This article has multiple issues. Please help improve it or discuss these issues on the talk page . (Learn how and when to remove these messages)
|
Alojzy Liguda | |
---|---|
Born | Winów, Poland | January 23, 1898
Died | December 8, 1942 44) Dachau Concentration Camp | (aged
Venerated in | Roman Catholic Church |
Beatified | 13 June 1999, Poland by Pope John Paul II |
Feast | June 12 |
Aloysius Liguda (January 23, 1898 – December 8, 1942), was a priest and is venerated as a blessed martyr of the Society Of The Divine Word Missionaries (SVD). Liguda was a chaplain, and teacher. He died at Dachau concentration camp in the course of medical experimentation.
Alojzy Liguda was born in Winów near Opole, Poland in 1892, the youngest of seven children of Wojciech and Rozalia Przybyl Liguda. [1] His father used to lead pilgrimages to the Basilica of the Visitation in Wambierzyce and to Mount St. Anne. Liguda was a good student; he became interested in the missions in China and Africa from reading magazines. [2]
At the age of fifteen, Liguda entered the Divine Word minor seminary at Nysa. He was drafted in 1917 and sent to the French front as an artilleryman. After the war, he returned to the seminary to complete his studies. In 1920 he went to the Society of the Divine Word novitiate in Mödling, Austria. He was then sent for teacher training to Pieniezno, where he taught Latin and mathematics at the minor seminary. From there he returned to St. Gabriel's in Mödling for further studies in dogmatics and church history. At age 35, in 1927, he was ordained as a priest. [2]
Liguda was assigned to the provincial house in Górna Grupa. After validating his secondary education certificate he was accepted to the Polish Philology Faculty at the University of Poznań. In Poznań he also served a chaplain and religious education teacher at the Ursuline Sisters school for girls. [2] He returned to Grupa and taught at the minor seminary; he also served as chaplain to the garrison in Grupa on Sundays. In the summer of 1939 he became the rector of the monastery at Gorna Grupa. [3]
In February 1940, the seminary was turned into a makeshift detention camp for the religious and seminarians. He was sent from one camp to another: Nowy Port in Gdańsk, Sachsenhausen, and Stutthof. By December he was in Dachau, and since he knew German, he was a translator for most of the internees. After the war, it turned out that he could successfully apply for release from the camp. The family had German citizenship, he himself was a war veteran, and two brothers died at the front. Liguda did not apply because he felt responsible for his Polish pupils. Always he tried to keep up morale with his calm demeanor and a ready joke. [1]
Liguda had contracted tuberculosis but by December 1942 his health had much improved. Nonetheless, he was placed on the "disabled" list by a kapo in revenge for Liguda's criticism of the kapo's unfair distribution of food. Liguda and fellow inmates were transported by German soldiers to a nearby water reservoir where they all drowned. The Germans were conducting medical experiments to determine the effect of ice cold water on the human body, relative to the rescue of downed pilots. The family was advised, however, that the cause of death was tuberculosis. [1]
His body was burnt in the Dachau crematorium; the coffin with ashes was handed over to relatives and buried in the family tomb. In 2016, some of the ashes, as well as those of other martyrs of the Dachau concentration camp were placed in the Church of the Holy Spirit in his hometown of Winów. [4]
"In the Dachau prison camp near Munich in Germany, Blessed Louis Liguda, priest of the Society of the Divine Word and martyr, who, during the wartime invasion of Poland, was slain by the prison guards witness to Christ the Lord until death."(Roman Martyrology) [5]
Joseph Freinademetz, was a Ladin Catholic priest and missionary in China. He was a member of the Society of the Divine Word.
Karl Leisner was a Roman Catholic priest interned in the Dachau concentration camp. He died of tuberculosis shortly after being liberated by the Allied forces. He has been declared a martyr and was beatified by Pope John Paul II on 23 June 1996.
