Blessed Franciszek Stryjas

Blessed Franciszek Stryjas was a farmer from near Kalisz, a father of a family, and a lay catechist. During the German occupation, when the churches in the area had been closed and the priests deported to a camp, he secretly prepared village children for their First Holy Communion. He died after torture in the prison of Kalisz. The Roman Martyrology commemorates him on July 31, the day of his death.

He was born on January 26, 1882, in Popów, in the parish of Iwanowice, to Marcin and Antonina, a farming couple. He attended school very little, because from his earliest years he helped his father on the farm. He learned to read and write at home under the guidance of his parents, deeply religious people who passed on to him a living faith.

As an adult he married Józefa Kobyłka. He was very happy in this marriage, and the couple had seven children. After her death he married again, a widow also named Józefa, and went to live with her in the village of Takomyśle, in the parish of Chełmce. From then on he remained bound to that parish for good. Since his youth he had dreamed of teaching children about God.

In 1940 the German authorities closed the churches in the area and deported the priests of Chełmce to the Dachau concentration camp. Franciszek Stryjas then began secretly teaching children their prayers and the catechism, first in his own home in Takomyśle and then also in private houses in other villages. Word of it spread quickly, and children came to him from neighboring parishes as well. At the risk of his life he prepared nearly three hundred children for their First Holy Communion in this way. In 1991 John Paul II, speaking in Włocławek to teachers and catechists, called him a Polish patriot and son of the Church who was tortured to death for teaching children their prayers and the catechism in private homes.

On July 20, 1944, he was summoned to the German gendarmerie post in Opatówek. Friends and relatives advised him to flee, but he reported of his own accord. In Opatówek and then in the prison in Kalisz he was beaten and tortured. He died on July 31, 1944, after ten days of torment. His family brought his body home; it bore the marks of beating and torture. He was buried on August 2 in the cemetery at Godziesze, and a great many people attended his funeral.

In a decree of March 26, 1999, the Holy See recognized that he was killed out of hatred of the faith. John Paul II beatified him on June 13, 1999, in Warsaw among the 108 martyrs of the Second World War, to whom he assigned a common memorial on June 12. In his homily he mentioned among them a lay catechist tortured to death for his ministry. The relics of the blessed rest in the cathedral of Kalisz, and the catechists of the Diocese of Kalisz commend themselves to his intercession.