(ANS \u2013 Rome) \u2013 On Wednesday, June 17, 2026, the Basilica of the Sacred Heart in Rome celebrated a solemn Mass of thanksgiving for the beatification of Fr. Jan \u015awierc and his eight fellow Polish Salesian martyrs, who were recently raised to the honors of the altar. The celebration was presided over by Fr. Fabio Attard, Rector Major of the Salesians of Don Bosco, and concelebrated by Salesians from the Community of the Generalate, together with other confreres from Salesian houses in Rome. The liturgy took place in an atmosphere of profound gratitude, spiritually uniting the worldwide Salesian Family with the beatification ceremony held on June 6, 2026, in Krak\u00f3w, Poland.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Father Jan \u015awierc and his eight companions\u2014Ignacy Antonowicz, Ignacy Dobiasz, Karol Go\u0142da, Franciszek Harazim, Ludwik Mroczek, W\u0142odzimierz Szembek, Kazimierz Wojciechowski, and Franciszek Mi\u015bka\u2014were killed between 1941 and 1942 in the Nazi concentration camps of Auschwitz and Dachau out of \u201chatred of the faith\u201d during the Second World War. All of them were engaged in Salesian educational and pastoral work before being arrested by the Nazi regime following the occupation of Poland on September 1, 1939. It is worth noting that the youngest of the group, Fr. Karol Go\u0142da, made his perpetual vows in this very Basilica of the Sacred Heart on January 15, 1937, and was ordained a priest on December 18, 1938.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
During his homily, Fr. Attard drew on the Gospel image of the Good Shepherd, as presented in the Gospel of John, to interpret the witness of the nine blesseds in the light of faith. \u201cThe Good Shepherd remains and gives his life. Our blesseds chose to remain,\u201d he stated, pointing to their sacrifice as the full expression of lives dedicated to the flock entrusted to them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Rector Major emphasized that the fidelity of the Salesian martyrs was not an improvised gesture, but the fulfillment of lives already lived as a daily gift. In particular, he recalled how some of them continued to exercise their priestly ministry even in the most dramatic circumstances, celebrating the Eucharist in secret, hearing confessions, and accompanying their companions up to the hour of their death.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A central part of the homily focused on forgiveness, presented as the highest expression of the Gospel\u2019s victory over evil. The Rector Major recalled, among others, the witness of Fr. W\u0142odzimierz Szembek, who urged prayers for his executioners, and Fr. Jan \u015awierc, who in his final moments invoked only the mercy of Jesus. \u201cForgiveness is not moral weakness. It is the highest way in which the Gospel triumphs over the logic of the world,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Don Bosco\u2019s 11th Successor recalled that \u201cthe sacrifice of our blesseds has generated life far beyond the borders of Poland and the Congregation,\u201d noting that even the priestly vocation of St. John Paul II was strengthened by the prayers and sacrifices of these Salesian brothers, whose martyrdom became fruitful seed for new vocations in the Church and a living witness to the generative power of Christian martyrdom.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
As Cardinal Marcello Semeraro, Prefect of the Congregation for the Causes of Saints, stated in his homily at the beatification: \u201cToday we do not celebrate the sadness of those events, but rather the glory of Jesus Christ, which is reflected in the witness of these priests, Sons of St. John Bosco, who, like Christ and with Christ, gave their lives.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
At the bottom of the page, the Rector Major\u2019s homily (in Italian) is available for download.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
(ANS \u2013 Rome) \u2013 On Wednesday, June 17, 2026, the Basilica of the Sacred Heart in Rome celebrated a solemn Mass of thanksgiving for the beatification of Fr. Jan \u015awierc and his eight fellow Polish Salesian martyrs, who were recently raised to the honors of the altar. The celebration was presided over by Fr. Fabio Attard, Rector Major of the Salesians of Don Bosco, and … Continuar leyendo A Mass of Thanksgiving for the Beatification of the Polish Salesian Martyrs at the Sacred Heart Basilica in Rome<\/span><\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"author":10336596,"featured_media":31912,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_coblocks_attr":"","_coblocks_dimensions":"","_coblocks_responsive_height":"","_coblocks_accordion_ie_support":"","advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_seo_schema_type":"","_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":true,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_wpcom_ai_launchpad_first_post":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[782003447,775865498,516714022],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-31909","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-rector-major","category-salesian-holiness","category-salesian-world-news"],"jetpack_likes_enabled":false,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p59ePG-8iF","jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/salesianbulletin.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/2026-06-19-Mass-Rector-feature.jpg?fit=1600%2C875&ssl=1","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/salesianbulletin.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31909","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/salesianbulletin.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/salesianbulletin.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/salesianbulletin.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10336596"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/salesianbulletin.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=31909"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/salesianbulletin.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31909\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":31913,"href":"https:\/\/salesianbulletin.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31909\/revisions\/31913"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/salesianbulletin.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/31912"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/salesianbulletin.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=31909"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/salesianbulletin.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=31909"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/salesianbulletin.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=31909"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}