August Hlond

August Hlond, SDB (5 July 1881 – 22 October 1948) was a Polish Salesian prelate who served as Archbishop of Poznań and Gniezno and as Primate of Poland. He was later appointed Archbishop of Gniezno and Warsaw and was made a cardinal of the Catholic Church by Pope Pius XI in 1927.

He was the only member of the College of Cardinals to be arrested and taken into custody by the Gestapo during World War II. For the final years of his life, he was a critic of the Soviet-backed communist regime in Poland.

His cause of beatification commenced in 1992, and he was granted the title Servant of God. On 19 May 2018, he was named venerable after Pope Francis confirmed his heroic virtue.

Early life and ordination

The second son of a railway worker, he was born in the Upper Silesian village of Brzęczkowice (Template:Langx), then ruled by Germany, now part of Mysłowice (Template:Langx), on 5 July 1881. Aged 12, Hlond went to Turin, Italy, to study for the priesthood in the Salesian congregation. He later studied a doctorate of philosophy in Rome, returned to Poland to complete theology and was ordained in Krakow in 1905.

In 1909, Hlond was sent to Vienna to be the headmaster at a boys' secondary school. He remained in the city for 13 years, worked with spiritual and charitable organisations for Poles and becoming the Provincial of the Salesians for Austria, Hungary and Germany in 1919. After the end of Austria-Hungary after World War I, Hlond was appointed by Pope Pius XI as Apostolic Administrator for Polish Upper Silesia in 1922, and Hlond became the first Bishop of the Diocese of Katowice in 1925.

Bishop and cardinal

Hlond was consecrated as Bishop of Katowice on 3 January 1926. He succeeded Cardinal Edmund Dalbor as Primate of Poland soon afterward and in 1927 was appointed Cardinal-Priest of Santa Maria della Pace by Pope Pius XI. In the tumultuous 1930s, Hlond condemned "escapism"; called on the Church to challenge the evil realities of the times; and, speaking 12 languages, became an influential member of the College of Cardinals on the international stage.

In 1932, together with Father Ignacy Posadzy, he founded the Society of Christ.

World War II

The invasion of predominantly-Catholic Poland by Nazi Germany in 1939 ignited World War II. The Germans' plans for Poland entailed the destruction of the Polish nation, which necessarily required attacking the Polish Church, particularly in the areas that were annexed to Greater Germany. In the territories annexed to Greater Germany, the Germans set about systematically dismantling the Catholic Church by arresting its leaders, exiling its clergymen, closing its churches, monasteries and convents. Many clergymen were murdered. Elsewhere in occupied Poland, the suppression was less severe though still harsh. The papal nuncio to Poland, Fillipo Cortesi, had abandoned Warsaw along with the diplomatic corps after the invasion. Other channels existed for communications, including Hlond.

On 18 September 1939, at the request of the Polish government, Hlond left Poland with part of the Army to reach Rome, report on the Germans' actions in Poland and inform the world by the Vatican radio and press. Hlond submitted an official account of the persecutions of the Polish Church to the Vatican and reported the seizures of church property and the abuse of clergy and nuns in the annexed regions:

In his final observations for Pius XII, Hlond wrote:

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Coat of Arms of August Hlond as Archbishop of Gniezno and Poznań (1926-1946)

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Coat of Arms of August Hlond as Bishop of Katowice (1925-1926)

In 1939, Hlond spent several months in Rome for the that year's conclave. In January 1940, Vatican Radio broadcast Hlond's reports of the German's persecution of Jews and the Polish Catholic clergy. Those reports were included in the Polish government's report to the Nuremberg Trials after the war.

In March 1940, Hlond went on a pilgrimage to Lourdes, France. After the Fall of France, he remained in the country, staying at Hautecombe Abbey, in Savoie. He remained there and was unable to leave until Heinrich Himmler ordered the Gestapo to arrest him in February 1944 (he was the only member of the Sacred College of Cardinals to be arrested by the Germans). The Gestapo held him at its headquarters in Paris for two months and, with the Soviet Army now driving the Germans back from Russia, attempted to have him declare public support for the war against the Soviet Union to secure his release. The Gestapo offered to make him Regent of Poland, but according to The Tablet, "The withdrawal of all German troops from Poland was necessary, the Cardinal implacably insisted, before he could even discuss any matter whatsoever with a German officer". Hlond remained in the custody of the Gestapo, first at a convent at Bar-le-Duc, until the Allied advance forced the Germans to shift him to Wiedenbrtick, in Westphalia, where he remained for seven months, until released by American troops in 1945. The Americans flew Hlond to Paris, and then to Rome on April 25, finally returning to war ravaged Poland on 20 July 1945.

Hlond reported in August 1941 to the Cardinal Secretary of State, Luigi Maglione, that the Polish people believed Pius XII had abandoned them in light of the Nazi persecution of the Polish Church and clergy.

Later life

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Hlond's tombstone in the Chapel of St. John the Baptist in St. John's cathedral in Warsaw

Pius XII appointed Hlond as Archbishop of Warsaw on 4 March 1946, and he was installed on May 30 amid immense crowds of supporters. The Polish Church faced great challenges since thousands of Polish clergy had been killed by the Nazis, and the Church and the bew Soviet-sponsored regime in Poland were soon to clash. Hlond set about placing bishops on the empty sees and reconnecting the Church with Rome.

