After the systemic changes in Poland, the possibility of full normalization of the administrative division of the Church in Poland was born. In addition, it was favored by the pontificate of John Paul II, well-versed in the civil and ecclesial Polish reality, the establishment of diplomatic relations with the Holy See and the resumption of the apostolic nunciature in Warsaw. Over half a year of preparation, the bull “Totutus Tuus Poloniae populus” was sanctioned on March 25, 1992, which referred to, among others, Diocese of Rzeszów. Although the attempts to set up such a unit were made in 1900 and later in 1920 and 1924, John Paul II's personal decision to set up a diocese based in Rzeszów.
Acquired by the bishop of Chełmno, Mikołaj Chrapicki (who died in 1514), the copy of Gutenberg Bible was handed over by the hierarch to the library of the Franciscans-Bernardines in episcopal city of Lubawa. After the dissolution in year 1821 the masterpiece of the printer from Mainz became the property of the Library of Divinity School in Pelplin, where – as the only copy in Poland – at the end of the 19th century it was adequately exhibited. In the inter-war period – although the selling of the Bible was considered – its ideological popularizer and protector was, among others, the bishop of Chełmno, Stanisław Wojciech Okoniewski, but above all, the priest dr Antonie Liedtke, the director of the library in Pelplin. It was he who dedicated several papers to the “Polish” copy of Gutenberg Bible and just before the war – risking his life – he rescued the Bible from German robbery. e route of its evacuation led from Pelplin, through Warsaw (the treasury of the National Economy Bank), Romania, France, Great Britain to Canada, where it was deposited in the branch of the Bank of Montreal in Ottawa. Although there were some problems with getting it back after the war, the Gutenberg Bible returned to Pelplin and until this day it is a real pearl of the collections of seminar library.
The activity of St. John Eudes and the mystical experiences of Margaret Mary Alacoque in the late seventeenth century contributed to the development of the devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus. And although quite soon the Apostolic Capital met with requests to establish a special celebration of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, it was not until 1765 when Clement XIII approved, only for Poland, a mass form and the Office of the breviary of the Heart of Jesus, while allowing circumvention of the holiday in the Republic. However, the outstanding revival of the cult of the Sacred Heart took place in France in the era of the French Revolution as a spontaneous reaction to the atrocities, godless rights and the anti-church and anti-Christian activities as a whole. That is why Pius IX in 1856 extended the feast to the whole Church, and his successor made it a first class holiday. Since then, the spreading cult of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, as a response to all forms of secularism and secularization programs, is associated with expiation, remuneration and devotion to God's Heart.
The present article is an attempt at illustrating the relations of the emigration priest with his home country in the span of over 60 years. Rev. Warzyniec Wnuk, a non-compromising priest and indeed a heroic organizer of Polish emigration circles, when he was freed from a concentration camp he first worked in Germany, and then in the USA and Canada. After establishing his legal ecclesiastic status, in order to revive the social life of the Polish emigrants, brought Ursuline Sisters of the Agonizing Heart of Jesus to Windsor (Ontario, Canada). Along with them he organized yearly trips to Poland, where he met several friendly bishops, supporting financially their investment projects; he also supported Polish cultural-academic institutions (including the John Paul II Catholic University of Lublin, the Mikolaj Kopernik University of Torun and specialist clinics) and he established funds and stipends for Polish students and scholars; and after marshal law was imposed on Poland he established a special Fund for Aid to Poland. He also organized two official visits by Canadian bishops in Poland - Bishop Emmett Carter, the Chairman of the Episcopate of Canada in 1977, and Bishop John M. Sherlock, the Ordinary of the London Diocese in 1998. Rev. W. Wnuk spent most of his life in Canada, but still he was interested in Poland all the time; he felt Poland, thought and acted like a Pole and did it for Poland.
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