Resurrectionist Martyrs – Rev. Kazimierz Pieniążek CR.
- Commemorating our Martyrs during the month of November
Rev. Kazimierz Pieniążek CR
Father Kazimierz Pieniążek CR was born on March 4, 1907, in Chęciny, Garwolin County, the son of Michał (d. 1948) and Marianna (née Rogala, d. 1975). His parents owned a medium-sized farm and a windmill. He was the eldest child and had seven siblings—three brothers and four sisters.
He was baptized on March 10, 1907, at St. John the Baptist Church in Górzno (Garwolin Deanery) and was confirmed in Garwolin. He studied in Chęciny, Garwolin (where he first encountered the Resurrectionists), and Lwów. He joined the congregation on September 21, 1925, and made his first vows on March 8, 1927, in Kraków (before Father Julian Kowalski CR). He studied philosophy and theology at the John Casimir University in Lwów (1927-1933, with a break from 1929-1931 to complete his secondary education). He made his perpetual vows on March 8, 1930. He served as the senior in the boys’ boarding school (1930-1931). He received minor orders (acolyte and exorcist) on December 20, 1930, and graduated from Żółkiewski Gymnasium in Lwów on May 21, 1931. He was vice-prefect of the seminary (January 1932-1933) and was noted for his talents in declamation and art. He was ordained a priest on June 10, 1933, at the seminary church in Lwów by Bishop Franciszek Lisowski. He studied canon law at John Casimir University in Lwów (1933-1934) and earned his degree in moral theology on June 16, 1934. He served as vice-rector of the religious seminary and novice master in Rome (1934-1937), where he also studied canon law and obtained a licentiate in theology. He earned a doctorate in canon law with a dissertation titled “De patrimonio Ecclesiae in Polonia iuxta concordatum ex Anno 1925” (Rome 1937). He made a pilgrimage to the Holy Land.
From 1937, he was in Warsaw, serving as bursar (1937-1938), superior of the house (1938-1940), and rector of St. Casimir’s Church. He worked pastorally with the parish choir, youth, scouts, morally endangered individuals, the elderly, and the sick. Under his direction, damage to the church caused during the defense of Warsaw in September 1939 was repaired, and he prepared financial and material resources to complete the church’s construction. He was known as a serious (despite his young age), disciplined, and hardworking priest.
He was arrested on January 17, 1940, and imprisoned at Rakowiecka Street in Warsaw. The reasons for his arrest and the search of the entire monastery may have been related to his sermons (especially the one on November 11, 1939) and reports to the Gestapo, as well as his refusal to release funds collected for the church’s expansion. Subjected to brutal interrogation, he was held at Rakowiecka Street and Pawiak Prison, where
he continued his pastoral ministry to fellow prisoners and maintained secret contact with his community. He was transported around March 25, 1940, to the Modlin Fortress, likely to the KL Pomiechówek Fort III or Fort I, where the Germans had established a transit camp. From there, he was taken to the execution site in the outskirts of Warsaw in Palmiry and was shot on April 2, 1940. He was buried in Palmiry in grave XXIV.
His remains were exhumed in 1945 and moved to the identified graves section at the Palmiry cemetery. His remains were identified by Father Feliks Szmit, his classmate, thanks to his clerical garb and religious cord. Memorial plaques in his honor are located in the churches of St. John the Baptist in
Górzno (2017) and St. Casimir in Warsaw.