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Happy feast day, JPII!
An outdoor enthusiast, passionate actor, man of study and contemplation and beloved pope for 26 years, Saint John Paul II is known and loved by many. We’re commemorating his feast day on October 22 with some lesser known facts about JPII that you may have never heard.
- He was a talented (and stealthy) actor.
In the midst of the oppressive Nazi takeover of Poland, young Karol Wojtyla started a clandestine acting troupe called “The Rhapsodic Theater” with his friends. The group would perform in a hidden apartment with pulled blinds and staggered admission. Every guest who attended a performance risked being caught by the Nazis.
As JPII’s biographer George Weigel describes in Witness to Hope, during these underground performances it wasn’t uncommon for Nazi trucks to roar by. No matter the racket outside on the streets, Wojtyla always maintained a collected stage presence and never broke character.
- He almost died getting hit by a truck.
JPII miraculously survived an assassination attempt in 1981, but that wasn’t his first brush with death. At the age of 24, Wojtyla was walking back from work when he was suddenly struck from behind by a Nazi truck.
Passerbys rescued him from the ditch, tended to his wounds and brought the semi-conscious Wojtyla to the hospital. His recovery took two weeks. Later in life, JPII would attribute this near-death experience as the clear sign that confirmed his call to the priesthood.
- He celebrated Mass on upside down canoes in the backcountry.
As a young priest, Karol Wojtyla led a group of young adults into the mountains for hiking, kayaking, prayer, conversation and community. He named the group “środowisko” – the Polish word for “environment” or “accompaniment.”
The young people who traveled with Wojtyla affectionately called him “Uncle.” During their trips, he would celebrate Mass outside, substituting an upside down canoe for an altar.
- Padre Pio heard his confession.
Of the thousands of penitents who visited Padre Pio for the sacrament of reconciliation, Wojtyla was among the ranks. In 1947, in San Giovanni Rotondo, Italy, Padre Pio heard the future pope’s confession. 55 years later, Pope John Paul II canonized Padre Pio.
- He loved to tear it up on skis.
Pope John Paul II was an avid skier who would frequently bustle up the cassock to hit the slopes. As the story goes, people were questioning if it was unbecoming for a Cardinal to ski, to which JPII replied, “It is unbecoming for a Cardinal to ski badly.” He continued to ski until the age of 73, even earning the nickname “Daredevil of the Tatras.”
- Over the course of his papacy he traveled 775,000 miles.
That’s the same distance as traveling to the moon three times.
- He wrote enough to fill over 20 Bibles.
Averaging 3,000 pages a year, JPII cranked out encyclicals upon encyclicals, books upon books, over the course of his papacy. It wasn’t uncommon for him to study and write for 12-16 hours a day.
- He had a down to earth, witty sense of humor.
One day, soon after becoming pope, JPII was strolling through the Vatican Gardens when he found a gardener whom he hadn’t met yet pulling up weeds. Eagerly, he approached the gardener, hand extended for a handshake.
The gardener was flustered because his hands were filthy with dirt and he didn’t want to soil the pope’s hands. In response, JPII grabbed the gardener’s hands, smeared them across his white cassock and said, “Don’t worry. Now that I’m the pope, I don’t have to do my laundry anymore.”
- The Communist Party selected him as Archbishop of Krakow.
Despite the hostility of the Communist Party towards the Catholic Church, they allowed the Church in Poland to pick their episcopal candidates, while still holding the power to veto the options they didn’t like. They vetoed every candidate except their select pick, Wojtyla. Little could they have imagined that the supposedly “weak” and “easily manipulated” young priest they selected would go on to dismantle communism itself. - He had the gift of split concentration.
As many witnesses attest, JPII could carry on a deep conversation while simultaneously reading a book. Remarkably, he could be fully present to the person in front of him while absorbing every word on the page.
If you ever feel like you’re slogging through an assignment, dry in friendship or hungry for adventure, there is no better saint to pray to than JPII. Champion of the humanities, father to the youth of the world and exemplar of the contemplative life, may JPII’s witness be a source of inspiration in our day-to-day college lives, and may his intercession enrich our study, work, relationships and prayer.
“It is Jesus who stirs in you the desire to do something great with your lives, the will to follow an ideal, the refusal to allow yourselves to be grounded down by mediocrity, the courage to commit yourselves humbly and patiently to improving yourselves and society, making the world more human and more fraternal.” – Pope St. John Paul II
Bio: Catherine Brecount is a senior politics major.