August Hlond

Early life and ordination

Second son of a railway worker, he was born in the Upper Silesian village Brzeczkowice (German: Brzenskowitz), then ruled by Germany, now part of Myslowice (German: Myslowitz), on 5 July 1881. At twelve-years-of-age, Hlond went to Turin, Italy to study for the priesthood in the Salesian Congregation. He later studied a doctorate of philosophy in Rome, returned to Poland to complete Theology, and was ordained in Cracow in 1905.

In 1909 Hlond was sent to Vienna to be headmaster at a boy's secondary school. He remained in the city for 13 years, and working with spiritual and charitable organisations for Poles, and becoming Provincial of the Salesians for Austria, Hungary and Germany in 1919. Following the break up of Austria-Hungary after World War One, Pope Pius XI appointed Hlond as Apostolic Administrator for Polish Upper Silesia in 1922, and Hlond became the first Bishop of the Diocese of Katowice in 1925.

Bishop and cardinal

Hlond was consecrated as Bishop of Katowice on January 3rd, 1926. He succeeded Cardinal Dalbor, as Primate of Poland soon after and in 1927, was appointed as Cardinal-Priest of Santa Maria della Pace by Pope Pius XI. Through the tumultuous 1930s, Hlond condemned "escapism" and called on the Church should challenge the evil realities of the times, and, speaking 12 languages, became an influential member of the College of Cardinals on the international stage.

In 1932, together with Ignacy Posadzy founded Society of Christ Fathers.

World War II

The invasion of predominantly Catholic Poland by Nazi Germany in 1939 ignited the Second World War. The Nazi plan for Poland entailed the destruction of the Polish nation, which necessarily required attacking the Polish Church, particularly in those areas annexed to Germany. In the territories annexed to Greater Germany, the Nazis set about systematically dismantling the Catholic Church - arresting its leaders, exiling its clergymen, closing its churches, monasteries and convents. Many clergymen were murdered. Elsewhere in occupied Poland, the suppression was less severe, though still harsh. The Papal Nuncio to Poland, Fillipo Cortesi had abandoned Warsaw along with the diplomatic corps, after the invasion. Other channels existed for communications, including Cardinal Hlond.

On 18 September 1939, at the request of the Polish Government, Hlond left Poland, with part of the Army, in order to reach Rome and report on the actions of the Nazis in Poland, and inform the world via Vatican radio and press. Hlond submitted an official account of the persecutions of the Polish Church to the Vatican, reporting seizures of church property and abuse of clergy and nuns in the annexed regions:

In his final observations for Pope Pius XII, Hlond wrote:

In 1939 Hlond spent several months in Rome for the conclave of 1939. In January 1940, Vatican Radio broadcast Hlond's reports of German persecution of Jews and the Catholic clergy in Poland. These reports were included in the report of the Polish government to the Nuremberg Trials after the war.

In March 1940, Hlond went on a pilrimage to Lourdes, in France. Following the Fall of France, he remained in the country, staying at the Benedictine Abbey at Hautecombe, in Savoy, where remained, unable to leave, until Himmler ordered the Gestapo to arrest him in February 1944 (the only member of the Sacred College of Cardinals to be arrested by the Nazis). The Gestapo held him at their headquarters in Paris for two months, and, with the Soviet armies now driving the Nazis back from Russia, attempted to have him declare public support for the German war against the Soviet Union, in order to secure his release. The Gestapo offered to make Hlond Regent of Poland, but, according to The Tablet, "The withdrawal of all German troops from Poland was necessary, the Cardinal implacably insisted, before he could even discuss any matter whatsoever with a German officer." Hlond remained in the custody of the Gestapo, first at a convent at Bar-le-Duc, until the Allied advance forced the Germans to shift him to Wiedenbrtick, in Westphalia, where he remained for seven months, until released by American troops in 1945. The Americans flew Hlond to Paris, and then to Rome on April 25th, finally returning to war ravaged Poland on 20 July 1945.

