He was born on 20th November 1912 at Wieruszow near Lodz in Poland, He was one of eleven children of Stanislaw and Eleanor, five of whom died in childhood or early youth, leaving him the second eldest of the surviving children. His family were heavily involved in their religion and patriotic acts; his grandfather, Alexius, was hanged in the market square of Wieruszow, by the Russians, for patriotic actions which offended them.
In his youth, Szczepan was an altar boy and was destined to become a priest. He attended the High School at Kepno, where he did well academically. He was heavily involved with sports of all types, including water sports on the nearby River Prosna. But his religion was his great love and he enrolled to train as a priest in the seminary at Krakow. He studied philosophy and theology at the Jagiellonian University and was ordained as a priest on 25th June 1939. He officiated at his first Mass on Sunday 2nd July 1939 at the church in Wieruszow.
He was working on pastoral duties in the
parish of Lututowie and was cycling home to see his family on the morning that
war broke out. He was stopped by a group
of his school friends who told him not to go home because the Germans were
probably already there. He returned to
Lututowie to protect the Sacrament and then he left the town and headed for
Sieradza and Warsaw. Eventually he was
forced to cross into Romania and made his way through Jugoslavia to Italy.
When he heard that Mussolini had declared
support for Hitler and Germany, he went to France (in December 1939) and joined
the army as an ordinary soldier. He did
his training at Coetquidan at Guer in Brittany, graduating as a corporal, after
which Bishop Jozef Gawlina appointed him military Chaplain. He was prevented from fighting with the
troops and was sent to a military depot in France – he was ready to embark for
Norway with the Brigade Podhalanska but was taken off the ship.
Pilot Priest (note Gapa)
On 19th June 1940 he was sent to
England and, in August, he was appointed to Chaplain of the Polish Air Force,
first at RAF Bramcote, Warwickshire and later at RAF Newton, Nottinghamshire
where he ministered to the needs of the Polish airmen and also trained as a
pilot. There is evidence that he flew
missions over the Bay of Biscay but no concrete proof of this. It may have been with 18 Operational Training
Unit, where he trained, or with 304 Squadron, where he was posted – or
both. He is known to have served at RAF
Davidstow Moor in Cornwall, during his time with 304 Squadron and was very
popular with the men there.
In uniform, in England - probably RAF Bramcote
Trafalgar Square, London
On 7th March 1949, he arrived in
Argentina, being unsettled in England and unwilling to return to Poland – and
he immediately set about looking after the spiritual welfare of the Polish
community there. On 27th
April 1949, he received authority to work in Argentina with the Poles in
Berazategui and Qulimes. He created a
church, an old people’s home, a boy scouts group, a Polish school and a Polish
Catholic Association. He was also
heavily involved with the Association of Polish Airmen in Argentina.
Post-war ministry in Argentina
Sadly, on 8th June 1969, just before the celebrations for his twenty years of pastoral care for the Poles in Argentina, he was on his way to the church at Sarandi when he was killed in a road accident. His funeral was very well attended by the Polish Community and memorial services were also held in Poland and Argentina on what would have been his 100th birthday on 20th November 2012.
Funeral of a much loved priest
Note the huge crowds (photo - top right)
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