THE "UNRULY" MARTYR

 

BL. KAROL HERMAN STEPIEN was born in 1910 in Lódz, Poland to Józef and Marianna Puch, poor working class farmers. Karol as a child was considered extremely intelligent but an unruly child.

He early felt a call to the priesthood, and at age 13 began studying at the Franciscan seminary in Lviv (in modern Ukraine). He joined the Franciscan Friars Minor Conventual in 1928 at Lodz-Lagiewniki, taking the name Herman and making his solemn profession in 1932.

His superiors did not see a monastic future for him. He was having educational problems and was advised to leave the order. However, Karol was stubborn and persevered.

Brother Herman continued his studies at the Pontifical University of Saint Bonaventure in Rome, Italy, and was ordained a priest in Rome in 1936. Father Herman continued his studies at the Jan Kazimierz University in Lvov, earning a Master's degree in Theology. He served as priest in Franciscan Shrine of Our Lady of Sorrows in Radomsko, Poland, then the church and Franciscan monastery of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary in Vilnius, Lithuania.

 In 1940 he was assigned to Piaršai (modern Belarus), assisting Blessed Józef Puchala (one of the 108 martyrs of WWII). The two worked to care first for the people who were being transported to Siberian work camps by the Russians, and then to concentration camps by Germans. 

When the Nazis invaded in 1943, Stepien decided to stay with his people. He declared: "Pastors cannot leave the believers!".

On July 19, 1943, the Nazis took Fathers Stępień, Puchala and their parishioners to a barn in Borowikowszczyzna (Belarus). Both priests were shot in the head. The barn was then set on fire.

The remains were later retrieved by local Catholics and buried in the parish church in Pierszaje, Poland. 

He was beatified June 13 1999 by Pope ST. Johnn Paul II with the other 107 martyrs of WWII.

His feast is July 18.