He spoke out against the communist persecution of the Church. He issued a series of pastoral letters on behalf of the Polish Church regarding the new Poland, but they faced censorship at the hands of the new regime, and the government launched a nationalisation of church schools. In a May 1947 pastoral letter, Hlond wrote, "Since the days of St. Peter, the Church has not been subjected to a persecution such as that to which she is subjected today". After Hlond's death in 1948, The Tablet noted that "the nations of Eastern Europe which lie today beneath the police-regimes imposed from Moscow lost their most powerful spokesman".

Death and burial

He was buried in the crypt of St. John's cathedral in Warsaw. In March 2006, his body was transferred to the Chapel of St. John the Baptist.

Controversies

Relations with Polish Jews

In 1936, Cardinal Hlond, as Primate of Poland, issued a pastoral letter on Catholic moral principles. The long (5,600-word) letter covered Catholic ethics policy, ethics principles and a section on "sins" (Z Naszych Grzechów) that addressed Christian shortcomings to love one's neighbours in accordance with God's law. That section included a brief discussion of the "Jewish problem" (Problem żydowski):

So long as Jews remain Jews, a Jewish problem exists and will continue to exist (...) It is a fact that Jews are waging war against the Catholic church, that they are steeped in free-thinking, and constitute the vanguard of atheism, the Bolshevik movement, and revolutionary activity. It is a fact that Jews have a corruptive influence on morals and that their publishing houses are spreading pornography. It is true that Jews are perpetrating fraud, practicing usury, and dealing in prostitution. It is true that, from a religious and ethical point of view, Jewish youth are having a negative influence on the Catholic youth in our schools.

Hlond tempered those remarks with an admission that "not all Jews are this way" and forbade assaults on Jews or attacks on their property:

There are very many Jews who are believers, honest, just, kind, and philanthropic. There is a healthy, edifying sense of family in very many Jewish homes. We know Jews who are ethically outstanding, noble, and upright. One may love one's own nation more, but one may not hate anyone. Not even Jews. (...) it is forbidden to demolish a Jewish store, damage their merchandise, break windows, or throw things at their homes (...) it is forbidden to assault, beat up, maim, or slander Jews. One should honor and love Jews as human beings and neighbors

However, despite a warning to Catholics not to take an anti-Jewish moral stance, interspersed in the letter's words of friendship was an explicit condemnation of Jewish culture and also Judaism for its rejection of Jesus Christ.

It is good to prefer your own kind when shopping, to avoid Jewish stores and Jewish stalls in the marketplace (...) One should stay away from the harmful moral influence of Jews, keep away from their anti-Christian culture, and especially boycott the Jewish press and demoralizing Jewish publications. (...) We do not honor the indescribable tragedy of that nation, which was the guardian of the idea of the Messiah and from which was born the Savior. When divine mercy enlightens a Jew to sincerely accept his and our Messiah, let us greet him into our Christian ranks with joy.

Hlond's letter was criticised by Polish Jewish groups who saw it as offering support and a rationalization for antisemitism.

Another controversy was caused by Hlond's reaction to the Kielce pogrom, which took place in Polish town of Kielce on 4 July 1946. While condemning murders, Hlond denied the racist nature of that crime. He saw the pogrom as a reaction against Jewish bureaucrats allegedly serving Communist regime, a common excuse among Polish antisemites. That position was echoed by Cardinal Adam Stefan Sapieha, who was reported to have said that the Jews brought it on themselves.

The American Jewish Committee questioned Pope Francis's decision in a letter sent to Cardinal Kurt Koch to name Hlond a venerable (the letter was also sent to the CCS and to Cardinal Pietro Parolin). The AJC noted that Hlond had been anti-Semitic in his writings. The AJC's letter further argued that after the 1946 pogrom, Hlond called the Jewish victims communists and said that they had themselves to blame.

Removal of ethnic German bishops

After 1945, Hlond forced ethnic Germans to resign their church posts in favour of Poles, thereby supporting the Polish integration of the territories of eastern Germany that had been given to Poland by the Allies as compensation for Polish territory taken by the Soviet Union. Maximilian Kaller was one of the bishops to be removed from his diocese and deported to West Germany and is now in process of beatification. Another bishop forced out was Carl Maria Splett, Bishop of Danzig.

Cause for beatification

The process of beatification commenced in 1992, and he was granted the title of Servant of God. Professor Franz Scholz, who is a German theologian, and many others have expressed their opposition to the proposed beatification of Cardinal Hlond. Scholz opposes his actions against postwar German expellees and civilians from territories ceded by Allies to the Polish Republic.

Documentation (a positio) was submitted to the Congregation for the Causes of Saints (CCS) in 2008. On 9 March 2017, a group of nine theologians approved naming Hlond "Venerable" with 8 votes in favour and 1 abstention. The members of the CCS approved the cause on 15 May 2018, and Pope Francis confirmed Hlond's heroic virtue, which allowed Hlond to be named a venerable on 19 May.

The current postulator for the cause is the Salesian priest Pierluigi Cameroni.

External links

• Martin Rudner report of letter by Polish Primate Cardinal August Hlond's
• Central Eastern Review:, Jedwabne for Hlond's anti-Jewish statement and Minorities in PolandTemplate:Category handler
• Template:DNB-Portal
• Template:PM20
• Virtual tour Gniezno Cathedral
• List of Primates of Poland