Hlond reported in August 1941 to the Cardinal Secretary of State, Luigi Maglione, that the Polish people believed Pope Pius XII had abandoned them. This was said in light of the Nazi persecution of the Polish church and clergy.

After the war

Pope Pius XII appointed Hlond as Archbishop of Warsaw, on 4 March 1946 and he was installed on May 30th, amid immense crowds of supporters. The Polish Church faced great challenges: thousands of Polish clergy had been killed by the Nazis, and the Church and the Soviet-sponsored new regime in Poland were soon to clash. Hlond set about placing bishops on the empty Sees and reconnecting the Church with Rome.

He spoke out against the Communist persecution of the Church. He issued a series of Pastoral Letters on behalf of the Polish Church regarding the new Poland, but these faced censorship at the hands of the new regime, and the government launched a nationalisation of church schools. In a May 1947 Pastoral Letter, Hlond wrote that ""Since the days of St. Peter, the Church has not been subjected to a persecution such as that to which she is subjected today". Following Hlond's death in 1948, The Tablet wrote that "the nations of Eastern Europe which lie today beneath the police-regimes imposed from Moscow lost their most powerful spokesman".

Death and burial

He was buried in the crypt of St. John's cathedral in Warsaw. In March 2006 his body was transferred to the Chapel of St. John the Baptist.

Relations with ethnic Germans

Hlond has been accused of overstepping his authority by forcing German officeholders to resign their church posts in 1945 in favor of Poles, thereby supporting the Polish integration of formerly eastern German territories that had been given to Poland by the Allies as compensation for territory taken by the Soviet Union. Maximilian Kaller was one of the bishops who was removed from his diocese and deported to West Germany. Kaller is now in process of beatification. Another bishop forced out was Carl Maria Splett, Bishop of Danzig.

Relations with Jews

In 1936, Cardinal Hlond, as Primate of Poland issued a pastoral letter articulating his stance towards Poland's Jews: "There will be a Jewish problem as long as the Jews remain...It is a fact that the Jews fight against the Catholic church, they are free-thinkers, and constitute the vanguard of atheism, bolshevism and revolution. It is true that the Jews are committing frauds, practicing usury, and dealing in white slavery. It is also true that in the schools the Jewish youth is having an evil influence, from an ethical and religious point of view, on the Catholic youth."

Hlond tempered these remarks with admonitions to not harm Jews: "But let us be just. Not all Jews are like that. One does well to avoid Jewish shops and Jewish stalls in the markets, but it is not permitted to demolish Jewish businesses. One should protect oneself against the influence of Jewish morals...but it is inadmissible to assault, hit or injure Jews. In a Jew you should also respect and love a human being and your neighbor." (August Cardinal Hlond's Pastoral Letter of February 29, 1936 which was read from pulpits across the country.) Hlond also offered support for a boycott of Jewish businesses, and indicated a willingness on the part of the church to accept conversion of Jews. Hlond's letter was criticized by Polish Jewish groups, who saw it as offering support and a rationalization for anti-semitism.

However, while Hlond promoted the expulsion of German civilians after World War II, he had always consistently condemned the Nazi persecution of the Jews and had been openly opposed to all actions hurting Jews materially and physically.

Controversy was caused by Hlond's reaction to the Kielce pogrom, that took place in Polish town of Kielce on July 4, 1946. While condemning murders, Hlond denied the racist nature of this crime. He saw pogrom as a reaction against Jewish bureaucrats serving Communist regime. This position was echoed by Cardinal Sapieha, who was reported to have said that the Jews brought it on themselves.

Beatification proposal

The process of beatification commenced in 1992 and he was granted the title of Servant of God. Professor Franz Scholz, a German theologian, as well as many others have expressed their opposition to the proposed beatification of Cardinal Hlond. Scholz opposes his actions against post-war German expellees and civilians from territories ceded by Allies to the Polish Republic.