February 2006

Now, That was a Mission!
by Rev. Fr Bernard Lubienski, C.SS.R.

	Rev. Fr Bernard Lubienski

My Reverend and very dear Father,

Our Fr Rector has asked me to relate to you for publication [...] the story of the mission from which we have just returned, preached at Mosciska, a town of Austrian Poland [...].

Nemo propheta acceptus est in patria sui, says Our Lord. For this reason, giving a mission in the actual vicinity of our residence presents difficulties, which a missionary well knows. This was not the only point of view from which difficulties presented themselves. Thanks to certain imprudent tongues that one meets from time to time, not a few people of the town and even the surrounding villages were warned against us. .

But the Feast of Our Mother of Perpetual Succour, who is so well honoured in Mosciska, was to be celebrated right in the middle of the mission and “it is Our Lady who is the success of the Mission.”

The Latin parish of Mosciska counts 9500 Latin Rite faithful, but within a 40 kilometre radius of the town there are three Greek Uniate parishes counting 1500 faithful each. There are also about 2000 Jews. [The typical population of many east Polish towns at the period—Ed.] A dozen of the big villages which were part of the parish were also to be evangelised by ourselves.

From the second week of June the mission was prepared in each of the villages, about which I will speak in some sermons. With the authorization of Mgr Solecki the (Latin) bishop of Przemszyl, an altar under a tent was built in each village. One of the curates of the parish sang the Mass, and a missionary preached twice in the morning and once in the afternoon. There was also catechism instruction for the children. All of these good people moved by the announcement of the mission, came en masse to these sermons.

Sinners cannot resist the flow and the missionaries were able to lay hold of these good people to make them promise to come to the parish church to hear the sermons. All promised and they kept their word.

On Sunday 15^th June at about 3 o’clock in the afternoon the Father missionaries in their monastery chapel, knelt before the altar of Our Mother of Perpetual Succour and recited the prayers prescribed by our Holy Rules before commencing a mission. The crowd had filled the chapel when the clergy arrived in procession to conduct the missionaries to the parish church. The procession made its way across the town to the parish church. Once there the Blessed Sacrament is exposed and the Veni Creator is sung followed by the Litany of Our Lady and Benediction. The parish priest turned to his parishioners and, in a few words full of good sentiment, he recommended that they come to hear the missionaries, the Sons of St Alphonsus and St Clement Hofbauer: he further recommended the mission to Our Mother of Perpetual Succour to whom he promised to consecrate his parish during the mission.

Fr Jedek mounted the pulpit and explained the ends of the holy exercises.

Thereafter at 7 o’clock in the morning and 5 o’clock in the evening, there were crowds so great at the sermons , that the church, which can hold more than 2500 people was found to be far too small. An altar and pulpit were erected beneath the trees near the church and here the High Mass and sermons were held each day. The weather was extraordinarily beautiful during the mission.

In the afternoons of the first four days we delivered in the church, according to the custom  of our Austrian province, instructions for every class of society, that is men, women, young men and finally young women. Because these instructions were well followed the mission did not fail to have the best results.

The days of the mission passed rapidly, but we saw few civil servants or office workers assisting at the exercises. They were quite a numerous class in Mosciska, and even though the Polish peasant remains fundamentally religious, there were few practising Catholics among the more instructed. Our Mother of Perpetual Succour receives the honour of having made the conquest; we awaited it of her on her feast day, which we were to celebrate with great pomp on Sunday 22 June.

On the morning of that day the parish priest sung the Mass in our church before the image of Our Lady. In the afternoon a magnificent procession was organized. Four priests in dalmatics carried the holy image on a bier adorned with flowers from our monastery church to that of the parish. The throng was so great that it was out of the question even to think of entering the church, and therefore the Madonna was placed on the improvised altar in the open air. Here, after the sermon about the entitlements she has to merit our love and confidence, all the crowd fell on their knees. The parish priest then pronounced the solemn act of consecration to Our Mother of Perpetual Succour, a consecration which all fathers and mothers, young men and women repeated at the top of their voices.

