ROCZNIKI TEOLOGICZNE Volume LXIV, issue 4 – 2017 English version DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.18290/rt.2017.64.4-6en REV. JAROSŁAW R. MARCZEWSKI * IN DIE TRIBULATIONIS : THE ORDAINING OF PRIESTS FOR THE DIOCESE OF LUBLIN DURING THE SECOND WORLD WAR A b s t r a c t. A major problem of the diocese of Lublin during the Second World War was the replenishment of its clergy. In the initial period of the war, Lublin Seminary remained closed. Its bishops were arrested and deported from Lublin. In these circumstances, it was necessary to use some extraordinary efforts to continue the formation of seminarians and lead them to ordination. Right after the Germans entered Lublin in September 1939, the Lublin Auxiliary Bishop, Władysław Goral, still succeeded in ordaining a few seminarians in the seminary church. Then, in 1940, the auxiliary bishop of the Diocese of Pinsk, Karol Niemira, arrived in Lublin and ordained a large group of seminarians. In 1941, one seminarian was ordained in Vilnius. Some regularity in ordination returned in the years 1941-1944, when the Germans allowed the Lublin Seminary to reopen. The seminarians had to travel in small groups to Nowy S ącz, though, where the bishop of the diocese of Lublin, Marian Leon Fulman, was interned. They were secretly ordained by him in the private chapel of the rectory. Shortly after he returned to Lublin, but before the war was ended in 1945, Bishop Fulman ordained another seminarian in his bishop’s chapel. In total, dur- ing the Second World War, fifty-seven new priests were ordained for the diocese of Lublin . Key words: the Second World War, the Diocese of Lublin, clergy, ordination. In the first guide containing a comprehensive description of the Lublin diocese, which was written by Fr. Marek Tomasz Zahajkiewicz in 1985, a group of 37 priests ordained during World War II was mentioned. 1 Most of them were still active in the diocese. Unfortunately, in the following dec- Rev. Dr. hab. JAROSŁAW R. MARCZEWSKI – John Paul II Catholic University of Lublin, Institute of Church History and Patrology, Chair of Church History in Modern Times and History of Theology, Al. Racławickie 14, 20-950 Lublin, correspondence address: ul. Prymasa Stefana Wyszy ńskiego 6, 20-105 Lublin, e-mail address: [email protected] 1 Diecezja lubelska. Informator historyczny i administracyjny , ed. M.T. Zahajkiewicz, Lublin: Episcopal Curia Publishing House, 1985, p. 428. 92 REV. JAROSŁAW R. MARCZEWSKI ades, the circumstances of the ordinations of those priests were not docu- mented. Today, it is too late for that as all priests from the group died. 2 This article aims to develop the issue of ordaining new priests for the di- ocese of Lublin during World War II. Therefore, it concerns the circum- stances of the minor and major orders, the full list of the ordained, the min- isters of the orders, the time and place of receiving the orders, and the occu- pation specificity of all these activities. The intention is to make the article informative. At the same time, it is the first attempt to present the issue in a comprehensive way. The individual post-mortem biographies of priests did not discuss the issue of the circumstances of ordination. They usually men- tioned only the date of the presbyterate, without describing – so to speak – the process of ordination. Thus, the information on the ordination of the Lu- blin priests during the war is often incomplete, incoherent, and misleading. The basic source are the personal files of the priests ordained during the war. In many cases the files are incomplete. The problem is that there are no books of the ordained priests and of episcopal activities as they are likely to be lost due to war circumstances. Important information, however, can be found in the seminar chronicle, run by the seminarians since 1942, and the correspondence of the seminar authorities with the bishop. The priceless texts of the memoirs of the three priests ordained during the war, issued in print in the form of short articles, complement the source material. The issue is presented in chronological order, which corresponds to its dynamics. This emphasizes the circumstances of the ordinations changing with the subsequent years of occupation. Therefore, the article is divided into eight parts according to the time and place of ordination. 