Posted on 01/18/2016 6:09:57 AM PST by marshmallow
"If you don't straighten out your marriage when the war's over, I'll come down from Heaven and kick you in the ass/"
~Fr. Emil Kapuan to a fellow POW, before being led to the infamous "death house" in North Korea's Pyoktong prison camp.
It was through sheer grit, Faith, and humor that Fr. Kapaun inspired hundreds of fellow captives through imprisonment in one of North Korea's most infamous POW camps in 1951, and it is estimated that he saved several hundred lives before ultimately losing his own. Now, the Vatican is taking a close look at the Pilsen, KS native and Medal of Honor recipient, and considering his case for sainthood.
On November 9, 2015, Wichita's Bishop Carl Kemme presented Cardinal Angelo Amato of the Congregation for the Causes of Saints with an official positio - a 1,066-page tome containing years' worth of research on Fr. Emil Kapaun's fascinating life story.
Born on Holy Thursday, April 20, 1916, on a farm in Pilsen, KS (population 100), Emil Kapaun was raised in a devout household, where he tended the family farm, and attended seminary before entering the Army Chaplain core and deployed in 1950 to the perilous front lines of war-torn Korea.
On All Saints' Day, November 1, 1950 Fr. Kapaun had just finished saying Mass on the hood of a jeep, and was hearing confessions when the explosions started. Within the hour, his company was overrun by scores of Chinese shock troops, who swept through the American's mountain positions like wildfire. Though he had the opportunity to fall back with his main division, Fr. Kapaun volunteered to stay behind to aid the wounded and pray with the dying. By nightfall, he was a captive.
His capture did not deter Fr. Kapaun's from battlefield heroism. After giving last rites to the dying-American and......
(Excerpt) Read more at thechristianreview.com ...
Truly sounds like a Saint to me.
I remember reading about him. How CLOSE our soldiers are to death in those trenches. How MUCH they need the Word of the Lord at that time.
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