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In the Polish liturgical calendar, the obligatory memorial of Blessed Stefan Wyszyński is observed on May 28th. In the Homeland of St. John Paul II, he is revered as the “Primate of the Millennium” because, as Primate of Poland, he oversaw a nine-year program of preparation that culminated in the nationwide celebration of the millennium of Poland’s baptism in 1966.
God gives us the right saints at the right time, not only for Poles but also for Westerners. In this piece, I would like to focus on aspects of his life and thought that are less familiar to readers.
A GIANT OF THE CHURCH
The former professor at the seminary in Włocławek (1931–1939) and a clandestine military chaplain of the Home Army (1942–1945), was a defining figure of Polish Catholicism between the Second World War and the rise of Solidarity—and thus helped make the election of a Polish pope possible. To prove this point, let me quote John Paul II’s words of October 23, 1978, in praise of Wyszyński:
Venerable and beloved Cardinal Primate, allow me to tell you just what I think. This Polish pope, full of the fear of God, but also of trust, is beginning a new pontificate, and would not be on Peter’s chair were it not for your faith which did not retreat before prison and suffering. Were it not for your heroic hope, your unlimited trust in the Mother of the Church! Were it not for Jasna Góra, and the whole period of the history of the Church in our country, together with your ministry as Bishop and Primate!
THE RENEWAL OF MAN
In his bold social program, Wyszyński underscored the essential link between the national economy and Christian morality. True renewal, he argued, depends not on changes in regime or in the economic system, but on the emergence of a new man.
As early as 1945, writing in the periodical Ład Boży, he observed:
People and slogans change—yet evil does not cease. Names are of no consequence. Whether monarchy, republic, or democracy; whether capitalist or even Christian in form—if governed by “old men” devoid of conscience and moral principle, it becomes little more than a misuse of banners and labels to cloak one’s own wretchedness. Such chameleons are easily seen through. We are not persuaded even by a state that calls itself Catholic if its citizens do not think, feel, and act in a Catholic manner. A name does not absolve one of honesty and morality, nor does it confer virtue. Every system has its share of scoundrels who turn ideals, slogans, and names into commodities for easy profit. A change in the socio-political order does not resolve the problem of human transformation. A rational and just order may create conditions conducive to that transformation, but it cannot accomplish it. The old man will corrupt even the best law and the wisest constitution. There is a type of man who adapts all too easily to every new regime.
STEADFASTNESS
During the 1960s, the Holy See did not fully understand the Church’s position in Poland and mistakenly tried to compare it with the situations in Czechoslovakia, Hungary, and Yugoslavia. But these were entirely different cases: each nation had its own mentality, history, and experience, which had to be considered in dealings with the authorities of the People’s Republic of Poland.
On the one hand, the Holy See’s representative, Monsignor Luigi Poggi, was not adequately prepared for diplomatic negotiations with the communists of this Central European country; on the other hand, formal diplomatic relations would have played into the hands of a regime that gave Polish Catholics nothing in return. Besides, they would have amounted to a public legitimization of evil.
By then, however, both the Church in Poland and the nation itself had developed a deep understanding of the communist system. It was precisely through a firm and unyielding stance that new churches were built in the dioceses—structures that continue to serve the faithful to this day. Likewise, when Karol Wojtyła became the Vicar of Christ, he prioritized pilgrimages and encounters with the people over sitting down with the authorities at the diplomatic table (Ps. 141:4).
LOVE FOR ENEMIES
His care extended not only to the faithful who came to Church but also to his adversaries and to those who had simply lost their way on the path of life. A teacher of forgiveness and unconditional love was he, emphasising the worth of suffering borne patiently for the Church and for Christ.
This is best illustrated in an excerpt from his homily:
I continually exhort you to understand that the victor—even though he be cast down and trodden upon—is the one who loves, not the one who tramples with hatred. The latter has already been defeated. He who hates has already lost! He who foments hatred has lost! He who fights against the God of Love has lost! But he who has already triumphed this day—even if he lies upon the ground, trodden underfoot—is the one who loves and forgives, who, as Christ did, gives his heart, and even his life, for his enemies.
LOVE OF COUNTRY
Wyszyński drew a deep love of the Homeland from his family home, and he expressed it on many occasions. He would say: “For us, after God, the greatest love is Poland.” This love compelled him to serve Poland, speak on her behalf, and demand that the authorities respect religious rights and recognize the dignity of the human person as a child of God.
Over more than three decades, he is estimated to have delivered some six hundred sermons and speeches a year, 75% of them on social life. Wyszyński stressed the need to teach future generations respect for the history of the nation: “A nation without history, without past, soon becomes a nation without land, a homeless nation, without future.”
A LIFE DEDICATED TO MARY
At the end of his prolific existence in 1981, Poland was rich in vocations to the priesthood, the Catholic Church enjoyed immense social prestige, many communist party leaders respected the view of the Primate. Thus, Wyszyński, who gambled everything on the Virgin Mary, must not have been disappointed. In his final words, he once again pointed to the One closest to him, saying:
New times shall come, demanding new lights and new strength. God will bestow them in His own appointed time. Let us remember that, as Cardinal Hlond before me, so too have I entrusted everything to the Most Blessed Mother. And I know that she will not show less power in Poland, even though people themselves may change.
Nevertheless, like Moses, Wyszyński was denied entry into the Promised Land; yet he, too, had led the nation through the Red Sea.
Finally, the most spiritually fruitful period was the time of his internment.
On the night of September 25, 1953, acting under a decree issued by the State Council, the Security Service arrested the Primate. He was interned in Rywałd, in a former monastery meticulously arranged so that twenty guards and a network of hidden microphones could monitor his every movement. His immediate neighbors—a priest and a nun—had both been coerced into serving as informants for the secret police.
Cardinal Wyszyński would spend the next three years in successive places of confinement. That period, which may rightly be called his personal Golgotha, became a crucible of spiritual renewal. Decades later, Cardinal George Pell endured a similar ordeal in the Antipodes; he, too, emerged transformed by suffering. We ought not, therefore, to fear when Providence leads us into our own Golgotha.
Image from Wikimedia Commons
