On October 19, on the anniversary of the martyrdom of Fr. Jerzy Popiełuszko, the National Day of Remembrance of Indomitable Clergymen is celebrated. This public holiday established in 2018 pays tribute to “heroes, indomitable defenders of the faith and independent Poland”.
The holiday reminds us of the role played by the clergy in defending and shaping patriotic attitudes. During the partitions, they were the priests who were often depositories of the lost statehood. In this context, it is worth mentioning, for example, St. Zygmunt Szczęsny Feliński and Fr. Stanisław Brzóska.
One of the most famous clergymen who sacrificed their lives for their homeland is Fr. Ignacy Skorupka – chaplain of soldiers taking part in the Battle of Warsaw, who died on August 14, 1920, near Ossów.
Many Polish priests died during World War II. A heroic attitude was shown by Maksymilian Kolbe, a martyr from Auschwitz, but also by priests Jan Krenzel and Teodor Walenta, murdered by the Soviets, or priest Stanisław Dobrzański, brutally murdered in 1943 by Ukrainian nationalists – indicates the resolution of the Sejm (Lower House of Polish parliament). Clergymen died along with Polish officers in Katyn, Kharkiv, and Miednoje, as well as during the Warsaw Uprising.
An iconic figure is Fr. Jerzy Popiełuszko, who was kidnapped on October 19, 1984, and then brutally murdered by officers of the Security Service (in communist Poland). After the foundation of “Solidarity”, Fr. Popiełuszko became its spiritual leader, Warsaw steelworkers called him their chaplain, he was the national chaplain of working people and the health service.