1. LUBLIN 1939 The entry of the Germans to Lublin on September 17, 1939, indicated great difficulties in leading a normal religious life in its current form. Start- ing a new formation year in the seminary was in question. As a result, it was not known how the next and subsequent promotions to priestly ordination 2 The last priest from the group to die was Father Józef Bie ńkowski, ordained in 1944. The date of his death was 18 September 2010; Kalendarz liturgiczny i skrócony informator Ar- chidiecezji Lubelskiej na rok 2011 , ed. Cz. Krakowiak, H. Czarnecki, Lublin: Metropolitan Curia Publishing House, 2010, p. 197. IN DIE TRIBULATIONIS : THE ORDAINING OF PRIESTS FOR THE DIOCESE OF LUBLIN 93 would be put into practice. Perhaps, nobody thought about it at the time, be- cause it seemed to be too early for that. In the 1938/1939 academic year, 78 clerics studied in the Lublin semi- nary. The 1939 diocesan schema listed 18 first-year students, 14 second-year students, 11 third-year students, 15 fourth-year students, and 20 fifth-year students. All third-year seminarians received the minor orders: Ostariate, Lectorate, Exorcistate and Acolytate. Also fourth-year seminarians, except one who received the tonsure, received the minor orders. In the case of fifth- year students, the situation was more complicated, because four seminarians were already deacons, while the others received the minor orders. 3 The German army entered the seminary immediately after entering Lu- blin. There was a plan to take professors and seminarians hostage, which was eventually given up. German vehicles were parked in the square in front of the seminary church, so that their crews could rest. The visits of German soldiers in the seminary were temporary, but they anticipated that the build- ings located in the city center would be occupied by the Germans, and so it happened. On September 24, German line troops occupied the seminary buildings. A field hospital was established there, though some of the educa- tors and professors of the seminary were still there for several weeks .4 When it turned out that there are no chances for the seminary to resume its activity, the Lublin bishops, who had the relative personal freedom, de- cided to ordain the fifth-year seminarians. It should be noted that the clerics in gremio did not return to Lublin from their vacation. It was also difficult to urge them, considering precarious conditions of wartime. Therefore, they were a small group, with the limited possibility of action. In the first post-war schema of the Lublin diocese, one can find a list of priests ordained in 1939. These were: Józef Frankowski, Feliks G ąska, Ste- fan Młynarczyk, Roman Puzynowski and Stanisław Rysz. 5 Some concern is raised by the figures of Roman Puznowski and Stanisław Rysz as they were not on the pre-war list of seminarians. 6 Indeed, Fr. Rysz came to the Lublin 3 Spis ko ściołów i duchowie ństwa diecezji lubelskiej 1939 , Lublin: Episcopal Curia Publis- hing House, 1939, pp. 25-27. 4 Z. GOLI ŃSKI , Wojenne losy naszych gmachów ko ścielnych , “Wiadomo ści Diecezjalne Lubel- skie” (hereafter: WDL) 1946, no. 5, pp. 186-187; IDEM , Diecezja w latach 1939-1945. Prze śla- dowania niemieckie duchowieństwa w diecezji lubelskiej , WDL 1946, no. 9, p. 328; S. MŁYNAR - CZYK , Seminarium Diecezjalne Lubelskie , WDL 1964, no. 8-12, pp. 132-133. 5 Spis ko ściołów i duchowie ństwa diecezji lubelskiej 1948 , Lublin: Episcopal Curia Publis- hing House, 1948, p. 226. 6 Spis ko ściołów i duchowie ństwa diecezji lubelskiej 1939 , p. 25. 94 REV. JAROSŁAW R. MARCZEWSKI region only in the autumn of 1945, as he left the Capuchin Order and was in- cardinated to the Lublin diocese. 7 At the same time, Fr. Puzynowski began to serve in the diocese. His situation was different because he was a repatriate, a priest who belonged to the Lutsk diocese. 8 The other three were ordained in Lublin, as evidenced by the residual archival materials preserved in their personal files. The most important document certifying the initiative of the bishops in Lu- blin regarding ordination addressed the deacon Stefan Młynarczyk. On Sep- tember 23, 1939, Archbishop Marian Leon Fulman entrusted the suffragan bishop Władysław Goral with ordaining Stefan Młynarczyk. Bishop informed that the ordination would take place the day after, that is, on September 24, in the seminary church of the Transfiguration of Christ in Lublin.9 In the case of the other two clerics, the situation was more complicated. The proofs of their priesthood promotion in a specific place and date in 1939 are less obvious. Undoubtedly, on June 18, 1939, they received the subdiac- onate ordination. 10 In contrast to Stefan Młynarczyk, they were not deacons on the day of the outbreak of the war. It is worth noting that on September 23, 1939, Młynarczyk made an oral and written statement before receiving the presbyterate ordination, which was required by canon law. The document contained the information that Bishop Młynarczyk listened to and accepted this statement on September 25, 1939. 11 Both Józef Frankowski and Feliks Gąska on the same date as Stefan Młynarczyk, that is, on September 23, 1939, made statements before receiving the diaconate ordinations, and on September 24, 1939, before receiving the presbyterate ordinations.