Jerzy Popieluszko - Pravdou proti totalitě – Brien Bernard (2019)

The author Bernard Brien became acquainted with the figure of priest Jerzy Popiełuszko during his trip to Poland in 2012. He was touched by his story and accepted him as the patron of his late priestly vocation. A few months later, he was invited to a hospital in Créteil to administer the sacrament of anointing to a man dying of blood cancer. At the end, he added a prayer for the canonization of priest Popiełuszko, while mentally adding, "Listen, Jerzy, it's September 14, we both have birthdays, so if you have something to do for our brother François, today is the right day!" The next day, a distressed nurse from the hospital called him to say that the patient was standing shaven in the bathroom and wanted to go home. And after a few days, the doctors confirmed that there was no trace of the extensive cancer. The miracle from France opened the way to initiate the canonization process of the well-known Polish priest. Father Popiełuszko was truly a man of God, not only because he died as a martyr. He soon became a spiritual support for the Solidarity movement in Poland, thus becoming a thorn in the side of the totalitarian regime. It was only a matter of time before he would be removed as an inconvenient defender of truth and justice. He was murdered in October 1984 at the age of just thirty-seven. The meditation of the sorrowful rosary that he recited in Bydgoszcz just before...