Bl. Stefan Wincenty Frelichowski
Born: January 22, 1913
Died: February 23, 1945
Feast: February 23
Patron saint of: N/A
A priest for only eight years, Stefan Wincenty Frelichowski’s impact reverberated throughout Eastern Europe. Ordained in Poland in 1937, almost all of Stefan’s priesthood was spent under the shroud of World War II and the Holocaust. He was arrested 10 days after the Nazi invasion of Poland, and was transferred to five concentration camps, eventually ending up in Dachau, where he died in February of 1945 of typhus, just months before the camp’s liberation. Stefan ministered unceasingly to the prisoners in each of the camps where he was held—celebrating Mass in secret when he could, leading prayer services, and accompanying the sick, the suffering, and the starving. All of this he did heroically, sacrificially, at great personal risk, and without hesitation. Stefan is a striking example of what it means to be a good shepherd, and what true devotion to one’s flock looks like, whoever and wherever they may be.
Image: Wikimedia Commons
