9/30/2023 0 Comments September 30th, 2023Because he was a Catholic monk, Brother Paweł (born Alfons Wilemski) was arrested by German Socialists who barged into the Górka Klasztorna monastery. Transported to Paterek, he was executed with his two blood brothers, November 11, 1939.
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9/30/2023 0 Comments September 30th, 2023Facing the firing squad, in the Cemetery of Bethlehem, Father David Galvan Bermudez refused to be blindfolded and calmly pointed to his chest, where he would be shot, on January 30, 1915, the same day he was arrested for being a priest.
The Mexican government's anti-clerical stance had begun following the dethroning and execution of Emperor Maximillian, in 1867. 9/29/2023 0 Comments September 29th, 2023After the German Socialists took over the monastery in Górka Klasztorna and turned it into a concentration camp, Brother Dominik (born Konrad Wilemski) was transported to Paterek, where he was executed with his two blood brothers who were also monks, November 11, 1939.
9/29/2023 0 Comments September 29th, 2023"I am innocent, and I die innocent. I forgive with all my heart those responsible for my death, and I ask God that the shedding of my blood serves toward the peace of our divided Mexico," said Father Cristóbal Magallanes Jara, as he faced his executioners and absolved them before they shot him to death, on May 25, 1927.
During the Cristero War, the Christian uprising against the oppressive anti-clerical Mexican government that persecuted Catholics, Father Cristóbal Magallanes Jara was arrested on his way to say Mass. For being a priest, he received a death sentence. 9/28/2023 0 Comments September 28th, 20232 top gates, Nazi camps --"Arbeit macht frei" (Labor makes free/liberates.)
2 bottom gates, Soviet camps -- "Labor in the USSR is a matter of honor, a matter of glory, valor & heroism" The difference? The 卐 had metal gates, and the ☭ had wooden gates. 9/28/2023 0 Comments September 28th, 2023"We live for God, and for Him we die," declared Father Agustín Caloca Cortés, his last words before executed by the firing squad, on May 25, 1927, in Colotlán, Jalisco, Mexico.
The 29-year-old priest was arrested by the anti-Catholic government, after he had warned seminarians to flee and hide from the approaching federal soldiers. Although offered his freedom, he refused unless freedom would also be granted to his fellow prisoner, Father Magallanes Jara, which was denied. 9/26/2023 0 Comments September 26th, 2023Only weeks after the German Socialists invaded Poland, they took over Górka Klasztorna monastery and converted it to a concentration camp. While being loaded into a truck, Brother Bolesław Wysocki tried to escape, but was fatally shot, November 11, 1939.
9/26/2023 0 Comments September 26th, 2023"Give us our temples, or we will take them!" protested Catholic faithful.
Churches were closed, the Sacraments outlawed and priests became enemies of the state after President Plutarco Elías Calles pushed a statute to enforce the anti-clerical articles of the Mexican Constitution of 1917, which sought to eliminate the power of the Catholic Church. The result was a civil uprising -- the Cristero War (1926–29). Countless faithful were martyred and 4,000 priests were martyred in or exiled from Mexico for offering the outlawed holy sacrifice of the Mass. 9/25/2023 0 Comments September 25th, 2023Falsely accused by German Socialists of haboring Wehrmacht deserters, Father Stanisław Wyszyński was sentenced to death and executed, as he stood barefoot, without a cassock, with his hands bound by a telephone wire, October 23, 1944, in the Kosówka Forest, Grajewo County.
9/25/2023 0 Comments September 25th, 2023An illegal underground Mass on the Feast of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary, August 15, 1929, when the Holy Mass and the Sacraments were outlawed and priests became enemies of the State with the anti-Catholic policies of the Socialist Mexican regime, which enacted, under President Plutarco Elías Calles, a statute to enforce the anti-clerical articles of the Mexican Constitution of 1917, which sought to eliminate the power of the Catholic Church. Countless faithful were martyred and 4,000 priests were martyred in or exiled from Mexico for offering the outlawed holy sacrifice of the Mass.
9/21/2023 0 Comments September 21st, 2023Father Ludwik Wrodarczyk, who assisted and hid Jews from the German Socialists during the round-up in the Rokitno Ghetto, was executed during the Volhynia genocide of ethnic Poles, committed by the Socialist Ukrainian Insurgent Army, after he was abducted from church, interrogated, beaten, tortured and, finally, laid out on the snow and had his chest opened and pulsing heart cut out, December 7, 1943.
9/21/2023 0 Comments September 21st, 2023Father Arroyo officiated the final Holy Mass, on July 30, 1926, in Valparaiso, Zacatecas, before the Mass, the Sacraments and even priests were outlawed by the anti-Catholic policies of the Mexican government, which enacted, under President Plutarco Elías Calles, a statute to enforce the anti-clerical articles of the Mexican Constitution of 1917, that sought to eliminate the power of the Catholic Church. The cruel laws resulted in a civil uprising, the Cristero War (1926–29).
9/20/2023 0 Comments September 20th, 2023As part of the Intelligenzaktion, the campaign to exterminate ethnic Polish Catholics by the German Socialists after they invaded Poland, Father Antoni Wysocki was rounded up with other priests from the parish near Piotrków Kujawski. Jailed and tortured, he was murdered with seven other priests, during a mass execution of 22 ethnic Poles, on November 1, 1939.
