The relics of Blessed Fr Jerzy Popieluszko. A Unique past of Salvation

After uncovering the body murdered by SB by Father Jerzy Popiełuszko, the communist authorities ordered that an autopsy of the priest be carried out at the Department of Forensic medicine of the Medical Academy in Białystok. It was performed by a squad of specialists, among whom was the medical examiner Jan Szrzedziński (died in 2019). This courageous physician, putting his life on the line, saved for posterity the priceless relics of a steadfast priest, present blessed. For 24 years, the relics of Blessed George were hidden in the chapel wall, so that the destructive hand of safety could not scope them.

Already during the autopsy of the corpse of Fr Jerzy Popiełuszko, on 31 October 1984, doctor Jan Szrzedziński was aware that the full tortured body of the unbreakable priest was a relic, and priest Jerzy, in his time, would most likely be declared a saint of the Church. This consciousness prompted him to take a very risky action, which could have cost him even his life, or at best his occupation and his ban on employment elsewhere. Well, Jan Szrzedziński took 2 vials of blood from the martyr's body, a fragment of liver, spleen and kidneys, to make them relics in the future. These remains of the body froze and hid them for 2 years in the workplace.

A courageous doctor in his account for the Bialystok Curia described this: “I kept the frozen material in large secrecy until they were handed over to the church authorities. I thought that in the future they would be relics of the martyr Fr Jerzy Popieluszko.”

Interestingly, the same doctor, 10 years later, in 1996, did an equally risky deed. Namely, he described medically the remains of the seven, murdered in 1946 by UB, unbreakable soldiers, which were mined in Olmonty close Białystok, during the first exhumation of soldiers under independency in Poland. In this description there is simply a clear message that the steadfast were abused and then killed with a shot in the back of the head.

Jan Szrzedziński besides witnessed how much the body of Father Jerzy Popiełuszko was tortured, whose uncle was the steadfast murdered by the NKVD. “I saw the priest erstwhile he was lying on a sectional table in the sectional. He was in the sutanna, around his neck he had a loop around him, alleged funnels moving through his back to the shriveled legs in specified a way that if he wanted to straighten his legs, the loop around his neck would tighten. A bag of stones was attached to his legs. Hands, face and sutanna were dirty with river mules" – we read in Dr. Szrzedziński's account.

There was a question of the removal of the relic of Fr Jerzy from the Department of Judicial Medicine, in specified a way that she did not announcement this security. Mystery and caution were necessary. There was martial law, and the communist authorities were doing everything to cover up any traces of the crime committed on the Solidarity chaplain. The brave doctor secretly raised the relics of Fr Jerzy and informed the Archbishop of Białystok Fr Edward Kisiel.

This secret mission of securing relics was commissioned by Fr.Jerzemu Gishtorowicz, at the time by the pastor of the Academic Youth. First, this sincere priest felt that the most appropriate place to store relics would be the church of St. Stanislaw Kostka in Żoliborz, where Fr Jerzy served. A dangerous task of transporting relics to Warsaw was entrusted to Sister Laurencja Fabisiak of the Congregation of Missionaries of the Holy household in Białystok.

"I took sacred relics for us, hid them in a bag and with a rosary in my hand I got on the train of Białystok-Warsaw relations. erstwhile I arrived at St Stanislaus Kostka's church, I applied to Father Bogucki. After talking to me, Fr Bogacki said: «Dear sister, I am very sick. My heart's getting weaker. I feel like I'm gonna die soon. In this situation, I cannot take the remains of Father George's organs, due to the fact that I fear I will not safe them sufficiently that after my death the communists will destruct them. Take them back to Bialystok and hide them well» – we read in the account of Sister Laurentia written by her for the Białystok Curia.

When the sister returned with the relics to Białystok, Fr Gisztorowicz decided to brick up the relics, closed in a peculiar box, in the wall of the chapel of the St. Bolesława Lament at Stołeczna Street in Białystok. Due to the strict secrecy of the box, a very narrow group of people was built. The witnesses of this event were only Fr Cezary Potocki, the then chancellor of the curia, Dr Jan Szrzedziński, Sister Laurencja Fabisiak, Fr Jerzy Gishtorowicz and Inż. Toczydłowski, who worked on the construction of the chapel.

The relics hidden in the wall, by the decision of Archbishop Edward Ozorowski, were only extracted in May 2010, only a fewer weeks before the beatification ceremony of Fr Jerzy Popiełuszko in Warsaw. What is unusual, it turned out that the remains of Fr. They were placed in a beautiful silver relic, shaped like a Romanesque church. This relic, for respective years, has been found in the Church of the Resurrection in Białystok. Parishes from all over the planet are sending requests to give them a small bit of these relics of blessed Fr. George. Many of them have already received them, and thanks to this, their faithful ask for intercession of Blessed George in various places of our globe.

Adam Białous