The Marian Martyrs of Rosica

22 The Marian Martyrs of Rosica the Congregation, the final format of the process gradually emerged, including not only the martyred clergy from Dachau but also other people, among them many laypeople who suf- fered death in odium fidei in various places and circumstances, killed by the same persecutor. On behalf of the Conference of Polish Bishops, the process of beatification has been managed by the Bishop of the Wloclawek diocese. The logic here is that during the period of persecution it was in this diocese that the greatest percentage of the clergy was lost; More than one out of every two priests gave his life there, together with the Blessed Michael Kozal. The deposition phase of the diocesan process of the martyrs for faith was opened inWloclawek on January 26, 1992, on the anniver- sary of the martyrdom of Blessed Michal. Initially 92 persons from various dioceses and religious congregations were includ- ed. The number of subjects was changed five times during the procedure: It was increased by including new candidates, but also decreased when it was discovered that in some cases there was not enough evidence of martyrdom in the theological sense. Finally, 108 of God’s Servants Martyrs were presented for beatification. After the diocese was reorganized in 1992, the process was managed by the new Bishop of Wloclawek, Bronislaus Dembowski. The documentation from the process collected in Poland, consisting of 96,000 pages, was forwarded to the Congregation for the Causes of Saints in 1994. Due to the intensive effort of the Congregation, the Theological Discussion Concerning the Martyrdom of 108 of God’s Servants could be summed up as early as November 20, 1998. The positive result of this critical discussion gave hope that the next phase of the process would yield a similar result. This next phase took place in the College of Cardinals belonging to that Congregation. The College came to a positive finding, which opened the way to beatification of the Martyrs.