Everything in the universe—every star and grain of sand, every virus and animal, every light wave, and every particle of matter—is bound by laws it has no choice but to obey. Of course, the Creator, in His infinite mercy, can temporarily suspend these laws, as He did when Jesus walked on water (Mt. 14:22–33). The spiritual world, too, is governed by laws, yet man, as a being composed of both body and an immortal soul, does not usually grasp them. The more he allows God to conform him to Christ, the better able he becomes to discern them.
In difficult times for the Church, God raises up holy men and prophets who shine like a city on a hill.
Contrary to widespread belief, the role of a prophet in the biblical sense is not to predict the future but to interpret history and the signs of the times. Only by discerning and interpreting these signs can a vision of the future emerge. Even then, however, the final word belongs to God.
IN THE SERVICE OF THE CHURCH
August Hlond, regarded by many as a prophet for modern times, was born in 1881 to a modest railway family in Upper Silesia, then part of the German Empire. Yet he would go on to rise to the highest ranks of the Catholic Church. In 1925, he was appointed Bishop of Katowice; the following year, he was appointed Archbishop of Gniezno and Poznań and Primate of Poland. In 1927, Pope Pius XI elevated him to the College of Cardinals.
He was an extraordinary churchman with a strong Marian spirituality. In this respect, he may be compared with Blessed Cardinal Stefan Wyszyński, the Primate of the Millennium, and St. John Paul II.
Upon becoming Primate of Poland in 1926, he placed the motto of the Salesians’ founder, St. John Bosco, on his coat of arms: Da mihi animas, caetera tolle (“Give me souls; take away the rest”).
On the one hand, this is a kind of demand addressed to God; on the other, it is a complete surrender of oneself to His will. It is an attitude characteristic of courageous and determined people who pursue holiness by serving others to the very end. […] In the recent history of Poland and of the Catholic Church in Poland, he stands out as the most distinguished Polish Salesian. Throughout his life, he repeatedly experienced how much God demanded of him and how much He took away from him, so that his service to others might be as effective as possible. — Archbishop Marek Jędraszewski, Metropolitan Archbishop of Kraków, 2017
He was called to minister at a time when evil seemed triumphant. Cardinal Hlond said:
They say this is the breeze of Europe, but in reality what is blowing here is the foul stench of Europe’s moral decay, which already reeks; it is the stench of death from the Bolshevik East. How alien this Voltairean, atheistic countenance is to Poland!
In 1933, Cardinal Hlond appointed his fellow Salesian, Fr. Baraniak, as his secretary. Servant of God, Archbishop Antoni Baraniak would later emerge as a dry martyr of Stalinism. Despite prolonged interrogation and torture, he refused to provide evidence against Cardinal Wyszyński, thereby preventing the regime from putting the cardinal on trial and using him to discredit the Catholic Church in Poland.
In 1948, when the Soviet-backed communists consolidated their control over Poland’s political, economic, and cultural life, the Catholic Church became one of the regime’s primary targets of persecution.
On September 8, 1946, at Jasna Góra, in the presence of the Polish Episcopate and more than a million pilgrims, the Polish nation was consecrated to the Immaculate Heart of Mary. This act proved deeply prophetic, helping the Church effectively resist the rising tide of secularization, though not without sacrifice and suffering. Above all, it laid the spiritual foundation for the Jasna Góra Vows of the Polish Nation in 1956.
THE PROMISE OF VICTORY AND ITS FRUITS
On his deathbed on October 22, 1948, Cardinal Hlond said:
Fight under the protection of Our Blessed Mother. Do not despair or lose heart; remain faithful, and remember: after my death, when victory comes, it will be the victory of Our Blessed Mother.
When inspirations come from God, they lift us up, leave a lasting mark, and strengthen our faith (Mt. 7:17–18).
A few weeks after the primate’s death, papal envoys informed Bishop Wyszyński that the Holy Father had appointed him to succeed Cardinal Hlond as primate. Wyszyński recalled:
I was filled with fear. Anyone confronted with such a great task could have been overcome by fear, and I was. I resisted and asked the Holy Father more than once to relieve me of this task because I did not feel capable of it or prepared for it. But when I learned of those words—the extraordinary testament of the dying Cardinal August Hlond—I took courage.
Significantly, exactly thirty years later, on October 22, 1978—the day of the inauguration of John Paul II’s pontificate—Cardinal Wyszyński spoke within thirty minutes of the time at which Cardinal Hlond had uttered his deathbed prophecy. He said:
We unite all our feelings in an act of thanksgiving for the prophetic vision of Cardinal Primate Hlond, who said: “When victory comes, it will be the victory of Our Blessed Mother.”
He continued:
We report to you, our joyful friend in the heavenly homeland, as we kneel today before the Holy Mother of God: the victory you foretold, thereby strengthening our hearts, has come! And it has come in the name of the Mother of Christ, to whom we have remained faithful, following her to her Son, who is the only Saviour of the world!
This ultimately culminated in the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989, which marked the beginning of a process of peaceful transformation in Central and Eastern Europe and the collapse of the “Evil Empire.”
St. John Paul II spoke of Cardinal Hlond on numerous occasions. During his second pilgrimage to Poland in 1983, while at Jasna Góra, he acknowledged the influence of Cardinal Hlond’s prophetic words, which had inspired him and profoundly shaped his own consecration to the Blessed Virgin Mary.
HLOND’S PROPHECY
To some, Cardinal Hlond might appear grandiose. Nevertheless, numerous private revelations suggest that Poland has a particular spiritual significance in the course of European and world history. The best-known of these is the revelation received by St. Faustina Kowalska, in which Jesus said:
I have a special love for Poland, and if she is obedient to My will, I will exalt her in power and holiness. From her will come the spark that will prepare the world for My final coming. (Diary, 1732)
These words clearly refer to a time yet to come:
Trust and pray. The only weapon with which Poland will achieve victory is the Rosary. It alone will save Poland from the terrible times that may befall nations as punishment for their unfaithfulness to God. Poland will be the first to experience the protection of the Mother of God. Mary will save the world from complete destruction. Poland will not abandon the banner of the Queen of Heaven. Let everyone turn wholeheartedly to the Blessed Mother, asking for her help and protection beneath her mantle. — Cardinal Hlond, October 10, 1948
As this reflection draws to a close, one cannot ignore the intensifying flashpoints in Ukraine, the Middle East, and the Taiwan Strait, where further escalation could draw nuclear powers and their allies into a global conflict.
In the past, praying the Rosary once a day may have seemed sufficient. But we now live in extraordinary times, and extraordinary times demand extraordinary measures. Let me therefore recommend the 54-Day Rosary Novena.
Author’s Note: According to the vice-postulator of the cause, the accusations of antisemitism levelled against Cardinal Hlond by the Church’s adversaries are unfounded.
Image from Wikimedia Commons
