Blessed are those who are Persecuted

Blessed Cardinal Aloysius Stepinac, -"A Servant of God and the Croatian People"


Aloysius Stepinac came from a peasant family, born in Brezani near Krasic on May 8, 1898. He was the eighth out of twelve children, and his mother always prayed that he might one day become a priest. In 1916, Stepinac was conscripted into the Austro-Hungarian army and fought on the Italian front until he was taken prisoner. In 1919 he returned to civilian life and entered the University of Zagreb to study agriculture. Stepinac decided to become a priest in 1924 and was sent to Rome to prepare, and was ordained six years later on October 26, 1930.

He returned to Zagreb in July, 1931 with the degrees of Doctor of Theology and Philosophy. Soon afterwards, Stepinac was chosen to become secretary to Archbishop Antun Bauer. On June 24, 1934 he was nominated as coadjutor to the Archbishop of Zagreb. After this nomination, Stepinac stated: "I love my Croatian people and for their benefit I am ready to give everything, as well as I am ready to give everything for the Catholic Church." After Bauer's death on December 7, 1937 Stepinac became the Archbishop of Zagreb.

During the Second World War, Stepinac never turned his back on refugees, or the prosecuted. His door was always open not only for Croatians, but also Jews, Serbs and Slovenes that needed his help. Stepinac always stood for political freedom and fundamental rights, and he always advocated the rights of the Croatian people. Stepinac wanted Croatia to be a country of God.

In May of 1943, he openly criticised the Nazis, and as a result, the Germans and Italians demanded that he be removed from office. Pope Pius XII refused, and warned Stepinac that his life was in danger. In July of 1943, the BBC and the Voice of America began to broadcast Stepinac's sermons to occupied Europe, and the BBC commented on Stepinac's criticism of the Ustasha regime.

At the end of the war, Stepinac was found guilty of Nazi collaboration at a mock trial, and was convicted and sentenced sixteen years' hard labour on October 11, 1946. At his trial when his life was on the line, Stepinac asked his communist prosecutors: "...every nation has the right to independence, then why should it be denied to the Croatians?" He spent five years in the prison of Lepoglava, and in 1951, Tito's government released him and confined him to the village of Krasic.

Even though he was forbidden by the government to resume his duties, Stepinac was named Cardinal by Pope Pius XII on January 12, 1953. Due to pain caused by the many illnesses he contracted while imprisoned, Cardinal Stepinac died in Krasic on February 10, 1960. On February 13th, he was buried behind the main altar in the cathedral in Zagreb. Pope Pius XII stated that "this Croatian Cardinal is the most important priest of the Catholic Church".

On October 3, 1998 in Marija Bistrica, Pope John Paul II beatified Cardinal Stepinac as a Martyr for the Faith, and referred to him as one of the outstanding figures of the Catholic Church.

Written by Michael Savor (Hamilton, Ontario, CANADA)   1997, revised in 2001 - From  http://www.croatianhistory.net/etf/stepinac.html

The Holy Rosary

The feast of the Holy Rosary was established by Saint Pius V on the anniversary of the naval victory won by the Christian fleet at Lepanto, October 7, 1571. The victory was attributed to the help of the holy Mother of God whose aid was invoked through praying the Rosary.

 "I am the Lady of the Rosary. I would like a chapel built here in my honor. Continue to pray the Rosary everyday. The war will end soon and the soldiers will return to their homes." -

Our Lady of Fatima October 13th 1917

It is more necessary than ever that from every part of the earth prayer for peace be made to Him. In this perspective, the Rosary turns out to be the form of prayer most needed. It builds peace because, while it appeals to the grace of God, it sows in the one praying it the seed of good from which we can expect the fruit of justice and solidarity for personal and community life.  -  John Paul II

"Of all prayers rosary is the most beautiful and the richest in graces; of all it is the one which is most pleasing to Mary, the Virgin Most Holy. Therefore, love the Rosary and recite it every day with devotion: this is the testament which I leave unto you so that you may remember me by it." - St. Pius X

"My impression is that the Rosary is of the greatest value not only according to the words of Our Lady of Fatima, but according to the effects of the Rosary one sees throughout history. My impression is that Our Lady wanted to give ordinary people, how might not know how to pray, this simple method of getting closer to God."  - Sister Lucia, one of the seers of Fatima 

"Love the Madonna and pray the rosary, for her rosary is the weapon against the evils of the world today."  -  St. Padre Pio

"The rosary is my weapon."  -   St. (Padre) Pio of Pietrelcina




The Rosary through Persecution

Poland 
Bl. Fr. Jerzy Popieluszko -  Priest and Martyr 

After his death his fellow soldiers spoke about the abuse he had suffered. One day he was forced to stand barefooted in the snow as he had refused to hand in a rosary.

A teacher in Jerzy's school summoned Marianna Popieluszko over her son...she said  "He  (the teacher) wanted to inform me that Jerzy spent too much time saying the rosary at church. It was true that after school he went to church and prayed the rosary every day, but the teacher intended to intimidate us, threatening to mark him down for conduct. I replied to the teacher that there was freedom of worship in Poland and that everybody could do as they pleased (the Holy Ghost must have inspired me at that moment). In the end, they did not mark him down for conduct, even though he always went to church for the rosary".
 
Mexico
On the Persecution of the Church in Mexico
Pope Pius XI  - November 1926

As a matter of fact, many individuals, members either of the Knights of Columbus, or officers of the Federation, of the Union of Catholic Women of Mexico, or of the Society of Mexican Youth, have been taken to prison handcuffed, through the public streets, surrounded by armed soldiers, locked up in foul jails, harshly treated, and punished with prison sentences or fines. Moreover, Venerable Brothers, and in narrating this We can scarcely keep back Our tears, some of these young men and boys have gladly met death, the rosary in their hands and the name of Christ King on their lips.

 
 
 

China
(1994)  On May 24, the most important Feast day of Mary in China, over 50,000 pilgrims knelt in drizzling rain in an open field- the underground Church has no basilica, cathedral or even a in Hubei. At 8 A.M the procession for Holy Mass began. Four bishops of the faithful Catholic Church and 120 Priests, arriving from underground dioceses all over China, moved forward in cortege. Following were over a hundred seminarians; 200 nuns; deacons, and young acolytes. Leading the procession was His Excellency Bishop Su Chi-Min, Auxiliary Bishop of Baoding.

As they moved slowly across the farmland and pasture, the drizzling rain became a steady, hard downpour. Pilgrims rushed forward with whatever protection they had available -plastic vinyl sheeting, a few umbrellas, cardboard boxes- to cover their underground bishops, priests and religious.  To no avail, everyone was soaked-but, "soaked in the love of Mary and in the grace of God" one participant later remarked.

Kneeling in mud, 50,000 Chinese underground Catholics on May 24, 1994, sang hymns, prayed, wept, and touched their rosaries to the image of Mary at the shrine of Hubei. No persecution could crush us, says a seminarian named Wen Xiu, age 23. No rain could dampen their spirits.

Pray the Rosary every day for peace in our own hearts, peace in our families and peace in our country and in the world.   Pray also for our Priests.