A 20th-century Polish Catholic priest, murdered by communist authorities, was beatified on 15 June, Saturday at the Sanctuary of Divine Mercy in Krakow-Łagiewniki (Poland).
Pope Francis recognized the martyrdom of Fr. Michał Rapacz in January. The 41-year-old priest was shot twice by the communist authorities on the night of May 10-11, 1946, after being transferred from the parish of his village in southern Poland to a nearby forest.
“From the celebration of the Mass and the adoration of the Blessed Sacrament, [Fr. Rapacz] drew inner strength and energy, capable of transforming life and the world, daily life and history,” said Cardinal Marcello Semeraro, prefect of the Vatican Dicastery for the Causes of Saints, in his homily at the beatification Mass.
Cardinal Semeraro travelled from Rome to celebrate the beatification in Krakow. He pronounced the beatification formula before a sanctuary packed with about 1,800 people, among them Fr. Rapacz’s great-grandnephews, Karolina Basista and Michał Pietrzak. The Mass also marked the end of a Eucharistic congress in the Archdiocese of Krakow.
The cardinal highlighted that for the new blessed “spreading the love of Christ present in the consecrated Bread was the only effective remedy against atheism, materialism and all those worldviews that threaten human dignity.”
From the Eucharist, the cardinal added, Father Rapacz drew a love that “does not remain paralyzed in the face of hatred, violence and everything that causes fear.”
Father Rapacz was recognized as a martyr, according to the Dicastery for the Causes of Saints, for his refusal to abandon his parish or abandon his pastoral ministry, despite the prohibition of the celebration of Catholic liturgies and activities under the Polish occupations. by Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union.
During one of his sermons, the priest, who was being harassed by the communist authorities for his zealous service to the parishioners, said: “Even if I fall dead, I will not stop preaching this Gospel and I will not renounce my cross.”
In his homily, Cardinal Semeraro drew attention to the new blessed’s deep spirituality, including his habit of praying every night before his church’s tabernacle with a cross and his parish directory.
“A list of parishioners became his prayer book, through which he commended individual families and individuals in his community to God one by one,” the cardinal noted.