RELIQUARIUM IN THE SANCTUARY OF ST. JOSEPH,
THE SPOUSE OF THE BLESSED VIRGIN MARY IN WARSAW
The Church of St. Joseph, the Spouse of the Blessed Virgin Mary in
Warsaw is one of the most famous churches in Poland. The parish was
established by Cardinal Aleksander Kakowski, the Metropolitan Archbishop of
Warsaw, who entrusted the task of building the church to Father Jan Sitnik.
Construction of the church began in 1938, but was suspended a year later due to
the outbreak of World War II. After the end of the war in 1945, Father Sitnik
returned to the ashes of the estate and continued the construction of the temple.
The finished brick temple was consecrated on June 1, 1963 by Cardinal Stefan
Wyszyński, the Primate of Poland. In 1987, in the Church of St. Joseph,
perpetual adoration of the Blessed Sacrament was established. It was the first
church in Poland open day and night. Today, there are over 40 such churches
throughout the country, and their number is constantly growing. In 2006, Fr.
Zbigniew Godlewski became the parish priest, who undertook a number of
initiatives to promote the cult of St. Joseph. The development of the cult of the
parish’s patron saint resulted in Cardinal Kazimierz Nycz raising the church to
the rank of the sanctuary of St. Joseph in 2021.
The treasury of relics above the chapel of perpetual adoration was created
in 2022. Its creator is Fr. Leszek Kuźmiński, vicar of the parish of St. Joseph,
who has been interested in the cult of saints since the beginning of his
priesthood. He made the decision to donate his relics to the parish of St. Joseph
after meeting with Archbishop Salvatore Pennacchio, the Apostolic Nuncio to
Poland. The priest told the nuncio that every year on All Saints’ Day he
organizes a presentation of the relics at the altar. The nuncio said that he would
be happy to come to the parish of St. Joseph to pray before the saints and
blessed. After talking with the nuncio, Fr. Leszek finally decided to transfer the
relics to the sanctuary of St. Joseph. The solemn inauguration of the reliquary
took place on October 30, 2022. The main point of the ceremony was the
Eucharist presided over by Archbishop Salvatore Pennacchio, who gave the
parishioners a beautiful surprise at the end of the liturgy. He donated the relics
of Blessed Carlo Acutis to the reliquary – a young man who used to say that
,,The Eucharist is the highway to heaven”. The representative of Pope Francis
wanted this young man to pray in heaven for the young residents of the parish of St. Joseph.
The reliquary contains over 450 fragments of saints and blessed, but there
are more and more of them every year, because the parish acquires new relics.
Among the most valuable collections are, among others, the Holy Cross,
attributes of the Passion of the Lord, fragments of martyrs from the first
centuries of Christianity, relics of founders and foundresses of religious orders
and congregations, relics of saints Adalbert and Stanislaus, relics of St. John of
the Cross, relics of St. John Paul II, relics of Blessed Cardinal Stefan
Wyszyński, Primate of Poland and fragments of Blessed Jerzy Popiełuszko.
Translated by Fr. Andrzej Kamiński