The Society of the Divine Word, abbreviated SVD and popularly called the Verbites or the Divine Word Missionaries, and sometimes the Steyler Missionaries, is a Catholic clerical religious congregation of Pontifical Right for men. As of 2020, it consisted of 5,965 members composed of priests and religious brothers working in more than 70 countries, now part of VIVAT international. It is one of the largest missionary congregations in the Catholic Church. Its members add the nominal letters SVD after their names to indicate membership in the Congregation. The superior general is Anselmo Ricardo Ribeiro, who hails from Brazil.
The 108 Martyrs of World War II, known also as the 108 Blessed Polish Martyrs, were Catholics from Poland killed during World War II by Nazi Germany.
William (Wilhelm) Finnemann was a priest of the Society of the Divine Word, auxiliary bishop of Manila and apostolic vicar of Calapan, the Philippines. He was martyred by the Japanese through being thrown into the sea near Verde Island off the coast of Batangas City, Batangas.
Jan Wojciech Góra OP was a Dominican, Roman Catholic Priest, Doctor of Theology, academic and chaplain. Since 1997, he had been the organiser of the Polish Youth Meeting Lednica 2000 at the Lednica Fields and the Primate Days in Prudnik dedicated to the cardinal Stefan Wyszyński. Animator for the academic chaplaincy centre "Respublica Dominicana" in Jamna. Author of numerous books and articles.
Winów is a neighbourhood of Opole in Opole Voivodeship, in southern Poland, located in the southern part of the city.
Józef Cebula was a Polish priest of the Missionary Oblates of Mary Immaculate (OMI).
Ladislav Nemet SVD is a Serbian prelate of the Roman Catholic Church who has been the Archbishop of Belgrade since November 2022. He was the Bishop of Zrenjanin from 2008 to 2022. He is a member of the Society of the Divine Word (Verbites). He was created a cardinal on 7 December 2024 by Pope Francis.
During the German occupation of Poland (1939–1945), the Nazis brutally suppressed the Catholic Church in Poland, most severely in German-occupied areas of Poland. Thousands of churches and monasteries were systematically closed, seized or destroyed. As a result, many works of religious art and objects were permanently lost.
Ludwik Mzyk a priest of the Society of the Divine Word (SVD) and one of the 108 Blessed Polish Martyrs beatified on 13 June 1999 by Pope John Paul II in Warsaw, Poland.
Stanislaw Kubista was a Society of the Divine Word (SVD) martyr. He was beatified by Pope John Paul II on 13 June 1999 as one of the 108 Polish Martyrs of World War II.
Grzegorz (Gregory) Bolesław Frąckowiak was a Society of the Divine Word (SVD) martyr. He was beatified by Pope John Paul II on 13 June 1999 as one of the 108 Polish Martyrs of World War II.
Dominik Jędrzejewski was a Polish Roman Catholic priest killed at the Dachau concentration camp during World War II. He was beatified in Warsaw on 13 June 1999.
Antoni Świadek (1909–1945) was a Polish priest from Bydgoszcz. He died in the Dachau concentration camp and was beatified by the Catholic Church. He is one of the 108 Martyrs of World War II.
Edward Detkens (1885–1942) was a Polish Roman Catholic priest. He was imprisoned in the Nazi Sachsenhausen concentration camp and died at Dachau. He is one of the 108 Martyrs of World War II. He is buried at Powązki Cemetery.
Franciszek Dachtera was a Polish and Roman Catholic priest. He was imprisoned in the Nazi concentration camps at Buchenwald and Dachau, where he died after being tortured in medical experiments. He is one of the 108 Martyrs of World War II.
Alojs Andritzki was a Sorbian Roman Catholic priest who suffered martyrdom in the Dachau Concentration Camp in 1943. He was ordained as a priest just prior to the beginning of World War II in which he became a vocal critic of the Nazi regime and its actions; this earned him their ire and he was arrested before being sent to the Dachau concentration camp where he was administered a lethal injection.
Marian Żelazek was a Polish Roman Catholic priest of the Society of the Divine Word (SVD) who lived in India and served amongst the people of Orissa. He is remembered for his service and care towards the lepers in the region. He was the last foreign missionary of the SVD congregation in India. He was declared Servant of God on 25 August 2018.