Fr. Henryk Jankowski. Photo: east news
Father Henryk Jankowski, chaplain to the Solidarity trade union and parson of St. Bridget’s Parish in the Baltic city of Gdansk, died on July 12 at the age of 74. He was a long-sufferer of diabetes.
Jankowski was born in 1936 in Starogard Gdanski, and had seven siblings. He studied at the seminary in Gdansk, and was ordained a priest in 1964 by Bishop Edmund Nowicki.
From 1970 he became parson of St. Bridget’s Parish in Gdansk, and was the first chaplain who would say Holy Mass for Solidarity strikers in the Gdansk shipyard, earning him the moniker of “Solidarity Chaplain.”
“It was an incredible feeling,” Jankowski told media a few years ago about his experiences in the shipyard when he said his first Mass for the strikers on August 17, 1980.
“I saw around 8,500 people at the entrance gate, not including the strikers themselves. I then realised the great danger that I could put these people in,” recounted Fr. Jankowski about the first Mass said in the Lenin Shipyard.
Throughout the 1980s Jankowski was the patron and host of many opposition meetings, which he personally supported.
Speaking after hearing the news of Jankowski’s death, historian Jan Zaryn said that the date of August 17, 1980, marked the start of Poland’s road to democracy.
Controversial figure
Even though Jankowski is remembered first and foremost as the Solidarity Chaplain, after 1989 the Gdansk parson began to be considered as a controversial character due to his homilies, which contained anti-Semitic and anti-European elements.
Jankowski provoked much criticism in 1997, when he was banned from preaching for one year by Gdansk Archbishop Tadeusz Goclowski for his saying “one cannot tolerate the Jewish minority in the Polish government.”
The priest was also known for his provocative decoration of the scene of the Tomb of Jesus during Lent and Eastertide.
He was once more reprimanded by Archbishop Goclowski in 2004, and was stripped of his parsonage of St. Bridget’s as well as being forced to step down from the lectern for good.
After being barred from giving sermons, he turned to wine distribution, selling the drink under his own “Prelate – Monsignore” label. He wished to donate the proceedings to the completion of the amber altar in the Church of St. Bridget in his home parish.
Jankowski also donated proceeds from his brand of mineral water to education and scholarships for poorer students. The regional Dziennik Baltycki daily also wrote in its pages that the priest also gave donations to local hospitals and to an orphanage.
His contacts with American Polonia also helped with the procurement of much needed medicine.
Held in high esteem
Head of the Solidarity trade union, Janusz Sniadek underlined Jankowski’s role in the opposition movement throughout the 1980s.
Apart from being what one Gdansk priest called “a father for the strikers,” Sniadek stated that Jankowski commanded respect, adding that thanks to him Solidarity became strong enough to topple the authorities.
As a parson of St. Bridget’s, Father Jankowski would meet leaders of the opposition from Poland and abroad, as well as promote independence with patriotic fervour.
Civic Platform MEP, Boguslaw Sonik told Polish Radio that Fr. Henryk Jankowski was “a sign that the Church supported our movement,” adding that the St. Bridget’s parish was a place where the heart of Solidarity beat during the 1980s.
“May he rest in peace… A great part of Solidarity’s history has departed,” said Law and Justice politician and opposition activist, Antoni Macierewicz on hearing the news of Fr. Jankowski’s death.
He remained a resident of St. Bridget’s Parish in Gdansk until his death on Monday, July 12 at the age of 74.
Text by John Beauchamp
Audio by Michal Kubicki
Sources: IAR/PAP/Rzeczpospolita
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