The Portiuncula

Newsletter of the Capuchin Franciscan Province of Our Lady of the Angels

Vol.XXII, No.1

New Capuchin Saints and Blesseds
On May 2, 1999 our Holy Father declared our brother Padre Pio a Blessed. This beatification has attracted the attention of many throughout the world. Blessed Pio is truly a saint for our times; he was born May 25th, 1887 in Pietrelcina, Italy and died on September 23, 1968. The multitudes that attended his beatification bear witness to how much he is loved and admired.
This year the friars have also witnessed the beatifications of some other modern saintly brothers and one sister. This past June 13th John Paul II beatified these lesser known Capuchin brothers and one Capuchin Franciscan Poor Clare; all of them martyrs of the Nazi concentration camps.
Br. Anicet Koplinski was born at Bedrzno, in Western Pomerania, where two cultures- the Slav and the Germanic- and two religions- Lutheran and Catholic- come into contact. He was born July 30, 1875, his parents were Lorenz Wawrzyniec, of Polish background, and Berta Moldenhau, of German-Lutheran background. At his baptism, on August 8, 1875, the child received the name Albert Anthony.
After a period of quarantine, Br. Anicet was assigned to Block 19 because he was judged incapable of work. This was an unwritten death sentence as the soldiers could not care less about those assigned to this block. Under those conditions hundreds of individuals died every day. Injections of phenol solution increased the mortality rate. Anicet died on October 16, 1941.
Br. Fidelis Hieronim was born at Lodz on the feast of All Saints in 1906, Jerome was the last of six children. He was baptized on November 4, 1906; his parents, Waclaw and Leokadia Srusinska, gave him the name Jerome.
Br. Symforian Feliks was born in Warsaw on May 10, 1888, the son of Julian Casper Ducki and Marianna Lenardt. He was baptized May 27th, and received the name Felix. He attended primary schools in his hometown. In 1918, when the Capuchins were returning to the Warsaw friary following their expulsion during the Czarist suppression of 1864, Felix who for a long time had desired to enter the Order, joined the friars, first as an aspirant- during which time he helped in the restoration of the Warsaw friary- and then, in June of 1918, as a postulant.
Br. Henryk Jozef was born on March 22, 1908, the son of Joseph and Frances Franaszczyk, in the village of Zachorzew. He was baptized on April 9,1908, at the parish of Slawno, in Sandomierz, Poland, and given the name Joseph. He completed his elementary education in 1925, and entered the Capuchin College of St. Fidelis at Lomza. He then applied for entrance into the Capuchin Order of the Commisarist of Warsaw.
Br. Florian Jozef was born at Zdzary, near Nowe Miasto in the province of Pilica, on January 3,1912. His parents, Paul and Anna Misztal, were farmers. He was baptized on Janaury 4,1912, and given the name Joseph.
Sr. Mieczyslawa Kowalska belonged to the convent of the Capuchin Poor Clares nuns of Przasnysz. Even though her life was lived in silence, the memory of her courageous death- unique in the history of her convent- shines brightly even to this day. Unfortunately, few biographical details are known about her.

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