Saint Jan Sarkander, Martyr for Confession and the Faith
Jan Sarkander (1576 – 1620) was a Polish Catholic priest, tortured to death by Protestants over the course of a month at the beginning of the Thirty Years War.
Jan was born in Silesia, into a loving family – one sister and three brothers. He thought of becoming a priest, but decided to marry instead. His wife died after a year, with no children, so Jan took this as a sign from God, and entered the seminary. After the requisite years of study and formation, he was ordained on March 22nd, 1609.
His priestly ministry was at first peaceful, but growing hostilities between the Catholics and the newly-formed Protestants was fomenting. This was all intertwined with the political upheavals, exacerbated with the principle instantiated from the ‘Peace of Augsburg’ of 1555 – cuius regio, eius religio. To whomever the region, to him the religion. In other words, the prince of the realm decided whether his land – and often his people – would be Catholic, or Protestant. Bitterness and hard feelings were inevitable.
Father Jan was captured by such angry anti-Catholics, with a particular hatred for priests. The next month was a brutal ordeal, as the good priest was racked for hours at a time, breaking his body, and burned with candles, pitch and sulphur. He refused to divulge any secrets, particularly those from the countless confessions he had heard. God mercifully took his soul on March 17th, 1620. His beatification process was soon begun by Pope Benedict XIV, but for various reasons stalled, and it was not until 1993 that he was canonized by Pope Saint John Paul II, on May 21, 1995, on his pilgrimage to Czech Republic.
Saint Jan Sarkander, ora pro nobis! +
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