The Marian Martyrs of Rosica

149 Memoir So I went to Idolta. I entered the church and vested for the Holy Mass. I began to pray at the foot of the altar. A woman was trying to keep from crying. She couldn’t. In a moment the whole church was filled with uncontrollable, helpless sobbing, like the sobbing of a child whose father had been taken away. I finished the Gospel. Somebody pushed his way into the church. “We found Father’s body,” the person explained. “Was he killed? I asked.” “Yes. Shot.” We took a cart to transport the body. I turned around to the people: “This Holy Mass is being offered for your pastor, Father Boleslaus Gramz of blessed memory. Do not cry, but pray.” They had been transporting Fr. Gramz to Dryssa as a German hostage. In some hut by the wayside, they started to drink, leaving the prisoner alone. It was conjectured that they arranged an opportunity for him to run away, and, when Fr. Boleslaus took advantage of this opportunity, he was shot and killed. The funeral was a few days after Corpus Christi. Special care was taken not to make it a solemn occasion. So the heroic priest, the wonderful patriot, went to his rest alongside the new church in Idolta. It is a beautiful place, worthy of receiving this poetic soul. At that point, the instinct to flee set in among our oppressors. The German military was running away. The road to Dzwinsk in Latvia was constantly in a cloud of dust from caravans of vehi- cles. At night, the first bursts of flak glowed, charming but dan- gerous. The walls of our church were white from their light. Beams of multi-colored light streaked up over Dzwinsk as the German anti-aircraft artillery defended against the bombers. The front was very near. On July 2, we celebrated the last Holy Mass in the church at Druja, and then we waited as the front passed through. Brother Sigmund and Mr. Walter Bohatkiewicz stayed behind. They said that it was safer inside the walls. On July 4, we watched the bombardment of Druja from far away. With Fr. Smolinski, we crouched in a forest grove.