(ANS – Krakow) – In the run-up to the imminent beatification of Fr Jan Świerc and his eight Salesian martyr companions, the Salesian Printing House in Krakow, in collaboration with the Salesian Publishing House in Warsaw, has published a book entitled “Blask wierności. O tych, którzy byli gotowi” (The Radiance of Faithfulness. Of Those Who Were Ready). The author of the book is Professor Fr Sylwester Jędrzejewski, SDB, professor emeritus at the Pontifical University of John Paul II in Kraków (UPJPII, in Polish), a biblical scholar, and for many years a lecturer and researcher at the UPJPII and the Salesian Seminary in Kraków. He is the author of numerous scholarly works in the field of biblical studies and archivist of the Salesian Archives of the Kraków Province (PLS). This book is not merely a historical document, but above all a spiritual study on the fidelity to their vocation of nine Salesian martyrs. Indeed, in the introduction, the Superior of the Kraków Province (PLS), Fr Dariusz Bartocha, SDB, wrote the following: “I would like to introduce these confreres of mine. I entrust to your hands a publication that is not merely a historical account of tragic fates, nor a simple biography of nine Salesians, educators and martyrs. It is a testimony to a faithful and consistent Salesian life, which came to an end in the inhuman conditions of the Auschwitz and Dachau camps. It is a testimony to love that conquers hatred. These Salesians remained faithful to the very end to St John Bosco’s Salesian motto: Da mihi animas, caetera tolle – Give me souls and take away the rest… May this book be for you not merely a history lesson, but above all a personal encounter with people who, in the darkness of the world, made the light of faith shine forth. We believe that their intercession grants us the courage to be, in every circumstance, ‘signs and bearers of God’s love to young people’.”