Saint John Paul II, His Early Childhood

CEBU, Philippines - Karol Josef Wojtyla, the layman's name of the new saint, was born in Wadowice, Poland on May 18, 1920. His parents were Karol Wojtyla, a non-commissioned officer of the Austro-Hungarian Army, and Emilia Kaczorowski, daughter of a man who operated an upholstery shop for horse-drawn carriages.

The couple had three children. The eldest was a boy named Edmund; the second was a daughter who lived only for a few weeks,  and Karol, the youngest. At the time of Karol's birth his parents were residing in a rented apartment just across the street from St. Mary's Church, where he was baptized.

According to George Weigel, the former Pope's official biographer in his "Witness to Hope," Karol was called "Lolek" by his family and friends, and was chubby as a youngster "with a broad Slavic face." The story was told that his mother used to walk him through the neighborhood and told her acquaintances: "You'll see my Lolek will be a great man someday." While the boy was growing up, his father continued his career as an officer of the Polish military until he retired as a captain in 1927. To supplement the family's income, since the father's pension was obviously insufficient, Lolek's mother who was good in embroidery took in sewing work.

What were the play activities of Lolek? These were the usual engagements a boy of six or seven indulges in, plus an occasional swim in a nearby river or skate or play a primitive game of ice hockey.

In September of 1926, Karol Wojtyla started his first grade at a local elementary school located in the town administrative building on the market square, about a minute's walk from the family apartment. Classes were large consisting of sixty or more students (like DepEd classes at present?). The curriculum included Polish language, religion, arithmetic, drawing, singing, games, exercises and handicrafts. It was said that the boy was active in all school activities and even in those early years his teachers observed that he had an inherent giftedness especially in academic subjects.

At this point in time while Lolek was completing his third grade a tragic event happened - his mother died. The effect of this sorrowful happening must have been deep upon the nine year old's sensibility, but it did not seem to adversely affect his studies, nor his learning of the basic values of Christianity.

One reason for this was that his father, also named Karol, assumed the role as he had always been of a formator and an exemplar to young Lolek. This happened because the elder Wojtyla was a model of a man in terms of practicing values. The author Weigel describes him as "a gentleman of the old school and a man of granite integrity. As an army officer, he exhibited intelligence, diligence, dependability and above all, honesty. These traits of his father must have embedded themselves in the personality of young Karol because these were observed by the latter in his priestly actions. As recounted by Pope John Paul II himself in an interview with his biographer, his father was "a man of constant prayer." He remembered that he would find his father at night and in early morning praying silently on his knees. And father and son would read the Bible together and prayed the rosary regularly.

Additionally the elder Wojtyla taught his son "that the Church is more than a visible institution, and that "the mystery of the Church, its invisible dimension is larger than its structure and organization which are at the service of the mystery." From him the future Pontiff of the Roman Catholic Church also learned that a person's life of faith has first to do with interior conversion.

Such lesson, reinforced with what the boy learned from his readings of the Bible, particularly the passage where Jesus tells his disciples, "Fear not, little flock, it is your father's good pleasure to give you The Kingdom" (Luke 12:32) - such lesson left an indelible impression in the heart of the boy Lolek. (FREEMAN)

(to be continued tomorrow)