Laudetur Iesus Christus!

Hi, I'm Latin Catholic from Poland (as you might gathered already ;-) ) and new one on this forum.

I need some help and I think this very informative forum is the best place I could find to ask for it.

Recently I heard an amazing story about priestly ordinations performed in nazi death camp in Dachau, Germany.
There would be nothing extraordinary about it (some bishops and seminarians were kept there) if it wasn't done... with all necessary vestments, books and holy vessels!
It was all smuggled in there!
Of course many rubrics couldn not be followed and there was no singing but just whispering but anyway it was just amazing!

In some TV documentary program I've seen also many miniaturized, hand-made liturgical accesories used by Catholic priests in concentration camps in Poland, China, Vietnam and Russia. I've heard about Holy Masses being said secretly, very quickly, with palms of the priest serving as an altar.
Those wonderful priests were risking their lives to bring Our Lord down into this inferno and to distribute the Holy Communion among their dying and suffering fellow prisoners.

So I want to write a big article about it, or even a book - depending on available materials.

Do you know any articles, books or websites containing this particular kind of informations and, preferably, actual testimonies of the priests and other death camp inmates?
(English, Polish and Russian languages are preferred but also other ones would do.)

In return you can count on my prayers!

Thanks in advance!

Adrian

Adrian,

When in Lourdes this year I attended Divine Liturgy in the Ukrainian Church there.
Fr Wasyl Pryjma was in a concentration camp, but in order to try and save his life , denied he was Ukrainian [ said he was Polish !] He made a vow that if he was spared he would offer his life to the Church. He did, and as a result is now the Priest of the Ukrainian Catholic Church of the Mother of God in Lourdes. I am sure he will be able to give a great deal of information should you wish to ask .

The address is
Abbe Wasyl Pryjma
Eglise Ukkrainienne
6,avenue Antoine Beguere
65100 Lourdes,
France

I'm not sure which languages he speaks/writes - Liturgy is in Ukrainian, I imagine he has French and the Nuns who look after the Church are from the Sisters Servants of Mary Immaculate and are Canadian!
I hope this may give you some more info.

Angela

Brother Adrian, as a Jesuit scholastic in Munich, I lived at the Pullach house of studies where the rector was Fr. von Tattenbach. He was also a member of the 2nd "Royal" family of Bavaria (the Wittelsbach family was number 1), and held the rank of Count.

Father was given a military rank in the Wehrmacht, but still remained a priest, living in community. (The Nazis didn't DARE try to upset the tradtional Bavarian Catholic German identity. The good people of Bavaria would have revolted.)

I also heard the stories of the ordinations; Dachau was the primary camp for Catholic clergy interred by the Nazis.

I don't know much about the details of the ordinations, but I do know that when the Allies were approaching Munich, a very young Fr. von Tattenbach commandeered several military vehicles, had Jesuit Brothers drive the vehicles to Dachau, retrieved many bishops and priests and hid them in the scholasticate, and kept the escape going until the very last minutes.

Fr. Rector did not like to talk about this, but the stories circulated. As a German nobleman and a Bavarian priest, he was not incarcerated, but I suspect that he knew a lot that has never been written down. You may be able to reach him through the Oberdeutsche Provinz of the Jesuits.

Best of luck with your research. (You might want to contact the Archives of the Society of Jesus [Jesuits] in Rome to help you.)

Blessings!

There is some information on this subject in Father Christopher Zugger's book, "The Forgotten, Catholics of the Soviet Empire from Lenin through Stalin".

http://sumweb.syr.edu/su_press/SPRINGgreen2001/Forgotten.htm

If you click on the Amazon.com link, there are excerpts from the book,(although not ones you are specifically seeking).

Father Zugger is pastor of Our Lady of Perpetual Help Byzantine Catholic Church in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Their parish web site is http://www.olphnm.org.

Welcome Adrian, I hope you enjoy our board!

Serdeczny Pozdraw~
Stefan

In his book, With God In Russia, Fr. Walter Cizek, S.J., talks about celebrating the Liturgy in Soviet prison camps.

Don

Christ is among us!

Thank you all, guys, it's a great help for me!
Last month I talked to two priests here in Poland. They told me interesting stories they have heard.
As soon as I am done with the job (I can't give you any definite dates now) I will try to translate some fragments and I will post them here.
Thanks again!

Many blessings,

Adrian

I beg God's blessings upon your work, brother. There is so much that was 'hidden' during this most awful period and I hope that you can get as many first person witnesses as you can to accurately describe the reality of what happened. There are many around who actually lived the reality and who were "there" during the awful times. I hope that you can hitch up with them and get the real REAL truth and not just the apocryphal stuff.

Blessings!

PS: Please keep in touch; if I can make a contact with you and potential sources, just ask. Love 'ya!!!