Blessed
Alfonso Maria dello Spirito Santo (Mazurek)
Biography
Alphonsus Mary of the Holy Spirit (Mazurek) was born on the first of March, 1891, in Baranówka, near Lubartów, Poland. In 1908 he entered the Order of Discalced Carmelites in Czerna, taking the name of Brother Alphonsus Mary of the Holy Spirit. After making his vows, he studied in Kraków, Linz and Vienna, where on 16th of July 1916 he was ordained a priest. From 1920 to 1930 he worked in the minor seminary of the Discalced Carmelites in Wadowice as a teacher and educator of boys. From 1930 he held the position of Prior and Bursar of the Czerna monastery.
Attentive and delicate in the various community services and assiduous in the ministry of confessions, he encouraged everyone to a tender and solid devotion to Our Lady. His apostolic zeal and fidelity to the Lord were the fruit of continuous prayer and devotion to Jesus Crucified.
He remained faithful to his vocation during the years of Nazi persecution. He was captured and shot by the Nazis on August 28, 1944 in Nawojowa Góra, near Krzeszowice: he gave his soul to God while praying the rosary.
The decree on martyrdom was promulgated on March 26, 1999. The beatification ceremony took place in Warsaw on 13th of June 1999.
Procedure
1. The canonical norms concerning the procedure to be followed in the Causes of Saints are stated in the Apostolic Constitution Divinus Perfectionis Magister promulgated by John Paul II on 25 January 1983 (AAS LXXV, 1983, 349-355).
2. To initiate a Cause it is necessary that at least five years pass after the death of the candidate. This is to allow for greater balance and objectivity in the evaluation of the case and to allow the emotions of the moment to decant. There must be a clear conviction among people about his/her sanctity (fama sanctitas) and about the efficacy of his/her intercession with the Lord (fama signorum).
Iconography
