Fr. Jerzy Popiełuszko – Major Dates

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14 September 1947

Born in Okopy n. Suchowola as the son of Władysław and Marianna nee Gniedziejko.

16 September 1947

Baptised in the parish church in Suchowola under the name of Alfons.

14 September 1954

Starts primary school in Suchowola.

24 June 1965

On passing the final exams in high school he applies to and is accepted by the Archdiocesan Seminary in Warsaw. Starts studies in September.

25 October 1966 – 16 October 1968

In the military, in a high-restriction unit for seminarians in Bartoszyce.

18 April 1970

Undergoes a complicated and life-threatening surgery.

13 May 1971 r.

Officially changes his name from Alfons to Jerzy.

28 May 1972

Receives the Holy Orders in the Archdiocesan Cathedral of St. John in Warsaw from the Servant of God Stefan Cardinal Wyszyński.

19 June 1972

Appointed a curate of the Holy Trinity parish in Ząbki.

October 1975

Appointed a curate in the parish of Our Lady the Queen of Poland in Anin.

20 May 1978

Transferred to the parish of the Child Jesus in Warsaw’s district of Żoliborz.

19 February 1979

Appointed a chaplain of medical personnel in Warsaw.

25 May 1979

Transferred to the chaplaincy at the student Church of St. Anne in Warsaw.

20 May 1980

A resident in the parish of St. Stanislaus Kostka in Żoliborz, in charge of specialist health care services.

8 – 29 June 1980

A visit to his aunt Mary Kalinowski in the USA.

31 August 1980
Holy Mass for striking foundry workers in the ‘Warszawa’ ironworks.

28 February 1982

The first Holy Mass for the Homeland in St. Stanislaus Kostka’s Church in Żoliborz.

30 August 1983
Arrested and detained for 8 hours by the police on the way to Gdynia, where he was supposed to deliver a sermon.

12 December 1983

Interrogated in the prosecution office in Warsaw. Fr. Jerzy’s flat in Chłodna St. is searched and he himself is detained for two days in the Mostowski Palace.

27 December 1983
Jerzy Urban, the government’s spokesman, publishes a libellous article against Fr. Jerzy Popiełuszko under the penname of Michał Ostrowski; see Express Wieczorny of December 27, 1983.

2 January 1984
Asked by Archbishop Bronisław Dąbrowski, Fr. Jerzy counters Jerzy Urban’s attacks and allegations in 13 points.

12 June 1984
Fr. Jerzy is interrogated by Secret Police in the Mostowski Palace in Warsaw, where he is presented with an indictment.

26 June 1984
Fr. Jerzy is interrogated in the District Prosecution Office in Warsaw.

2 July 1984
Charges pressed by the District Prosecution Office in Warsaw against Fr. Jerzy for his allegedly ‘abusing the position of a priest and using churches as places of promoting propaganda which is inimical to the interests of communist Poland, i.e. committing an offence under Art. 194 of the Penal Code in conjunction with Art. 58’.

12 July 1984
Deputy Provincial Attorney Anna Jackowska files an indictment against Fr. Jerzy in the District Court of Warsaw.

15 July 1984
A statement of priests is read out in St. Stanislaus Kostka’s Church: ‘Fr. Jerzy works in this parish and we, priests responsible for pastoral care, feel obliged to publicly protest against unjust accusations, calling on the faithful to pray’.

29 July 1984
Msgr. Teofil Bogucki, the pastor of the parish of St. Stanislaus Kostka, defends Fr. Jerzy against the attacks of the regime in a homily during Holy Mass for the Homeland.

24 August 1984

Discontinuation of penal proceedings against Fr. Jerzy Popiełuszko pursuant to a decision of the District Court of Warsaw.

26 August 1984
Fr. Jerzy delivers a homily during Holy Mass for the Homeland.

9 September 1984
Fr. Jerzy delivers a homily for workers during Holy Mass in the Church of St. Stanislaus Kostka; he protests against the allegations of Jerzy Urban, the communist regime’s spokesman, who claimed that ‘people like him should be exiled’.

12 September 1984
The Soviet paper Isviestia publishes Leonid Toporkov’s article slandering ‘Solidarity’ and Fr. Popiełuszko.

19 September 1984
Warsaw-based weekly Tu i Teraz publishes an article slandering Fr. Jerzy. This time Jerzy Urban wrote an article ‘Séances of Hatred’ under the penname of Jan Rem.

25 September 1984
A meeting of high officials in a Department of the Interior Ministry in Warsaw about ways to ‘silence’ priests acting ‘to the detriment of the state’ (fathers Małkowski, Jankowski and Popiełuszko).

30 September 1984

Fr. Jerzy takes part in the second pilgrimage of workers to Jasna Góra.

9 October 1984

Officials of the Interior Ministry take a decision to eliminate Fr. Jerzy Popiełuszko.

13 October 1984
Accompanied by Waldemar Chrostowski and Seweryn Jaworski, Fr. Jerzy leaves for Gdańsk. From the Church of St. Stanislaus Kostka in Warsaw he is followed by a car with Grzegorz Piotrowski, Leszek Pękala and Waldemar Chmielewski.

13 October 1984
Fr. Jerzy celebrates Holy Mass in St. Bridget’s Church in Gdańsk and delivers a homily.

13 October 1984, around midnight
An attempted assassination of Fr. Jerzy near Ostróda, on the way back from Gdańsk to Warsaw. The would-be assassins were Captain Grzegorz Piotrowski, Leszek Pękala and Waldemar Chmielewski.

15 October 1984
Fr. Jerzy visits the Jasna Góra Shrine of Our Lady, where he celebrates Holy Mass for his sick parish priest Fr. Teofil Bogucki, hospitalised at that time.

19 October 1984, 6 pm

Fr. Jerzy celebrates a Rosary service in the Church of Polish Martyr Brothers in Bydgoszcz, where he went by car with his driver Waldemar Chrostowski.

19 October 1984, around 10 pm

On the return journey to Warsaw, Fr. Jerzy is abducted in Przysiek n. Toruń by officers of the Interior Ministry: Grzegorz Piotrowski, Leszek Pękala and Waldemar Chmielewski. Tied and brutally tortured, he is put inside a car trunk and thrown in a bag burdened with stones into the Vistula on a dam in Włocławek.

30 October 1984

Fr. Jerzy’s body is discovered in the Vistula.

31 October – 2 November 1984

An autopsy of Fr. Popiełuszko at the Forensic Medicine Unit in Białystok is carried out by Prof. Maria Byrda and Dr. Tadeusz Jóźwik.

2. November 1984
Decree of Cardinal Józef Glemp allowing Fr. Jerzy’s burial in the yard of St. Stanislaus Kostka’s Church.

2 November 1894
The body of Fr. Jerzy is brought to the Church of St. Stanislaus Kostka in Warsaw after a farewell ceremony in Bialystok.

3. November 1984

Fr. Popiełuszko’s funeral in a tomb next to the Church of St. Stanislaus Kostka in Warsaw.
The celebrations are presided over by Cardinal Primate of Poland Józef Glemp, Metropolitan Archbishop of Gniezno and Warsaw. The Holy Mass is celebrated also by 6 bishops, over a thousand priests and a few hundred thousand faithful from Warsaw and across Poland.