Saints

St. Pope John Paul II

St. Pope John Paul II was born as Karol Jozef Wojtyla (Vo-ti-wa) in Wadowice (near Cracow), Poland on May 18, 1920. His older brother was Edmund, and parents Karol and Emilia (Kaczorowska) Wojtyla. Edmund was much older than Karol but both loved each other. Unfortunately when Karol 9, his mother passed away and three years later Edmund joined his mom. 

Karol was enrolled in Carcow's (crack-ov)Jagiellonian University in 1938 for college as well as a school for drama. Karol loved the art of theatre and music and was part of a theatre group that would recite poetry and put together plays. When the Nazis rolled through Poland, they shut down the university and banned things that brought the Polish together: theatre being one. 

Karol wasn't going to listen to that, however, and was part of a secret theatre group while working in a quarry and then a Solvay chemical factory to earn his living in order of not being deported to Germany. His father passed away in 1941 leaving Karol alone. Karol then realized his call to priesthood and enrolled at a seminary in Cracow.

One time, there were Nazi soldiers that broke into his apartment building, taking everyone out of there. Karol, unable to do anything, went into his bedroom and prayed for God to keep him safe from harm. A soldier was about to break into his room when they were told to hurry out and that they were done. God had a bigger plan for Karol. 

The next day, Karol was told by the Cardinal Adam Stefan Spieha, archbishop of Cracow, to come where he lived to keep the seminarians safe. Karol left the few friends he had behind to enter priesthood. He saw children shot for trying to take food to their starving families. Nazis would shape dead bodies into swastikas. Carol witnessed his Jewish friends being taken from Poland to concentration camps. One of his friends was taken when they were trying to take him to the seminary and was experimented on in the concentration camps. Karol never forgot about them and prayed for them every moment he could. 

He was hit by a German truck but survived because a woman found him on the side of the road and brought him to the hospital. Miraculously, he survived and he knew this was confirmation that he must be a priest. 

Karol finished his studies after the Nazis were defeated by the Soviets and marked the end of the Nazi reign as well as WWII. He was ordained in 1946. Karol returned to Poland in 1948 after studying St. John of the Cross (Chapter 7) theology and saw what the Soviets were doing to his beloved Poland. They made it illegal to be religious and made family life extremely difficult. The parents would work while the children were home and the children would be at school while the parents were home. They were trying to squeeze every ounce of Polish out of his homeland. 

Karol organized trips with engaged couples with kayak rides in the wilderness, where the Soviets couldn't listen in on and where he can discuss how to raise children and be good spouses in this time. Every day of the trip concluded with a mass and prayer. One time, Soviets saw him and asked what was going on. One of the engaged said their uncle (aka Karol) was taking them on a kayak trip. The soldiers studied them and then said they'd have to leave and then went away. Karol concluded they'd have to leave then...via kayak. After that trip, everyone would call him "uncle" both for code and because he felt like a part of their family and he truly was. 

There needed to be a new bishop and the Soviets decided to allow it but they had to agree upon who the bishop would be. They went through every priest in Poland and finally came to Karol Wojtyla, a newly ordained priest. The Soviets believed that it would be quite easy to manipulate him so they said only he could become the bishop. That's probably the worst decision the Soviets could have made to benefit themselves but the best decision to make to benefit Poland and the entire world. 

The Soviets were building a town for workers but "forgot" to add a church. There were hundreds of people working there who would need a mass so on Christmas Eve, Bishop Wojtyla went out there, place a cross on the snowy ground outside of the town and began a mass. Hundreds of people were there praying with him. Soviet troops were sent to stop what was going on but when they arrived, removed their helmets and prayed with the crowd. After the mass had finished, they took down the cross. When asked what Bishop Wojtyla would do, he replied," Easy. Put it back up next year." He continued to do this until the Soviets reluctantly built a church.