The Marian Martyrs of Rosica

23 History of the Process BLESSED MARTYRS FOR THE FAITH The Servants of God raised to the altars by John Paul II on June 13 in Warsaw were presented by 18 dioceses, the military ordinariate, and 22 religious congregations. They were mem- bers of the clergy and laypeople whose commitment to the cause of God, as well as their lives and deaths, were marked by heroism. Among them there were three bishops, 52 diocesan priests, 26 religious priests, three seminarians, seven brothers, eight sisters and nine lay persons. These proportions reflect fair- ly the hatred of the Nazis toward the Faith. The voice of the Church was for them a major impediment in building a system based on a vision of humanity deprived of the transcendent dimension and permeated by hatred. In this contemporary “Acts of the Martyrs,” we find the image of the Church in Poland during the war and occupation— the Church which was constantly giving difficult testimony to “the truth about God and man.” Among the 108 Blessed Martyrs we find bishops, diocesan priests, religious brothers and sisters, as well as lay faithful. They are: ARCHBISHOP ANTHONY JULIAN NOWOWIEJSKI (1858-1941). The Bishop of Plock, an eminent student of the Liturgy, professor of history, a driving force behind Church studies in reunified Poland, and a zealous shepherd. He died in the concentration camp in Dzialdowo on May 28, 1941, as a result of continuous cruel torment. REV. HENRY KACZOROWSKI (1888-1942). The Rector of the seminary in Wloclawek, a scholarly and kind man, as well as an ardent educator of priests. He was arrested in 1939 and he remained heroically faithful to his mission until the end. He died in a gas chamber as he was transported from the camp in Dachau in the so-called “handicapped transport” on May 6, 1942.