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This year's celebration of St. Andrew Bobola in his Sanctuary in Warsaw fell on the 360th anniversary of the death of the patron saint of Poland and the Warsaw Metropolis. Many of the worshippers of St. Andrzej Bobola including representatives of local and self-government authorities, flagship posts of organisations and fraternities and spiritual persons participated at the pilgramage.

Mass was celebrated by Cardinal Kazimierz Nycz, Metropolitan of Warsaw. In his homily he referred to the slogan of the current pastoral and liturgical year "Go and preach" and to the readings and the gospel of the day.

The cardinal  stated that St. Andrzej Bobola was an apostle of his time, similar to those sent by Jesus. This Jesuit did not wait passively for the arrival of the faithful, but he himself went on missions, did not stay long in comfortable places, established catechists and sought out "lost sheep." He wandered in Mazovia, and preached in Lomza, Vilnius, Pinsk. He did so because he treated seriously the words of Jesus "Go and preach". "It is from the love of Christ, for the unity of the Church, that he suffered cruel death at the hands of men who hated the Catholic faith".

The Warsaw Metropolitan stressed that St. Andrzej Bobola is the patron of difficult unity and is to be a model and example for Poles. Referring to the last celebrations of the 100th anniversary of Fatima, he recalled that St. Andrzej Bobola was also a co-founder of the Jasna Góra oath, which was then arranged by King Jan Kazimierz.

Cardinal Nycz expressed his appreciation for the Jesuits and the parishioners of St. Andrzej Bobola. He described the parish as "outstanding" - thanks to the Jesuits, "Collegium Bobolanum" and pastoral proposals for the faithful and the pilgrims.

At the end of the service, the metropolitan and the faithful prayed a litany to St. Andrzej Bobola at the foot of the altar, at the tomb of the patron saint. After the Mass, the faithful had the opportunity to venerate the relics of the martyred saint.

Saint Andrzej Bobola - History of a devotion

Saint Andrzej Bobola suffered a cruel death by the hands of Cossacks in Janow Poleski on May 16th, 1657.  After his death the body of the Saint had a long journey. It was placed in the basement of the church in Pinsk. After about 30 years, after the Cossacks invaded (the Jesuit college and the church in Pinsk suffered numerous attacks, such as plundering, arson, etc.), the body of Andrzej was found. The great surprise for the Jesuits was that the body was unharmed. But as the coffin and garments were crushed, the martyr was dressed in new clothes, placed into a new coffin and buried in a vault in a prominent place. The cult of the saint grew, and crowds came to the grave. In the first half of the eighteenth century. 300 graces and miracles took place.

In 1714, the Polish Jesuits began efforts to beatify their confrere. Reports of miraculous healings prompted the laity, including dignitaries and King August II, to send requests to Rome for the beatification of Fr. Andrzej Bobola. A new Pope was chosen, and in 1773 Pope Clement XIV abolished the Jesuit Order. In 1808, a coffin with the corpse of St. Andrzej Bobola was transferred to Polotsk. In the meantime, Poland was annexed. Połock with the grave of Father Bobola was under Russian rule.

It was not until Pope Pius VII officially restored the Jesuit order that the martyr's beatification was renewed. Father Andrzej Bobola, apostle and martyr, was beatified by Pope Pius IX in Rome. on October 30th, 1853. In 1920, efforts were made in Rome for the canonisation of St. Andrzej Bobola. Rome sent a petition to the Archbishop and the Polish authorities.

Meanwhile, on June 23rd, 1922, the Bolsheviks took away the body of St. Andrzej Bobola from Polotsk to Moscow and after examination they put him on public display at the Museum of Hygiene. This insult outraged the Poles.

In 1924, the papal mission to help the starving Russians regained the relics of the martyr and transported them to Rome. There the body of St. Andrzej was placed in the Jesuit church of the Gesù. Confirmed miracles contributed to the canonisation of St. Martyr and Apostle in Rome by Pope Pius XI at Easter, April 17th, 1938.

After the canonisation efforts were made to bring the relics of St. Andrzej Bobola to Poland. On June 8th, 1938, the coffin in procession was transported through Slovenia, Hungary, Czechoslovakia to Poland. The Slovenes, Hungarians, Czechs and Slovaks paid tribute to the holy martyr. Everywhere the body of St. Andrzej Bobola was greeted with great joy and prayer.

The relics arrived through Zebrzydowice, Dziedzice, Czechowice, Oświęcim, Cracow, Katowice, Kalisz, Poznań and Łódź to Warsaw. In Poland, tens of thousands of believers prayed at the relics of the saint and on the route of the passage of St. Andrzej Bobola. Millions of faithful paid homage to the holy martyr.

Celebrations welcoming the patron saint of Poland took place in Warsaw. Church and state authorities, the clergy, the military, the crowds of the faithful came out to greet the relics. The processed relics were transported to the Warsaw Cathedral of St. John, where they were to rest for 3 days. On June 19th, 1938, after a solemn mass with the participation of the state authorities, the relics of St. Andrzej Bobola were brought to the chapel of the Jesuits at Rakowiecka.

In 1939, on the eve of the surrender of Warsaw, the relics were transported to the Jesuits to the Old Town. In 1944, they were moved to St. Jack on ul. Freta In 1945, after the war, the relics returned to Rakowiecka and placed in the lower chapel.

In 2002 the Bishops' Conference of Poland announced St. Andrzej Bobola to be the Patron Saint of Poland. In 2007, the Episcopate gave the church of St. Andrzej Bobola on Rakowiecka the Title of National Shrine.

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