October 22 Saint John Paul II, Pope PATRON OF THE CONGREGATION Memorial Karol Józef Wojtyła, the third child of Karol and Emilia, was born in 1920 in Wadowice, Poland. By the age of twelve, Karol had lost all of his family except his father, who was a very loving and devout man. His university studies were interrupted in 1939 by the German authorities and to avoid deportation, Karol took up work in a stone quarry and water purification plant. On February 18, 1941, he walked home from work to find his father dead from a heart attack. In 1942, Karol made his decision to enter the Krakow seminary, which was being run secretly and which he attended while still working as a laborer at the quarry. Karol was ordained a priest in Krakow on November 1, 1946, the Feast of All Saints, and was then sent to Rome to further his studies at the Angelicum. After completing his doctorate in 1948, Karol returned to Poland and took up various pastoral and academic tasks. In 1958, Fr. Wojtyła was consecrated Auxiliary Bishop of Krakow—the youngest bishop in Poland’s history. He participated in the Second Vatican Council and in 1964, Pope Paul VI appointed him Archbishop of Krakow. Three years later, Pope Paul VI made him a cardinal. On October 16, 1978, Cardinal Wojtyła was elected Supreme Pontiff and took the name John Paul II. His exceptional apostolic zeal, particularly for families, young people, and the sick, led him to make numerous pastoral visits throughout the world. Above all the many fruits, which he has left as a heritage to the Church, are his rich body of teachings along with his promulgation of the Catechism of the Catholic Church and of the Codes of Canon Law for the Latin Church and for the Eastern Churches. In Rome on April 2, 2005, the eve of the Second Sunday of Easter (also known as Divine Mercy Sunday), he died peacefully in the Lord. Pope Benedict XVI beatified John Paul II on May 1, 2011, and Pope Francis canonized him, along with John XXIII, on April 27, 2014.
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