December 19, 2017: Pope Francis Recognizes the Heroic Virtues of Cardinal Stefan Wysznski, Mentor & Friend of St. John Paul II–& His Upcoming Beatification

The Papal Artifacts’ Collection is primarily dedicated to artifacts connected to the papacy.  Individual popes, their biographies and multiple items belonging to them, including first and second class relics, make up the majority of this Collection.  But that isn’t all it is.

Father Kunst has a deep devotion to the saints as can be readily seen in viewing the Saints & Blesseds section of this site. We invite you to visit Papal History/Saints & Blesseds to view the many canonized and beatified men and women who make up this section of the Collection.

Another category is also included with this Collection: Notable Individuals.  These are people significantly associated with the Catholic Church who have not been canonized but contributed in outstanding ways to the church.

Cardinal Stefan  Wysznski is one such individual.

NOTE:  He was scheduled to be beatified in Warsaw on 7 June 2020 but the beatification has been delayed because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Cardinal Stefan Wyszynski will be beatified on June 7, 2020 in a ceremony held at the Pilsudskiego Square in Warsaw, Metropolitan Bishop of Warsaw Cardinal Kazimierz Nycz announced on Monday.

Late Polish Primate Cardinal Stefan Wyszynski will be beatified on June 7, 2020 in a ceremony held at the Pilsudskiego Square in Warsaw, Metropolitan Bishop of Warsaw Cardinal Kazimierz Nycz announced on Monday.

The beatification ceremony will be held by Italian prelate of the Roman Catholic Church and the head of the Congregation for the Causes of Saints Giovanni Angelo Becciu.

On October 3, Pope Francis approved a decree of beatification of late Polish Primate Cardinal Stefan Wyszynski, justified by the miracle of healing that occurred through Wyszynski’s intercession, the Vatican’s press office announced on Wednesday.

The process of examining the miracle was the second and last phase of the beatification process, which started in 1989. The date and location of the beatification mass will be announced soon.

In January 2019, a commission of doctors at the Vatican congregation approved the miracle documentation. Then the decree was approved by a commission of theologians. The last stage was the recent approval of the commission of cardinals and bishops.

In 1988, a 19-year-old Polish woman suffering from thyroid cancer was not considered curable. When a group of nuns and other people started praying for Cardinal Wyszynski’s intercession, the healing occurred immediately and was recognised as permanent.

Archbishop Stanislaw Gadecki, the president of the Polish Bishops’ Conference, tweeted on Thursday the news means “great joy for Poland’s Catholic Church! We are grateful to the Pope for approving the miracle through Cardinal Stefan Wyszynski’s intercession.”

Cardinal Wyszynski, called the Primate of the Millennium, was one of the key figures in Poland’s 20th-century history, who defended the country’s religious freedom under communism. He died on May 28, 1981.

Stefan Wyszynski was born in a village called Zuzela on August 3, 1901, in what was then Russian territory due to the partitions of the late 18th century. At that time the Russian Empire had attempted to make the Polish people abandon their traditions and national awareness. His mother died when he was nine years of age. In 1912 his father sent him to Warsaw to complete his education. He enrolled in seminary and was ordained on his twenty-fourth birthday in 1924.

The next four years were spent in Lublin where he earned a doctoral degree in Canon Law and Social Sciences. Upon graduation he traveled extensively in Europe furthering his education. He then taught at the seminary in Wloclawek. His life changed dramatically with the onset of World War II in 1939 and with the Warsaw Uprising of 1944. At first he assumed pastoral duties for working class people, but eventually he became chaplain to members of the resistance movement. After the war, Wyszynski started a restoration project for the devastated seminary, became its rector and editor of a Catholic periodical.

On March 25th, 1946, Pope Pius XII appointed him Bishop of Lublin and on November 12, 1948, Archbishop of Warsaw. His life was filled with political upheaval. While the war had ended in 1944, a large segment of Poland was engaged in hostilities with the Stalinist government. The Catholic Church actively supported the anti-Communist government. In 1950 Wyszynski signed an agreement with the civil authorities that allowed the Church to hold property, separated church and state, prohibited religious teaching in public schools and allowed for civil authorities to select a bishop from three candidates. In 1953, more persecution swept Poland. When bishops supported the resistance, mass trials and imprisonment of priests began and Cardinal Wyszynski was among them. In 1953, he began his imprisonment in various locations enduring brutal torture and mistreatment, some highly perverse in nature. He was released in 1956.

Pope Pius XII elevated him to the rank of cardinal on January 12, 1953. He never stopped his religious and social work, the crowning achievement of which was the celebration of Poland’s Millennium of Christianity in 1966, the thousandth anniversary of the baptism of Poland’s first prince, Mieszko I. The Communist authorities refused to allow Pope Paul VI to visit Poland, and they prevented Cardinal Wyszynski from attending any celebrations outside of Poland connected to the millennium. In 1978, his brother bishop, Karol Wojtyla of Krakow became Pope John Paul II. Though sometimes at odds with each other, he will be known historically as the mentor of John Paul II. Cardinal Wysznski proposed Karol Wojtyla to be an auxiliary bishop in Poland.

Cardinal Wyszynski worked hard during the Solidarity movement in Poland, appealing to the government and the striking workers to be responsible for their actions.
Cardinal Wyszynski, the Primate of the Millennium died on May 28th, 1981. He was seventy-nine years of age.