Memorial of Bl Joseph Kowalski, SDB, 29 May 2024, DBPH Chapel, Talamban
The Salesian Family is a family of saints. Holiness runs in our blood. Inspired by our patron, St Francis de Sales, God has blessed us with ten canonized saints foremost of whom is our father and founder Don Bosco, whose 200th birth anniversary we celebrated last 2015. This morning when I visited our website sdb.org I came to realize that there are twenty other Blessed candidates awaiting their canonization, not yet counting those who were beatified by the Pope as a group. Among these candidates is Blessed Joseph Kowalski, whose memorial we celebrate today. He is a Salesian priest who was martyred in Auschwitz, Poland in 1942.
Bl Joseph was born in 1911, the seventh of nine children to a family of farmers. After primary school he studied in our Salesian College in Auschwitz, where, inspired by the Salesians and helped by his membership in the sodalities, he began to grow in faith, service and spirituality. His personal journal is a witness to his strong devotion to Mary Help of Christians and the Holy Eucharist, as once he wrote these words: “Oh my Mother, I must be holy because this is my destiny. O Jesus, to you I offer my poor heart … . Grant that I may never depart from You and that until death I remain faithful: I would rather die than offend you, even with a small sin. I must be a holy Salesian, as was my father Don Bosco.
In 1928, he made his first profession as a Salesian, and ten years later was ordained a priest in Krakow. As a young priest he took the role of Provincial Secretary, while actively involved in youth ministry, in fact he was an animator of a youth choir and accompanied the most difficult young people of the place.
In 1938, Poland was occupied, and so after three years of priestly ministry Bl Joseph was eventually arrested and put in a concentration camp. Despite all these trials, however, his pastoral zeal never got extinguished. I guess the words of Jesus in today’s gospel have been deeply engraved in his heart: “The chalice that I drink, you will drink.” And so in the concentration camp he secretly continued his priestly ministry hearing confessions, celebrating Mass, praying the Rosary, giving talks, above all encouraging his fellow prisoners to fight for survival.
When the authorities discovered his “secret affairs” he was summoned for questioning. And when forced to step on his rosary, he refused to dishonor our Blessed Mother. This led to his torturous and brutal execution on 4 July 1942. He was only 31 years old. News of his martyrdom reached the Vatican and so together with 107 other Polish martyrs he was declared Blessed by Pope John Paul II in 13 June 1999. This year will be the Silver Jubilee of his beatification.
By divine coincidence, today is also the memorial of Pope St Paul VI, former Archbishop of Milan, elevated to the college of Cardinals in 1958. He served as Pope from 1963 to 1978. He continued the proceedings of Vatican II after the death of Pope John XXIII and he concluded it in 1965. Among his major contributions to the Church was the worldwide liturgical renewal following the reforms and decrees of Vatican II.
If today we are enjoying the profound beauty and richness of the Holy Mass, faithful as it is to the longest tradition of Mother Church yet adapted to the changing times, we owe it to this holy pastor, Pope Paul VI. In this Eucharistic celebration, let us thank God for blessing the Church with many holy pastors like St Paul VI and Bl. Joseph Kowalski. And we pray that like them we too may become saints for the Church and heroes for society in line with our true calling in life. GiGsss!
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