Pope St. John Paul II

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Pope St. John Paul II was born in Poland in 1920. By the age of 21, he had lost all of his immediate family members. 

First, he lost an older sister before he was born. At the age of 9, he lost his mother. When he was 12, his brother, a doctor, contracted scarlet fever from one his patients, and his brother died. Finally, when he was 21, he lost his father. 

Understandably, Pope St. John Paul II was affected by these losses and felt very alone. He also felt guilty that he had not been with any of his family members when they had passed. 

However, he had the example of his father to fall back on. His father, especially after the death of his wife, was a man of faith and a man of prayer, and he taught his young son to be the same. This life of prayer and faith is what he turned to amid this loss, and how well it served the world! 

Pope St. John Paul II was a bright kid and became especially interested in theater, theology, and philosophy. However, another trauma came in 1939, forcing him to leave school-the Nazis occupied Poland. He worked in a quarry to avoid being sent to a concentration camp. Every day, he was surrounded by the loss of many friends and neighbors. 

But Pope St. John Paul II fought back in hidden ways. He prayed as he worked, developing a deep life of contemplation that the Nazis were trying to stamp out of Poland. The Nazis were trying to abolish Polish culture, so he and some friends started an underground, illegal theater group to keep performing Polish plays. And, perhaps the biggest way he fought back was, when he felt God calling him to be a priest, he began his seminary studies underground.

By the time he was ordained a priest in 1946, he could be ordained in public. He started his priestly ministry as a parochial vicar while pursuing advanced study of philosophy and theology. He was then a professor, before being named a bishop at a young age. 

Unfortunately, another foreign occupation was beginning, as the Soviets began to occupy Poland. They were also very oppressive against the Catholic faith, but once again, Pope St. John Paul II resisted. He would take young adults on secret outdoor excursions to teach them the faith and prepare them for marriage. He preached against Soviet ideas. 

In 1978, Pope St. John Paul II was elected the pope, which he remained until his death. He was one of the most loved popes of modern times. He traveled worldwide to preach the Gospel, and wrote prolifically, giving us some beautiful documents that we are still unpacking today.

The motto of Pope St. John Paul II’s papacy was Totus Tuus, short for Totus Tuus Maria, an expression of consecrating oneself to the Blessed Virgin Mary. He later said that he took Mary as his mother after the deaths of his family members, allowing her to be his family, and he found great solace in that as he faced foreign occupation and oppression and the death of his family. When we face loss and hardship, it can be helpful to remember Mary’s heart, which was pierced as she watched her son suffer, and to remember how she stayed faithful at the foot of her son’s cross. 

As he learned from his father, Pope St. John Paul II’s deep prayer life was also a source of comfort and healing as he faced the hardships of Poland and his family. It also gave him the grace to resist the injustice imposed on the Polish people, culminating in his assistance breaking down the Soviet Empire.

St. John Paul the Great: His Five Loves by Jason Evert

To learn more about other saints who have faced trauma, please visit the Stories of Hope page.