Zawiłe drogi relikwii św. Andrzeja Boboli

The winding road of the relics of St. Andrzej Bobola

Summary: The fate of the un-decomposed body of St. Andrew Bobola prior to his canonization was described fairly well by Fr. Jan Paplatek, SJ. His publication - the broadest treatment available on St. Andrew Bobola - ends in 1936. This paper provides a description that ends with the arrival at the Jesuit Chapel in the Mokotow district of Warsaw in June of 1938. St. Andrew died a martyr's death in 1657 in Janow Poleski. His body was taken to the local Roman Catholic church. His colleagues from his religious order then transferred his body to the city of Pinsk. St. Andrew was buried in the basement of a church in Pinsk. His body was recovered from the grave in 1702. The body of St. Andrew Bobola was paid due respect at the Pinsk Jesuit church between 1702 and January 19, 1808. Following the second partition of Poland and the disbanding of the Jesuit Order, the Jesuit church in Pinsk was handed over to the Russian Orthodox Church by Catherine II, the Empress of Russia. The Russian Orthodox Church was not happy with the following that St. Andrew of Bobola had in the region and decided to inter his body once again. The Jesuits, however, were able to obtain permission from the Imperial Government to take the relics of St. Andrew to the city of Polock where it remained until 1922. Following the expulsion of the Jesuits from Polock by the Imperial Government in 1820, the relics were cared for by the Dominican Order, and later by diocesan priests. This changed on July 20, 1922 when armed Bolshevik forces first desecrated the body of the then Blessed Andrew Bobola and then transported it to Moscow. The body was stored at the Moscow Hygiene Expo building run by the People's Health Commission. Numerous pilgrims started to flock to the Expo to see the body, which forced the Russian authorities to hide it in a storage area. The body of St. Andrew was not released to representatives of the Catholic Church or the Polish Government, which made a number of efforts to secure it. A Papal Rescue Mission was set up in Russia in 1922. Its Moscow office was run by two American Jesuits - Fr. Gallagher and Fr. Walsh. They were instructed by the Pope to find the body of the Blessed Andrew Bobola. They did find it on September, 23, 1923 and took it to Moscow and later the port city of Odessa. The body was transported by ship to Brindisi in Italy and reached Rome on the Feast of All Saints, November 1, 1923. In May of 1924, the Holy Father transferred the body of the Blessed Andrew Bobola to a Roman church Il Gesu run by the Jesuits. The body was transported to Poland following canonization. The train with the relics left the Roman station of Termini on June 8, 1938, traversed central and northern Italy to Ljubljana, the capital of Slovenia. The route later included Budapest, Bratislava, Ostrava, and the Polish town of Piotrowice. The train then continued on to Zebrzydowice, Czechowice-Dziedzice, Krakow, Katowice, Poznan, Ostrow Wielkopolski, Kalisz, Sieradz, and Lodz. The final destination, reached on June 17th, was Poland's capital city of Warsaw. A pontifical mass was celebrated on June 19th and was attended by the President of the Republic of Poland, Ignacy Moscicki. The coffin with the relics was then transferred via a special carriage to the Jesuit Chapel on Rakowiecka Street. The relics of St. Andrew Bobola have remained there ever since - with the exception of World War II.

Peregrinus Cracoviensis, 2010, z. 21, s. 87-94.

Instytut Geografii i Gospodarki Przestrzennej UJ

ISSN 1425-1922

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