Five years of internment. Marian Leon Fulman, Bishop of Lublin, in the presbytery of the collegiate church of Saint Margaret in Nowy Sącz (1940–1945)

Abstract

Marian Leon Fulman was the bishop of the Lublin diocese in the years 1918–1945. When the Second World War broke out, he was arrested by the Nazis under the false accusations of possession of arms. On 27th November 1939 he was sentenced to death by the German authorities. The punishment was later changed into imprisonment in Oranienburg-Sachsenhausen. The Bishop remained there until 4th December 1939. Apparently thanks to the intervention by the papal nuncio in Berlin, Fulman was released from prison, yet not allowed to come back to Lublin. He was interned in Nowy Sącz, where he lived in the presbytery of the collegiate church of Saint Margaret until 25th February 1940. The local parish priest, Roman Mazur, welcomed him warmly. Bishop Fulman was the head of the Lublin diocese from a distance. He had two rooms at his disposal. In one of them he organized a private chapel, where he secretly ordained 37 priests for the Lublin diocese. During the period of his internment, on 17th November 1943, Fulman celebrated the 25th anniversary of his ordination as a bishop. On this occasion he received a letter of congratulation from the Pope Pius XII. In May 1944 the Bishop was granted permission to return to his diocese. Due to his old age and bad health he did not start the journey. Soon such a possibility was out of the question due to war activity on the front. It was not until 9th February 1945 that the Bishop left Nowy Sącz. He died in Lublin a few months later. The Archbishop of Lublin Stanisław Budzik and the Bishop of Tarnów Andrzej Jeż participated in the ceremony commemorating the 70th anniversary of the Fulman’s termination of the internment. On 9th February 2015 a special commemorative plaque was placed inside the presbytery of the collegiate church of Saint Margaret to commemorate Bishop Fulman’s stay in Nowy Sącz.