The Marian Martyrs of Rosica

147 Memoir ing the poor intelligentsia that he had to pay with his life for his charity, so I participated in the funeral. I saw his body to its eternal resting place in our cemetery at Wawrzyszew. I was very much impressed by the chapels located in the entrances of the houses in Warsaw. The people of Warsaw prayed in them in the evenings with singing and litanies, just to survive another night, to avoid another roundup, to avoid deportation. The city appeared so sad with its ruined Royal Palace and destroyed houses. The city fought on. I obtained underground pamphlets and read them avidly. I made a date with one of the leaders of the underground movements. He told me about how our eastern territories were being given away. I was told about the decision made by the Allies for the fourth partition of Poland, and my heart filled with bitterness. MY PRIESTLYMINISTRY BEGINS Supplied with sweets for Polish children that the Pope had provided, as well as with encouragement for the seminarians who were to be ordained in Druja, I returned home. It was the middle of December. In mid-January of 1944, I went off to be ordained. I received all the orders at once. The Lithuanian Provincial, Father Andziulis, got permission for the imprisoned Metropolitan to ordain me. I asked the Metropolitan to move up the time of my ordination. In February, there is a holy day devoted to the apostle, St. Matthew. As ordination must be done on a Sunday or a feast day, I suggested that day. I received the answer: Traditionally, only bishops are consecrated on an apostle’s holy day. You’re not ready for that. After ordination, I returned to Kaunas. There, a lady who was looking after Poles suggested that I might visit our Vilnius priests in a labor camp. She had been looking after them. The camp was near Kaunas, and my professor, now a Bishop, was also there. We took along some wine for Mass. This was how they were celebrating the Holy Masses. They took me to the place where they celebrated the Most Holy Sacrifice, the attic