Above:  Blessed Antoni Leszczewicz

Image in the Public Domain

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BLESSED ANTONI LESZCZEWICZ (SEPTEMBER 30, 1890-FEBRUARY 17, 1943)

Polish Roman Catholic Priest and Martyr, 1943

Alternative feast day (as one of the 108 Martyrs of World War II) = June 12

Blessed Antoni Leszczewicz died because he followed Jesus.  Our saint, born in Abramovsk, Russian Empire (now Lithuania), on September 30, 1890, studied for the Roman Catholic priesthood in St. Petersburg, the imperial capital, from 1909 to 1914.  He graduated and became a priest in 1914.  As convulsions dismantled the old global order, Leszczewicz served as a missionary in the Far East for nearly a quarter of a century.  He served in Irkutsk and Chita until 1917, when he transferred to Manchuria.  Our saint, from 1924 a pastor in Harbin, China, oversaw the construction of a church, an orphanage, and a school.

Leszczewicz spent 1938-1943 in Europe.  In 1938, he joined the Congregation of the Marians of the Immaculate Conception.  In August 1939, our saint became a missionary to Druya (now in Belarus), in the Soviet Union.  Later, he transferred to an area of Belorussia long devoid of Roman Catholic priests.  Leszczewicz was not alone; he worked with some Sisters of the Eucharist and Father Jerzy Kaszira in Rositsa.

Leszczewicz and company suffered during the German occupation, starting in 1941.  Nazis, in reaction against Soviet partisan activities, targeted civilians for harsh treatment.  On February 17, 1943, soldiers led our saint, coworkers, and members of the congregation into the church building.  There Leszczewicz heard confessions, baptized those who requested it, and said one final Mass before the soldiers set the building on fire.

Pope John Paul II declared Leszczewicz a Venerable and beatified him in 1999.

KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR

SEPTEMBER 20, 2019 COMMON ERA

THE FEAST OF HENRI NOUWEN, DUTCH ROMAN CATHOLIC PRIEST AND SPIRITUAL WRITER

THE FEAST OF JOHN COLERIDGE PATTESON, ANGLICAN BISHOP OF MELANESIA, AND HIS COMPANIONS, MARTYRS, 1871

THE FEAST OF SAINT MARIE THERESE OF SAINT JOSEPH, FOUNDRESS OF THE CONGREGATION OF THE CARMELITE SISTERS OF THE DIVINE HEART OF JESUS

THE FEAST OF NELSON WESLEY TROUT, AFRICAN-AMERICAN LUTHERAN BISHOP

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Almighty and everlasting God, who kindled the flame of your love

in the heart of your holy martyr, Blessed Antoni Leszczewicz:

Grant to us, your humble servants, a like faith and power of love,

that we who rejoice in his triumph may profit by his example;

through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with

you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.  Amen.

Jeremiah 15:15-21

Psalm 124 or 31:1-5

1 Peter 4:12-19

Mark 8:34-38

–Adapted from Holy Women, Holy Men:  Celebrating the Saints (2010), 715

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