Tuesday, May 22, 2012

Wojtyla’s former classmate shares some memories from younger days

The Blessed John Paul IIOne of Karol Wojtyla's classmates, Eugeniusz Mróz, now 92, remembers the late pope: “He was so normal, so human; and yet so different from us.”

Lolek, as his friends knew him, had such a powerful voice that when he sang, the Church walls would shatter to pieces. This is how Karol Wojtyla’s former classmate from Wadowice, Eugeniusz Mróz, remembers the late pope. 

Today KAI news agency published an interview with John Paul II’s contemporary, on the occasion of the latter’s 92nd birthday.
 
Mróz was given honorary citizenship during a celebration held in the former pope’s home town, in the presence of Cardinal Stanisław Dziwisz, former Secretary to John Paul II. Being their neighbour, Mróz knew the Wojtyla family very well: “They lived in the same building that belonged to Chaim Bałamuth and they shared the same staircase. The Wojtyla family’s house was across the long balcony and on the right. The church could be seen from all the windows of their small, two room apartment and on the south facing wall there was a message which read: “Time is fleeting but eternity awaits.”

Eugeniusz Mróz emphasised that Lolek was “different, more mature and more serious, despite the fact he loved cracking jokes.” But, he stressed, “he was already on the road to sainthood from a young age.” 

When his beloved brother Edmund died, 12 year old Karol said “this was obviously what God wanted.” A part from this “he was normal just like the rest of us.” 

He had a passion for football and other sports and actively took part in drama society, showing “great talent.”
 
At school, Wojtyla would not let his friends copy, or give them hints but he was always willing to help them. He used to say: “If you are ever in difficulty, come to me.” Whenever he finished school tests first, he did not hand in his paper so as not to make his friends panic.  After the caretaker’s tragic death when he was run down by a truck, Lolek organised a collection to help the widow who had been left alone with six children to look after. 

For Eugeniusz Mróz, one thing is clear: “Our companion’s saintly path was down to his father, a devout and honest man. He was always willing to help others. He taught Karol’s friends to swim; he helped them with their history and German homework (being first petty officer in the Austro-Hungarian army he knew German well). He was a bashful but very noble man.”