The extraordinary fate of the papal cross

TV Trwam/Radio Maryja(YouTube; screen)

April 2 is 16 years without John Paul II. This year it is Good Friday. March 25, 2005, shortly before the Pope’s death, was an exceptional day – then it was Good Friday. We remember how seriously ill John Paul II was, sitting in his chapel and connected through the transmission with the participants of the Way of the Cross in the Colosseum. He himself could no longer lead it personally. Pictures have circulated the whole world showing the Pope hugging the cross. Perhaps we do not know how extraordinary was the fate of this unique cross, which was created in Poland – in Stefkowa in the Bieszczady Mountains.

At that time, TV Trwam prepared a report entitled “Holy Cross, above all!”. It presents the story of Janina Trafalska, who at the age of 29 experienced a great tragedy: she fell out of the window and injured her spine. She became an invalid. She underwent many months of treatment. During it, Janina’s husband – Stanisław – was on his Way of the Cross in the Bieszczady Mountains, which he told his wife only years later; he joined her in pain. After completing the therapy, the Polish woman rebelled; she had a grudge against God, she wanted to isolate herself from people. The words of encouragement did not help; Janina could not understand why it happened to her and why her dreams were ruined.

In 1996, Stanisław Trafalski carved two crosses: one he offered to the priest from Rzeszów, the other to his wife.

Once, the head of the local municipality was going with a delegation to the Vatican. He asked Stanisław to do something for John Paul II. Mrs. Trafalska decided to give the Pope her own cross. In this way, it came to Rome. John Paul II donated it to his secretary, Fr. Mieczysław Mokrzycki, currently an archbishop serving in Ukraine.

When on March 25, 2005 the Pope asked for a cross during the celebration of the 14th station of the via crucis, the secretary gave him that one who had brought him from his room.

The Trafalski family recognized that cross. It was a great experience and an honor for them. Mrs. Trafalska even felt unworthy of it, recalling her rebellion against suffering.

On the website m.niedziela.pl we read about further fate of the cross from Stefkowa. In 2007, Fr. Mieczysław Mokrzycki became a bishop. He left the Vatican and took the papal cross with him. He gave it to his parents, who in turn handed over the relic to the parish priest from Kraczkowa – Fr. Mieczysław Bizior – who placed it in the church. Then, a cross pilgrimage to other parishes of Przemyśl was inaugurated.

Thus, the papal cross connected the sufferings of John Paul II and Janina Trafalska with the sufferings of Jesus Christ.

Could Mrs. Trafalska have imagined a more extraordinary fate of this cross?