Oblate Martyr  beatified in Warsaw on June 13, 1999.

During his 1999 trip to Poland, Pope John Paul II beatified 107 Polish martyrs who died in the Nazi concentration camps. Among them is an Oblate, Fr. Jozef Cebula,OMI. The group includes an archbishop, secular priests from 18 dioceses, men and women religious from twenty or so Institutes, and lay people.

Jozef Cebula was born on March 23, 1902 at Malnia in Upper Silesia, then a German territory. In 1918, while attending the teacher's training college at Opole, he became seriously ill with tuberculosis and was declared incurable. He recovered unexpectedly, and while visiting the shrine of Our Lady of Piekary, which was in the care of the Oblates, he told his story to Fr. Jan Pawolek,OMI (who later died in Auschwitz). Fr. Pawolek sent Jozef to the newly established Oblate Juniorate in Krotoszyn to study with the Oblates.

Jozef was ordained to the priesthood on June 5, 1927 and taught at the juniorate in Lubiniec where he was superior from 1931-37. In 1936 - then 34 years old - he was considered as a candidate for Provincial, but in 1937 he was appointed novice master at Markowice.

On May 4, 1940, all the novices were taken to the concentration camp at Dachau in Bavaria. Fr. Cebula, who continued to carry out his priestly ministry in the region despite the ban on it, was in turn arrested April 2, 1941. On April 18, he was taken to the concentration camp at Mauthausen, near Austria.

From a study by Fr. Jozef Pielorz:

"During 21 days of detention, he was mistreated, beaten, and particularly insulted as a priest; he was even ordered to hang himself. In the end he was assigned to the punishment company where he was to carry 40-60kg rocks on his shoulders to a camp 2 kilometers away. On the way, there was a staircase with 144 steps called the Death Stairs. Those in the punishment company had to climb it with their burdens in a hail of insults and blows from the German soldiers and SS. Many chose to die by throwing themselves against the electric barbed wire fence or by jumping to their death in the quarry.

After two trips, Fr. Cebula could not go on. Gathering his remaining strength, he railed against the guards and the SS, reproaching them for their cruelty and threatening them with God's punishment. Only slightly taken aback by this outburst, the guards ordered him to run with the rock on his back. He collapsed after 50 meters near the fence. A guard shot Fr. Jozef with his machine gun, declaring that he "was shot while attempting to escape." Since he was still breathing, Fr. Jozef was finished off with a second burst of gunfire. His body was brought to the crematorium and burned. It was Friday, May 9, 1941."

MARTYRDOM IS STILL A REALITY TODAY

Superior General Fr. Steckling, in a letter concerning the beatification of Fr. Jozef writes:

"... It is now a fact: the Church officially recognizes an Oblate as a martyr. Is it surprising that the third Oblate to be beatified is a martyr? During this 20th Century now drawing to a close, persecutions have been and still are very frequent. Those who have born witness with their blood are still many. Statistics show that today Christians are persecuted in no less than 40 countries, and the Christians living in these countries number close to 200 million. the last 70 years have seen no less than 1,300 missionary martyrs. As for Oblates, the names of 63 "martyrs" have been presented for a list that the Vatican intends to publish: 22 from Spain, 15 from Poland, 7 from Laos... One who is well known is probably Bishop Benjamin de Jesus, assassinated at Jolo in the Philippines on February 4, 1997. ... many of our martyrs have remained in the shadows of our memory. Is this because tales of martyrs are not very pleasant? Or is it because martyrs are generally given little publicity? Fr. Jozef Cebula is one of the many witnesses who is now very slowly coming out of the shadows...

Martyrdom is disturbing, it questions us. It puts us face to face with the radicality of our oblation. Would I - formator, superior, priest, or in whatever ministry - be able to crown my "career" by giving my blood as Fr. Jozef Cebula did? One sure thing is that the fruitfulness of our mission is rooted in the radicality of our oblation. In my last letter I wished "the Great Jubilee Year to be a new missionary Pentecost for our Congregation." May Jozef Cebula and all the Oblates whom we may call martyrs help us by their witness and intercession to make this happen."