When I learned from the media about the school teacher's fight in Kieło with the cross, it was as if I had instinctively looked at an old oak crucifix, which had for respective years a village on the wall, over my desk. He besides became a victim of human hatred... It was during the time of the ungodly commune, erstwhile in 1958, comrade Władysław Gomulka declared war on the crosses in Polish schools. Did he win it? His biography shows that he spent the last years of his life in “forgetfulness, sorrow and bitterness.”
When it's hard on my heart, I like to look at my beloved cross, due to the fact that then I always get relief. This cross has been in our household for respective generations. I don't know who did it, but I feel he did it with large religion and reverence for Christ's sacrifice. It was performed in the interwar period, shortly after Poland regained its independence. The carpenter, commissioned by the head of the general school in the village of the Council, made respective specified crucifixes. They were solemnly consecrated in classrooms, by the parish priest of St. Lawrence Parish in Dolistów on the Biebrza River.
The old 1 is simply a parish, an era so ancient that the papers of the year or even the age of the year have not yet reached their date. The oldest parchments informing about Dolistów, then called Targowisko, and his church, date back to 1358. At that time this village, the oldest 1 established on the Biebrza River, was located on the border of the Duchy of Mazowiecki and Lithuania. Historians point out that giving the parish the patronage of St. Lawrence (there is no another parish of St. Lawrence in this region) is most likely connected with the Christianization mission of St. Bruno of Kwerfurt (1004) which was Benedictine. For this order surrounds St. Lawrence with a peculiar honor.
What else is worth saying about the present church in Dolistów, which was completed in 1790. Well, it contains a precious crucifix, respective 100 years old, which was placed in the main altar. This cross, for centuries, enjoys a large worship of parishioners and builds their spirituality. This can be seen clearly in the territory of this agrarian parish, where erstwhile entering the road leading to each farm, stands a cross or chapel. besides my grandma Apolonia and her grandpa Romuald and her six children, among them my parent Danuta, fed (all are already on the another side of life) a immense honour to the cross.
There are no shortages of crosses in all man's life. Grandma Apolonia besides carried many of them. She was married by Romuald Romanowski – my grandfather. The young couple had not yet had their own home, so newlyweds moved in with Romuald's parents. As it is, unfortunately, frequently in life, the aged housewife did not tolerate the bride. She made her many sorrows and even tormented her mentally. For example, she closed an earthy cellar where food was stored, as in refrigerators today. Grandma endured these harassments until the birth of her firstborn son, erstwhile postpartum depression affected her. intellectual pain was so overwhelming that she decided to take her own life.
As the moon was at night, she was devastated by the fields toward the Biebrza, in which she wanted to throw herself, she met the chapel of Our Lady. People passed on the past of the revelation of Mary's young girl here from generation to generation. Therefore, the Dolist parish built a chapel here, in which inactive on the anniversary of the apparition the Holy Mass is celebrated.
Upon reaching the chapel, Grandma decided to kneel down to apologize to God and Mary for what she intended to do. As shortly as she knelt, as she told me, abruptly her heart came to a large peace, and immediately afterwards came to her senses. erstwhile she came home, there was no sign of depression. shortly Grandpa bought a habitat from a miller in the close village of Moniuszko. He built a home here where they lived with their grandma and their son. Not by chance a stone chapel with a beautiful figure of Our woman stood before the property. They were yet on their own. More children began to be born, including my parent Danuta. erstwhile I think about this story, I realize that Mary saved my grandma and saved me.
Since my miraculous salvation, my grandma Apolonia Romanowska has become a very devout person. She raised her six children in an atmosphere of love for religion and Christ's cross. In 1958, erstwhile the communist authorities carried out a mass removal of crosses from schools, the Romanovians stood up for the sacred symbol of Christian faith. They were very active in the “Rural Committee for the Defence of the Cross” which opposed the removal of crosses from the school in the village of the Council, where children from respective surrounding towns were taught. Unfortunately, the communists did not number on the public, as a consequence the crosses disappeared from school classes.
Shortly afterwards, 1 day, erstwhile my 2 aunts (then simple school students in Radzy) returned home after school, out of curiosity, like children, looked into the school dumpster. He immediately threw himself into their eyes the school cross lying there, with a beautiful ceramic sculpture of the tortured Christ. At the tallness of Jesus ’ thighs there was a sign of a dense object being struck. In this place the figure of Christ was broken. The girls thought about taking the crucifix home, but they were afraid that individual would see them with him and release the directorate. erstwhile they were at home in Moniuszki they told Apolonia's parent about the cross situation. erstwhile she heard this, she immediately walked to Rada, to which Monius was 3 kilometers of unhardened road. She returned home triumphantly with the cross, bravely carrying it as advanced as she could. The neighbors applauded her, appreciating her grandmother's courage and solidarity with her attitude.
Since then, the rescued crucifix has hung in the home of grandma Apollonia in an honorable place, that is, on the wall of the guest room. My grandma gave it to my mom before she died. Mom kept him in her room, like the most precious relic. A small later she founded a chapel in the garden in front of our home in Białystok, where she placed the figure of Our Lady, brought from her household property in Moniuszki. Mom died in 2020, erstwhile the "covid pandemic" raged around the world. Despite the severe illness and horror of the virus, she left peacefully, almost all day in prayer. Jesus of the saved cross, hanging above her bed, was a faithful companion of her suffering. I believe that erstwhile the last second of my beloved mother's earthly life passed, Christ accepted her with open arms. present the old crucifix and the statue of Mary from the chapel are large holiness in my family. They are with us in our joys and sorrows.
The communicative of the saved crucifix is my voice in defence of the cross. Unfortunately, there are again times erstwhile his hand is raised upon him and he tries to remove himself from schools this holy sign of our salvation. Last time, in the past of Poland, it was done by people with minds enslaved by ungodly communism. What fresh “toxin” was poisoned by the head of an English teacher teaching at a school in Kieło?
Good thing they're inactive in our homeland defending the cross. This can be seen now, among others, in Kielno, where after the criminal act of an Englishwoman, parents were not afraid to rise the voice of protest, heard present not only in Poland, but also, through the media, around the world.
Those who risked to openly argue the removal of crosses from schools during the time of the commune express their support for the attitude of the defenders of the cross from Kielce. I defended a cross at school in 1958 erstwhile I was 12. It was Gomulka who fought the cross. In protest, of course with the approval and encouragement of our parents, we did not go to school for 2 weeks – Bernard Bujwicki, 1 of the leaders of Białystok Solidarity, told me. For defending the holy cross, Jesus rewarded him well, above all with a clean conscience and a happy life “I have always defended the cross and faith, so present I can look at the mirror calmly”, says Bernard.
Adam Białous
