration camp Polish Roman Catholic titular bishops Polish people who died in Nazi concentration camps Polish people murdered abroad Member of the Tomasz Zan Society