9/20/2023 0 Comments September 20th, 2023In retaliation for the humiliating defeat of Federal troops at the hands of the Cristeros at the Battle of San Julian, on March 15, 1927, the first major battle won by the Cristeros, the Secretary of War and Navy, General Joaquin Amaro Dominguez marched into San Julian and ordered the arrest and execution of Father Julio Alvarez Mendoza, on March 30, 1927.
9/19/2023 0 Comments September 19th, 2023Accused of anti-German Socialist activities that were only religious activities, Father Marian Wyduba was dragged out of the monastery, transported to Miradzkie forest, forced to dig his own grave, and then brutally executed, December 18, 1939.
9/19/2023 0 Comments September 19th, 2023An illegal underground Mass, with Cristeros, the soldiers of Christ, when the Holy Mass and the Sacraments were outlawed and priests became enemies of the State during the Cristero War (1926–29).
9/18/2023 0 Comments September 18th, 2023Arrested by the German Socialists, with 21 fellow Capuchin confreres of the Warsaw monastery, Brother Czesław Wrzos was shipped to Auschwitz death camp, where he perished, on February 5, 1942, from starvation, exposure and exhaustion.
9/18/2023 0 Comments September 18th, 2023Victoriano Ramírez López, renowned as "El Catorce" after he killed 14 federal soldiers during a shootout, ended up on the right side of the Cristero War.
Fearless and insanely brave, yet very flawed, El Catorce fought for a Holy Cause, a fight for the Faithful, after the Socialist Mexican regime persecuted the Catholic Church. Executed, on March 17, 1929, the life of El Catorce proves that each person has a part in God's perfect plan no matter how imperfect the person. 9/16/2023 0 Comments September 16th, 2023Arrested for being ethnic Polish Catholic and tortured by the German Socialists, Father Ludwik Wrzoł was shipped to Dachau and then Gusen concentration camp, where he slaved in the quarries until his death, September 30, 1940.
9/16/2023 0 Comments September 16th, 2023"We ask for repeal of Decree 62 that humiliates us," protested the Catholic townspeople of Tlalpujahua, on April 19, 1926, the decree that outlawed public worship, such as the the Holy Mass and the Sacraments.
Priests became enemies of the State during the Cristero War (1926–29), a civil revolt in Mexico against the anti-Catholic policies of the Socialist regime, which enacted, under President Plutarco Elías Calles, a statute to enforce the anti-clerical articles of the Mexican Constitution of 1917, that sought to eliminate the power of the Catholic Church. Countless faithful were martyred and 4,000 priests were martyred in or exiled from Mexico for offering the outlawed holy sacrifice of the Mass. 9/15/2023 0 Comments September 15th, 2023General Enrique Gorostieta Velarde had been a lifelong anti-cleric -- until the Mexican government persecuted the Catholic Church and outlawed the Sacraments.
Recruited to lead the Cristeros, the soldiers of Christ, during the Cristero War (1926–29), he led his men in the civil revolt that resulted from anti-Catholic policies pushed under President Plutarco Elías Calles, who enforced the anti-clerical articles of the Mexican Constitution of 1917, which sought to eliminate the power of the Catholic Church. Through his leadership, he changed the ragtag armies into a united force, which he headed until his death, on June 2, 1929, when he was shot by a federal soldier. 9/14/2023 0 Comments September 14th, 2023Arrested with around 1,000 parishioners of Garbatka, as part of the ethnic cleansing of ethnic Poles (Catholics), Father Wincenty Wojtaśkiewicz was tortured and shipped to Auschwitz death camp, where he perished from starvation, exhaustion and exposure, October 9, 1942.
9/14/2023 0 Comments September 14th, 2023"They left me here, and here I wait. Let's see what God determines," said Father Sabas Reyes Salazar after his worried parishioners begged him to hide from the federal soldiers looking for priests in his town of Tatotlán.
During Lent 1927, soldiers entered his church brought in their horses, destroyed the statuary, tied the priest to a column, interrogated and tortured him for three days, without food, without water, and burned his hands because they had been consecrated. Soldiers wanted to know where the other priests were hiding. He said nothing. On April 13, 1927, Holy Wednesday, also known as Spy Wednesday, Father Sabas Reyes Salazar was dragged to the parish cemetery's enclosure. Facing his executioners, before he was killed, he shouted, "Viva Cristo Rey!" 9/13/2023 0 Comments September 13th, 2023During the German Socialist round-up of Polish intellectuals, Father Władysław Wieczorek was arrested with over a dozen other priests. Transported first to prison, he was later driven to Borek Forest, where he was executed with four other priests, July 4, 1942.
9/13/2023 0 Comments September 13th, 2023"My Jesus, my Jesus, for You I die," repeated Father Andrés Solá y Molist, as he faced his executioners, the theophobic Mexican government's soldiers, on April 25, 1927.
Arrested for refusing to submit to government control, while imprisoned and tortured, he confirmed his priestly ministry and continued to refuse to submit, which lead to his death by gunshot. |
AuthorTHERESA MARIE MOREAU is an award-winning reporter who covers Catholicism and Communism. Archives
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