By Br. Marc Jozsef Lester Hallig, O.Carm.
Today, June 12, is the memorial of Blessed Hilary Januszewski.
Born in 1907 in Poland, Hilary lived comfortably with his family until financial problems forced him to quit college. They moved to Krakow where he continued his studies. In 1927, he entered the Carmelite Order. The following year, he became a simple-professed friar. After finishing Philosophy in Krakow, he was sent to the Collegio Internazionale Sant’Alberto in Rome. In 1934, he was ordained a priest. Later he earned his lectorate in Theology. In 1935, he returned to his monastery in Krakow.
Upon returning to Poland, Hilary was appointed professor of Dogmatic Theology and Church History at the institute in Krakow. In 1939, Fr. Eliseus Sánchez-Paredes, Provincial, appointed him prior of the community.
The year 1939 saw Poland in a political turmoil with the arrival of Germans. These foreigners had the religious and priests arrested. In 1940, the gestapo had four Carmelite friars deported to Carmel Krakow. December that same year, even more friars were being arrested. When he saw that old and sick friars were going to be arrested, Hilary volunteered to take their place.
The Germans took him up on his offer. They imprisoned him in Montelupi and in Sachsenchausen. In 1941, Hilary was jailed in Dachau’s concentration camp. His fellow prisoners described him as prayerful, always positive and hopeful. Together with the other Carmelite friars, among whom was Blessed Titus Brandsma, they often joined in prayer.
It so happened that one of the barracks of the concentration camp was hit by typhus. Hilary, moved by compassion, joined a group of priests who volunteered the sick and the dying in the camp. He was able to help for 21 days as he himself was infected by the disease. He died in 1945 and was immediately cremated in Dachau.
Hilary was beatified by Pope Saint John Paul II in 1999, together with 107 Polish martyrs of the Second World War.