Blessed Jerzy Popieluszko

Feast Day

19-Oct

Born

14 September 1947 in Okopy, Podlaskie, Poland

Died

Kidnapped on 19 October 1984 by the Sluzba Bezpieczenstwa (Security Service of the Ministry of Internal Affairs), the Communist Polish secret police; beaten to death from 19 to 20 October 1984 near Wloclawek, Pomorskie, Poland; body dumped in the Vistula Water Reservoir where it was found on 30 October 1984; the murderers and their supervisor, Grzegorz Piotrowski, Waldemar Chmielewski, Adam Pietruszka, and Leszek Pêkala, were arrested, convicted of the crime, and received light sentences; more than 250,000 attended Father Jerzy’s funeral; buried at Saint Kostka’s Church, Warsaw, Poland; the rock that struck the killing blow is enshrined at Saint Bartholomew’s Basilica, Tiber Island, Rome, Italy

Beatified

6 June 2010 by Pope Benedict XVI; recognition to be celebrated at Piłsudski Square, Warsaw, Poland, presided by Archbishop Angelo Amato

Venerated

19 December 2009 by Pope Benedict XVI (decree of martyrdom)