DOMINICAN PRINCE- MARTYR

 

Among the Polish 108 martyrs of WWII was a Polish prince. BLESSED JAN FRANCISZEK CZARTORYSK,was born in 1897 in in Pelkinie, near the town of Jarosław, southeastern Poland, into the noble Polish family of the Czartoryskis. After completing his secondary education, Jan took up studies at the the Lwów Polytechnic (today's Ukraine), one of the most prestigious centers of technical studies in prewar Poland and also in Central Europe. He graduated with a master's degree in engineering and architecture.

During the Bolshevik aggression against Poland in 1920, Jan along with many young volunteers took an active part in the heroic defence of the city of Lwów against the Red Army. His valiance and bravery earned him the Cross of Valour, a Polish military decoration awarded to those who distinguished themselves for deeds of valor and bravery on the battlefield.

In 1921 after the defeat of the Bolsheviks, Jan became one of the founders of the Catholic Youth Association called "Rebirth". But it was not politics that was to become his true calling. In 1926 he entered the higher clerical seminary in Lwów with a view to becoming a priest. Soon afterwards, however, he discovered a strong call to the consecrated life and joined the Dominican Order.

 He received his Dominican habit in 1927 and was ordained four years later. As a Dominican friar, he took the name of Michal. Father Michal fulfilled a number of functions such as Master of Brothers and then of Students. 

 Poland was hit by World War II, the cataclysm of apocalyptic proportions for the nation. On the 1st August 1944 Father Michal was fulfilling his ministry in Warsaw. He was on his way to an appointment with an eye doctor when the Warsaw Uprising against the German occupation began.

 Eager to serve his homeland at all times, he joined the Insurgents as the chaplain to the Polish Home Army. While providing spiritual assistance to the badly wounded in a hospital besieged by the Germans, he rejected an offer to escape in civilian clothes along with the lightly wounded and the remaining medical personnel choosing to minister to the needy until the very end. He is reported to have said: "I won't take off my scapular nor will I desert the injured, completely helpless and bedridden."

Together with the injured insurgents, Father Michal was shot by the Germans on 6th September at about 2 pm. Their bodies were thrown on a barricade, saturated with petrol oil and set alight.

Father Michal Czartoryski was beatified by Pope John Paul II on 13th June 1999 alongside 107 other World War II martyrs. He is the Patron Saint of the town of Jarosław. Feast Day is September 6.