Prymas Tysiąclecia, a Kościół nad Odrą w dobie Stalinizmu

Abstract

The goal of this paper is to show the attitude of the Primate of Poland Cardinal Stefan Wyszyński toward the Catholic Church in Lower Silesia up to the moment of his arrest in 1953. The Cardinal many times met Fr. Karol Milik, an apostolic administrator of Lower Silesia and saw him as a pioneer in the pastoral work. Together with other Polish bishops his option was for a canonical solution of the problem of the teritories in Western and Northern parts of the post-war Poland. He visited many times this region to offer his pastoral service at priestly ordinations and at confirmation for young people in the Wroclaw parishes. The situation connected with the removal of the apostolic administrator and the succeeding instalation of a capitular vicar in the person of Fr. Kazimierz Lagosz was a serious blow to him. In Wrocław the Cardinal consecrated the renewed Cathedral shrine and took part in celebrations regarding the reestablishment of the Cathedral Chapter. With all his might he protested against the communist authorities’ idea to cancel the Church administration in the cities of Gorzów and Opole. He firmly denied any moves toward bestowing the bishop’s office to Fr. Lagosz. We may say with certainty that by his unchangeble attitude he contributed to the integration of the Western Part of today’s Poland to the rest of Polish teritories.