Conventual Franciscan friar, religious brother (1913-1942) Piotr Zukowski Zukowski was born on January 13th, 1913, at Baran-Rapa, a village populated by the lower middle class, in the parish of Niemenczyn, in the province of Vilnius. Son of Andrzej and Albina Walkiewicz. After the first four years of the primary school at Rudowiek, he stayed at home to help his parents in the farm work.When he was sixteen, he entered the Conventual Franciscan Order in Niepokalanów, where he arrived on September 9th, 1930. He began his noviciate on June 14th, 1931, and he pronounced his temporary vows on July 16th, 1932, receiving the name Bonifacy.On August 2nd, 1935, he made his perpetual profession. Before it, the then guardian of the convent, Father Florian Koziura, wrote in his report: A good person from every point of view. I wish there were others like him! Friar Bonifacy spent his whole religious life in Niepokalanów, carrying out many tasks of responsibility in the printing works, devoting himself in this way to the apostleate of the printed word. He was quiet, serene, a well-balanced friar. After the outbreak of the war, he remained in the convent and he safely put away the typographical machines, seriously running the risk of losing his life. He was a brave person and sometimes he showed it, in his conversations with the German occupants. MARTYRDOM On October 14th, 1941, he was arrested by the Gestapo, together with other six friars, including Friar Tymoteusz Trojanowski, and shut up in the Pawiak prison in Warsaw. During the imprisonment, he often said the Rosary and in the evening, with the other friars, he sang religious hymns. Talking with the other prisoners, he spiritually comforted them. He shared with his fellow prisoners, the food he received from the outside. On January 8th, 1942, he was transported with Friar Tymoteusz to the concentration camp of Oswiecim (Auchwitz), where he was registered with the number 25447. He was assigned to the transport of building materials (Bauhofkommando), the transport of gravel, the demolition of the crumbling buildings of Oswiecim (Abruchkommando), the roof maintenance staff and, finally, to the harvest of oil seed rape. He tried to bear his sufferings with courage and spirit of faith. Once he was beaten with a piece of wood until he bled. The labour in the cold gave rise to pneumonia. He died on April 10th, 1942, after spending two weeks in the hospital of the lager (barrack). Proclaimed blessed by John Paul II on June 13th, 1999.
Posted on: Sat, 24 Jan 2015 09:49:08 +0000
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