Zbigniew Adam Strzałkowski

Desirous of dedicating himself to foreign missions, Father Zbigniew asked his superiors to be sent on a mission. In September 1988, he settled in Wrocław to prepare for his departure to Peru. On November 28, 1988, he flew to Lima accompanied by Father Jarosław Wysoczański. After a few months devoted to learning Spanish and cultural adaptation, they officially founded the new Franciscan mission in Pariacoto, in the Peruvian Andes (Diocese of Chimbote), on August 30, 1989. They were joined on July 25, 1989, by another young Polish Franciscan, Father Michał Tomaszek. The parish of Pariacoto is immense and extends over a mountainous territory that is very difficult to access, comprising 74 villages scattered throughout the Andes mountain range. Father Zbigniew gave himself without counting for this poor and isolated population. In addition to his intense pastoral activity (celebration of the sacraments, catechesis, creation of a school for catechists), he deployed a remarkable charitable and social work. He organized the distribution of food via the parish Caritas and provided precious medical aid to the sick, notably during a serious cholera epidemic that struck the region. His dedication and simplicity quickly won him the deep affection of the inhabitants.

In the early 1990s, Peru was going through a period of extreme political violence marked by the terrorist actions of the Sendero Luminoso (the Shining Path), a Maoist guerrilla group. The terrorists considered the charitable work and evangelization carried out by the Catholic Church as an obstacle to the communist revolution, accusing priests of lulling the people's conscience to sleep through religion and humanitarian aid. Despite the increasingly specific death threats hanging over the priests of the Diocese of Chimbote, and although the bishop, Msgr. Luis Bambarén, had given them the freedom to seek shelter, Father Zbigniew and Father Michał courageously chose to remain with their flock. On the evening of August 9, 1991, after the celebration of Mass, a group of armed and hooded guerrillas from the Shining Path burst into the convent of Pariacoto. Anxious to protect the young postulants present, the two priests peacefully surrendered to their captors. They were taken to the Pariacoto town hall, then forced into the mission's pickup trucks. After making a nun who was accompanying them get out, the terrorists took Fathers Zbigniew and Michał, as well as the village mayor, Justino Masa, to an isolated place called Pueblo Viejo, near the cemetery. It was there that they were executed in cold blood. Father Michał was killed with a bullet to the back of the neck. Father Zbigniew was shot with two bullets (one in the back/shoulder, the other in the head). On their bodies, the assassins left a sign bearing the inscription: "Thus die those who speak of peace and those who lick imperialism" (in Spanish: "Así mueren los que hablan de la paz y los que lamen el imperialismo"), accusing them of hindering the armed struggle through their preaching of peace and their distribution of food.

The cause for the beatification of the martyrs of Pariacoto was opened in 1996 in the diocese of Chimbote, and the diocesan phase concluded in 2002. The file was then transmitted to Rome. On February 3, 2015, Pope Francis signed the decree officially recognizing the martyrdom in odium fidei (in hatred of the faith) of Fathers Zbigniew Strzałkowski and Michał Tomaszek, as well as the Italian diocesan priest Alessandro Dordi (also assassinated by the Shining Path on August 25, 1991). The beatification ceremony was celebrated on December 5, 2015, at the Manuel Rivera Sánchez stadium in Chimbote, before more than 25,000 faithful. It was presided over by Cardinal Angelo Amato, Prefect of the Congregation for the Causes of Saints, representing Pope Francis, in the presence of Peruvian authorities and Polish and Italian delegations. Although their martyrdom took place on August 9, the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments approved, on February 26, 2016, the transfer of their liturgical memorial to June 7, the anniversary of Father Zbigniew's priestly ordination (and the eve of Father Michał's), so as not to coincide with the feast of Saint Teresa Benedicta of the Cross (Edith Stein).

The spirituality of Blessed Zbigniew Strzałkowski was deeply marked by the Franciscan ideal of poverty, simplicity, and fraternity, as well as by the example of Saint Maximilian Kolbe, martyr of Auschwitz. He liked to repeat that "when one goes on a mission, one must be ready for anything." His martyrdom is the culmination of a life entirely given for the love of God and neighbor. The blessed martyrs of Pariacoto have been declared patrons of victims of terrorism and defenders of peace. Their relics are venerated in the Basilica of Saint Francis in Krakow, where Pope Francis prayed for peace and against terrorism on July 30, 2016, during World Youth Day. Their legacy remains alive in Peru and Poland. On January 22, 2023, the first church in the world dedicated to the blessed martyrs Zbigniew Strzałkowski and Michał Tomaszek was blessed in Chimbote, within the "Paz y Bien" Franciscan spirituality center, testifying to the intact fervor of the faithful toward these witnesses of hope.