St Joseph’s Sanctuary – Prudnik Las

Medals available at the entrance to the monastery!

Prudnik – The Third Place of Imprisonment of Primate Stefan Wyszyński

Cardinal Stefan Wyszyński was imprisoned in Prudnik from October 6, 1954, to October 27, 1955. This was the third place where the Primate was held. On October 1, 1954, officers of the Security Service (UB) arrived at the monastery and ordered the monks to leave within two hours. The order had been issued by the Presidium of the Provincial National Council in Opole on September 30 of that year. The monks salvaged what they could, loading everything onto wagons and moving to the monastery in Borki Wielkie. Meanwhile, the monastery was placed under military control.

Shortly after the monks’ departure, work began to convert the monastery into a prison for Cardinal Stefan Wyszyński. Civilians were forbidden to approach the area. Military guards were stationed to prevent anyone from coming near the monastery. The garden was enclosed with green-painted fences and secured with barbed wire. Rows of spruce trees were planted around the perimeter.

It was here that a meeting with government representatives was arranged to inform him of everything and explain the situation. However, he waited two years for this meeting, until August 1955.

A cell was also prepared for the Primate. It was dry, with visible windows and curtains, allowing the Primate to work more.

In 1983, a monument to the “Millennium Primate” was erected in front of the monastery. It was consecrated by Polish Primate Cardinal Józef Glemp on May 8, 1983, in the presence of Archbishop Henryk Gulbinowicz, Bishops Alfons Nossol, Wacław Wycisk, Antoni Adamiuk, and Jan Wieczorek.

Today, visitors can see the Primate’s cell, which displays the cassock of the Millennium Primate, donated by the Archdiocese of Warsaw in 2012.