Aloiz Kashuba

On September 1, 1939, as the Second World War broke out, Father Seraphin was in Lviv to assist his sick mother, who passed away on April 4, 1940. After the Soviet and then German invasion, he obtained authorization from his superiors to go to Volhynia and Podolia to exercise his ministry among the Polish populations deprived of priests. During this troubled period, he miraculously escaped several ambushes set by the Ukrainian nationalists of the UPA. In 1945, during the massive transfers of Polish populations to the west following the Yalta agreements, Father Seraphin made the heroic decision to remain on site to spiritually support those who refused to leave their native land. He registered legally as the parish priest of Rivne (Równe) in the diocese of Lutsk (Łuck). However, the Soviet regime hardened its anti-religious policy. On April 11, 1958, the authorities revoked his priestly rights and closed several churches in the region. Refusing to cease his apostolate, he chose clandestinity and became an itinerant missionary. Without a fixed address, traveling with a simple small suitcase containing his liturgical items, he traveled through Ukraine, Belarus, Lithuania, Estonia, and even went to Leningrad. The faithful affectionately nicknamed him the "Vagabond of God" (Włóczęga Boży). In 1963, he went to Kazakhstan, where tens of thousands of Poles had been forcibly deported to the steppes. To conceal his secret pastoral activities, he worked officially as a bookbinder's assistant. Arrested by the KGB on March 6, 1966, for "vagrancy," he was sentenced to five years of exile in Arykty, then transferred to Arszatyńsk where he worked in a bakery. In December of the same year, he was sentenced to eleven years of internment in an institution for the incurably ill in Mała Timofijewka. He managed to escape two months later to resume his clandestine ministry. Ravaged by severe tuberculosis and increasing deafness, his health declined sharply. In 1968, he was authorized to go to Poland to undergo lung surgery in Wrocław. As early as June 1970, barely recovered, he returned to Kazakhstan to continue his clandestine pastoral visits, pushing his travels as far as Tashkent in Uzbekistan.

In the summer of 1977, gravely ill, he returned to Ukraine. On September 19, 1977, while returning to Lviv after a trip to Rivne, the bus in which he was traveling broke down. He had to walk several kilometers in freezing rain. Welcomed by a Catholic family in Lviv, he passed away quietly during the night of September 20, 1977. He was found lifeless, sitting at his desk, his head resting on his breviary. His funeral was celebrated on September 22, 1977, at the Janowski Cemetery in Lviv. Despite the restrictions imposed by the Soviet authorities to prevent a mass gathering, more than 300 faithful and 12 priests attended his burial. His grave quickly became a place of popular devotion. On November 16, 2010, as part of his beatification process, his mortal remains were exhumed from the Janowski Cemetery. The following day, they were solemnly transferred to the Capuchin Church in Vinnytsia (Vinnica), Ukraine, where they now rest in a side chapel and are the object of great veneration.

The cause for the beatification and canonization of Father Serafin Kaszuba officially began on December 2, 1991, in Krakow, following the transfer of competence from the Lviv forum (granted on October 18, 1991). The diocesan inquiry was closed on December 22, 2001, by Cardinal Franciszek Macharski. The legal validity of the diocesan inquiry was recognized by the Congregation for the Causes of Saints on October 24, 2007, and the Positio presenting the heroic nature of his virtues was published in 2011. On October 9, 2017, Pope Francis authorized the promulgation of the decree recognizing the heroic nature of his theological and cardinal virtues, thereby conferring upon him the title of Venerable. The postulator of the cause is Father Carlo Calloni, OFM Cap.

The spirituality of Father Aloiz (Serafin) Kaszuba is deeply rooted in the ideal of poverty and simplicity of Saint Francis of Assisi. He lived in absolute material destitution, possessing nothing other than his religious habit and his breviary. His absolute trust in Divine Providence allowed him to face hunger, cold, illness, and police persecution with serenity. His ministry was centered on the love of the Eucharist and direct pastoral service. He celebrated Mass in extreme conditions (on makeshift tables, in forests, or in ruins) and spent long hours hearing confessions and catechizing the children of the deported. His benevolent attitude and patience earned him the respect not only of Catholics but also of Orthodox Christians. His legacy remains alive in Ukraine and Kazakhstan, where he is considered one of the great pillars of the "Church of Silence" under the Soviet yoke. The inscription engraved on his tomb perfectly summarizes his life: "I have become all things to all people" (1 Cor 9:22).