Saints Peter of Lampsacus and Companions, Martyrs, (251)
Saints Bertha and Rupert, Confessors, (840)
Saints Dympna and Gerebernus, Martyrs, (650)
St. Pontius, Martyr, (250)
St. Boniface of Tarsus, Martyr, (306)
St. Erembert, Bishop, (672)
St. Robert Bellarmine, Bishop, (1621)
St. John the Silent, Abbot, (558)
St. Mucius, Priest and Martyr, (304)
Saints Nereus, Achilleus, and Domitillia, Martyrs, (1st century)
St. Pancras, Martyr, (304)
St. Epiphanius of Salamis, Bishop, (403)
St. Ansfrid of Utrecht, Bishop, (1010)
St. Walter, Abbot, (1070)
St. Mamertus of Vienna, Bishop, (475)
Joseph Padewski, Bishop and Martyr, (1951)
St. Calepodius, Martyr, (222)
Saints Gordian and Epimachus, Martyrs, (250)
Bishop Joseph Padewski was born February 18, 1894 in Antoniów, a small farming village near Radom in Poland. He emigrated to the United States in 1913 and moved to Detroit, Michigan. In Detroit he came into contact with the Polish National Catholic Church. In 1916 he entered the PNCC Seminary. He was ordained to the priesthood on December 16, 1919 by Prime Bishop Francis Hodur. He celebrated his first mass at the Church of the Good Shepherd in Plymouth, Pennsylvania.
In 1931 Father Padewski was sent to Poland as part of the PNCC mission of evangelization in Poland, and to work on consolidating the structures of the PNCC (PNKK) in Poland. He was appointed assistant to Bishop Leon Grochowski.
In January 1933 at a meeting of the Supreme Council of the PNCC in Poland attended by Bishop Hodur, Father Padewski was appointed administrator of the PNCC in Poland. At the Second Synod of the PNCC in Poland in April 1935 Father Padewski was elected Bishop. Father Padewski was elevated to the Episcopacy on August 26, 1936 in Scranton, Pennsylvania.
Before the Second World War the PNCC had 100,000 members, 52 parishes, 12 affiliate churches, and 52 priests in Poland.
On September 1, 1939 Nazi Germany invaded Poland from the west and the Soviet Union invaded from the east. The losses to Poland and to the Church in Poland during the Nazi German and Soviet occupation were devastating. Over 6 million Poles died including 3 million Polish citizens of the Jewish faith. Many priests were sent to concentration camps. In all, 28% of PNCC priests were killed.
In part, Bishop Padewski was able to save the church from complete liquidation by bringing the church under the control of the Old Catholic Church’s Bishop in Bonn, Erwin Kreuzer.
In 1942 Bishop Padewski was arrested by the Nazis and was held at the Montelupich prison in Krakow. He was then transferred to the Tittmoning POW Camp in Germany where he was held for 18 months. Through the intervention of the Swiss Red Cross he was freed and returned to the United States in March 1944.
Between 1944 and 1946 Bishop Padewski served as pastor of the Blessed Virgin Mary of Czestochowa Parish in Albany, New York.
Bishop Padewski returned to Poland on February 20, 1946 to resume his duties as Bishop of the Polish branch of the PNCC.
Shortly after his return, the Soviet Union completed its takeover of Poland and asserted Communist control. In this atmosphere of Stalinist terror, Bishop Padewski was arrested by the Communist Secret Police (UB) in Warsaw and was held at their prison on Rakowieckiej Street.
Bishop Padewski died on May 10, 1951 as a result of secret police questioning and maltreatment.
St. Gregory Nazianzen, Bishop, (390)
St. Pachomius, Abbot, (348)
St. Gerontius, Martyr, (501)
With my apologies to John Denver.
Anyway, I read a post that Ben Johnson put up on his Western Orthodoxy site, regarding an Orthodox deacon who became Roman Catholic. This clergyman appeared on the EWTN show “The Journey Home.”
This show drags out various people who have come over to the Roman Church, primarily from other Christian Churches, but not only. In the past it has featured Jews who have converted as well as people of various non-Christian backgrounds.
It is a tortured show that exposes all the ‘faults’ of the person’s prior church, how the opinion of family and friends is unimportant, how much resistance the person received in making the changeover (yes, they are all martyrs), and how some family and friends now accept the person’s choice. It also highlights their moment of conversion, you know, the one they failed to discuss with their spiritual father. Didn’t St. John warn us:
Beloved, do not trust every spirit but test the spirits to see whether they belong to God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world.
I think that if you added a little bling and spiced up the set a bit you’d have an infomercial for Roman Catholicism.
You don’t want to shop there, their Eucharist is hokey, shop here and you’ll not only receive the reeeeeal Jeeeesus, but eternal life as well. Listen to how Bob found the truth… 100% guaranteed, some restrictions apply. Extra Ecclesiam nulla salus, Inc.
What I find particularly sick is that the show flies in the face of the Roman Church’s teaching on Orthodoxy and other Catholic Churches, which the Roman Church deems to be “true particular churches” like the PNCC
But ultramontanes, neo-conservative Catholics, and EWTN have never been ones not to foist their beliefs upon the Pope or the Vatican. They obviously know the way far better than those whose office is to teach.
For us, in the PNCC, we follow Bishop Hodur’s message – simply, allow God to enlighten and direct you:
The National Church does not recognize any anathemas. We are a group of free people and if, therefore, someone comes to know that our principles appeal to his soul, his education, and temperament, then we acknowledge him as our brother or our sister. In the same manner, if a person changes his conviction and leaves us, we do not condemn him because this is his free and Christian right. When new religious groups emerge, we do not curse them but acknowledge them as brothers. We, therefore, invite all the people of good will to our Church and if they do not come to our side, we will not degrade or ridicule them.
Something to be said for trusting in God.
St. Victor of Maurus, Martyr, (303)
St. Agathus, Martyr, (305)
St. Benedict of Rome, Bishop, (685)
St. Stanislaus of Krakow, Martyr, (1079)
St. Domitian, Bishop, (560)
St. John of Beverly, Bishop, (721)