Day of prayer with Benedict XVI On the initiative of the President of Poland’s Bishops’ Conference (KEP), Msgr. Jozef Michalik, a day of prayer for unity with Pope Benedicti XVI will be celebrated June 29 in Poland. The Polish episcopacy, gathered in the 348th plenary past June 19-20, remarked in a statement issued during the meeting that “for the Year of Priesthood presbyters are especially called to bear testimony of their unity with the pontiff, showing their solidarity towards the successor of Peter in the framework of ever-increasing propaganda against the pope, as seen on the occasion of the Holy Father’s pilgrimages to Africa and to the Holy Land”. Msgr. Michalik underlined the simultaneous opening of the plenary meeting and the Year of Priesthood proclaimed on the occasion of the 150th anniversary of the death of Saint John Mary Vianney, and pointed out that the Saint’s life “bore witness to the truth the daily sanctity of priests and pastors is possible and fascinating, and still today it should be the priority of the option of evangelization”.In memory of Saint BrunoOf the occasion of the millennium since the death of Saint Bruno of Querfurt, Polish Bishops gathered in plenary meeting in Lomza June 19-20, the city where the martyr-saint is said to have founded the church of Saint Lawrence, while final celebrations were held in the nearby city of Gizycko, in the North-Eastern part of Poland, on the site where the martyrdom of the Saint took place. In the homily delivered during the solemn liturgy in the cathedral of Lomza, Msgr. Michalik encouraged the faithful “to share their faith with others following the wake of Saint Bruno”. Bruno Boniface of Querfurt is renowned especially for having written, among his many works, a memorial on the life of Saint Adalbert from Prague, written in 1004, along with the “Life of five brothers”, an account of the martyrdom of five Camaldolese Fathers in Poland, occurred in 1003. Saint Bruno was a member of the noble family from Querfurt. He received his education in the famous school of the Dome of Magdeburg. At the age of 20 he was nominated chaplain at the court of emperor Otton III. From 996 he devoted much of his life in the monastery of Saints Alexis and Boniface in Rome, where Saint Adalbert from Prague, his predecessor in the martyrdom, had become a monk. When he learned of the death of Adalbert (April 23rd 997) Bruno decided to follow his example. In 1004 Saint Bruno was consecrated archbishop and appointed to hold missions to the Far East. However, he did not enjoy the support of emperor Henry II, who had waged war against Polish duke Boleslaus I. He then set out for Hungary, where he was received by King Stephan, the Hungarian Saint, and finally to Kiev to the Russian Granduke Vladimir I. From there he undertook evangelizing missions to the peoples living in the lands between the Don and the Danube rivers and succeeded in converting most of them. In 1008 he went to the king of the Poles Boleslaus, and then headed towards the land of the Pruzzi. All that is known about his life and death in these lands is that he had ventured with his companions up to the border of Lithuania when on February 14 or on March 9 1009, he was killed by the Pruzzi or by the Lithuanians.A community of memory Christian Church dignitaries attended the solemn liturgy celebrated in Lomza on the occasion of the millennium of the martyrdom of Saint Bruno along with Catholic bishops, while a large number of faithful prayed for Christian unity in Polish, German, Ukrainian and Lithuanian. In organizing the commemoration of Saint Bruno the Polish Episcopacy highlighted the ecumenical values of the cult of the Saint and brought together for a common prayer a large number of youth from different Christian Churches on the borders of Poland, that recalls the way it was at the time of Saint Bruno. “The Church we are members of is a community of memory”, underlined the archbishop of Krakow Cardinal Stanislaw Dziwisz during the liturgy on the Word that closed celebrations in honour of the Saint. His Eminence remarked: “Our roots date back to a distant moment in history. Many generations of Christians have preceded us. Some of them were more famous than others. We represent the next flock of the multitude of Christ’s disciples. Examining our lives from this perspective helps us acknowledge our responsibilities towards contemporary Christianity, in transmitting the Good News to future generations”. Indeed, the bishops delved into the subject of future generations during their plenary, focusing upon the pastoral care of the family that priests ought to engage in with special dedication.
