8 JANUARY BLESSED TITO ZEMAN SALESIAN PRIEST, MARTYR

The story of Tito Zeman is an excellent example of fidelity to Don Bosco's charism, particularly through his zeal and love to save the vocation of young Salesians when the communist regime came to Slovakia and was established.

Tito Zeman, a Slovak Salesian, was born into a Christian family on 4th January 1915 in Vajnory, near Bratislava. He wanted to become a priest from the age of 10. He completed his secondary and high school studies in the Salesian houses in Šaštín, Hronský Svätý Benˇadik and in Frištak u Holešova. In 1931, he began his novitiate and on 7th March 1938 made his perpetual profession at the Sacred Heart Institute in Rome. A student of theology at the Gregorian University in Rome, and then in Chieri, he used his free time to do apostolate in the oratory. In Turin, on 23rd June 1940, he reached the much desired goal of priestly ordination by Cardinal Maurilio Fossati. On 4th August 1940, he celebrated his first Mass in Vajnory.

On the night of 13th /14th April 1950, the communist regime banned religious orders in Czechoslovakia, occupied the convents and the houses of religious men and women with its militia, deporting consecrated men and women to convents that had been transformed into concentration camps: in Slovakia this dramatic night was called ‘The Night of the Barbarians’. Providence had it that Fr. Zeman was in the diocesan parish of Šenkvice during those months and thus avoided imprisonment. It was an idea of the young Salesian Fr. Ernest Macák to smuggle young clerics across the Czechoslovak-Austrian border, taking them to the Salesian mother house in Turin, where they would be able to complete their theological studies, reach the priesthood and, with the hoped-for rapid fall of communism, spiritually rebuild their homeland.

Zeman took charge of this risky activity: he began to prepare the clandestine passage across the border between Slovakia and Austria and organised two expeditions for more than 30 young Salesians. On the third expedition, in which some diocesan priests persecuted by the regime also took part, he was arrested with most of the group members. During the various interrogations, they beat him and broke some of his teeth. When Fr. Zeman experienced the violence on himself and saw it in his confreres, he took it upon himself and blamed himself for organising their escape abroad. Regarding this period, Fr. Tito himself declared: “When they caught me, it was a Way of the Cross for me. From a psychic and physical point of view, I experienced it during the pre-trial detention. In reality, it lasted two years... I lived in constant fear that at any moment, the door of my cell would open and they would take me outside, to the place of execution. You see, that's why all my hair turned white. If I go back to the unimaginable torture I suffered during interrogations, I can honestly tell you that I still get the shivers today. In beating and torturing me, they used inhuman methods. For example, they would bring a bucket full of sewage, immerse my head in it and hold it in until I began to suffocate. They would kick me hard all over my body, beat me with any object. After one of these blows, I became deaf for several days”.

He underwent a harsh trial during which he was described as a traitor to his country and spy to Vatican, and the attorney general demanded the death penalty for him. On 22nd February 1952, he was sentenced to ‘only’ 25 years in prison without parole, and branded as a ‘mukl’, i.e. a ‘man destined for elimination’. He only came out of prison, on parole and after being excluded from numerous amnesties, after almost 13 years of imprisonment, on 10th March 1964; his health was by then deteriorated. He lived with his brother, working as a labourer in a textile warehouse. He was later allowed to work as a warehouse worker; an occupation he held until the end of his life. Now irreparably scarred by the sufferings he endured in prison, he died five years later, on 8th January 1969, surrounded by a glorious reputation for martyrdom and holiness. He lived his ordeal with a great spirit of sacrifice and offering: “Even if I lost my life, I would not consider it wasted, knowing that at least one of those I helped became a priest instead of me”.

The dedication, courage and sacrifice shown at the highest level by Fr. Tito during his clandestine escape across the border show that he is a priest who can be described as a martyr for the salvation of vocations.Unjustly imprisoned, tortured, condemned, kept in hard prison for 13 years, and subsequently always supervised and prevented from fully carrying out his priestly and educational vocation, he is an example and model of a pastor, capable of spending and giving his life for those young people who, in their hearts and also in their social lives, were prevented from following Christ more closely.His message, ‘Always act according to Don Bosco's model and others will follow you’, is still relevant today.

Prayer

O Almighty God

you have called Fr. Tito Zeman

to follow the charism of St. John Bosco.

Under the protection of Mary Help of Christians

he became a priest and educator of youth.

He lived according to your commandments

and among the people he was known and esteemed

for his affable character and availability for all.

When the enemies of the Church suppressed human rights

and the free expression of faith,

Fr. Tito did not lose courage

and persevered on the path of truth.

For his fidelity to the Salesian vocation

and for his generous service to the Church,

he was imprisoned and tortured.

With audacity he resisted the torturers

and for this he was humiliated and mocked.

Everything he suffered for love and with love.

We beseech Thee, O Almighty Father

glorify your faithful servant

and grant us, through his intercession,

the grace we ask of you...

Through Christ our Lord. Amen.

Pierluigi Cameroni, SDB

(Source: Pierluigi Cameroni - ‘Like stars in the sky’)