These beautiful celebrations made us hope that the Blessed Virgin would gain the hearts of those who until then had looked upon the mission with indifference. We announced that a series of conferences would be held for them at 7 o’clock in the evening in our monastery church. The result of these conferences was that all confessed and communicated.

During all this time the mission followed its course and the time for confessions of children arrived. All of these little ones met in the monastery church. A procession was formed and 800 children singing and praying passed in twos from the monastery church to that of the parish by way of the town. There the parish priest celebrated a solemn Mass. Just before Communion a Father mounted the pulpit and addressed a few words to these children to animate them to the love of Jesus Ch rist Whom they were about to receive. What a moving spectacle it was when these dear little ones lifted up their hands to ask pardon of their parents and their teachers. The parish priest, their parents and teachers all burst into sobs. The celebrant and his curates distributed Communion to his dear children, who approached the Holy Table with piety. The Communion over, a Father made the thanksgiving from the pulpit aloud.

During the following three days the confessions of women were heard. Their General Communion was made on a Friday morning. Numbering 2400, they assembled in our church. The parish priest arrived in cope to conduct them in procession to the parish church. Nothing could be more picturesque than to see these women, their heads covered with a white scarf as is worn in this part of Poland, walking two by two carrying in their hands a lighted candle. The Jews themselves were dumbfounded by the sight of this spectacle. One had to hear with what attention these women recited the rosary or sang hymns.

The confessions of men occupied us for the next three days. They too had their procession before Communion and 1800 men approached the Holy Table. Thereafter it was the turn of young people. 950 took part in the procession and received Holy Communion. Because our Polish peasants are very much exposed to drunkenness we engaged ourselves to break this bad habit during the mission. Some renewed their vows and promised on this point, others promised to use liquor with moderation: 500 young people made the promise to drink no more.

Our Mother of Perpetual Succour with her golden rizza as she is venerated in Mosciska

The last General Communion took place on the last Saturday of the mission, about 1200 girls took part. They too processed from the monastery to the church. For this ceremony every communicant had adorned her hair with flowers, as is the custom of the country. As these young women surrounded the altar and knelt down, it was as if a magnificent garden had formed before Our Lord.

But we must not forget to say a word about the Ruthenians, our brothers in Faith as they belong to the Greek Uniate Rite. Because their language is a Slavic dialect which resembles closely that of the Poles they were able to hear the sermons in Polish just as well as the faithful belonging to the Latin Rite, and they also approached the tribunal of penance. But it was not permitted to them to communicate under one species alone; they must receive Holy Communion under two species and at the hands of their priests. It was arranged that at each General communion one of their parish priests of the Greek Uniate Rite celebrated the Mass according to his rite in the Latin church, that thus the Christians of the two Rites could approach the Holy Table together. There were nearly 600 communions according to the Greek Rite distributed during the mission.

The closure of this consoling mission was fixed for Sunday the feast of the Holy Apostles Peter and Paul. Bishop Glaze, auxiliary of Przemszyl arrived the evening before. After administering confirmation to 150 adults, who, touched by grace during the mission had been prepared to receive the sacrament, His Lordship sung the Pontifical Mass in the open air.

After midday there was a magnificent procession in which more than 10, 000 persons escorted the Blessed Sacrament carried by Fr Rector. For two hours the town was traversed and benediction was given in the four principal suburbs. After the return Fr Jedek mounted the pulpit and gave the sermon on perseverance. The preacher then gave the Papal Blessing to this immense throng. The bishop then intoned the Te Deum. The parish priest encouraged all to be faithful to the promises made during the mission.

The mission was finished but still the sick and infirm remained, with whom we had not been able to occupy ourselves. The eight days following the closure of the mission were consecrated to them. We were wholly occupied in confessing and carrying Holy Communion to these different villages. During this same week we  also prepared 200 children for their First Communion, which was received solemnly on 6th July in our church.

There had been, therefore a whole month of labour in this parish work which Our Mother of Perpetual Succour had rendered fruitful in the things of salvation. It remains to me only to exclaim, “Live Jesus and Mary!”

Your very devoted confrere in Jesus Christ,

Bernard Lubienski, C.SS.R.

Redemptorist Monastery of St Catherine, Mosciska

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