Stanislaw Kostka Łukomski

Stanislaw Kostka Łukomski (21 October 1874 – 4 November 1948) was a leading Polish bishop and right wing political activist of the early 20th century, who was possibly assassinated shortly after World War II.[1]

He was born in the village of Borek in Sadki parish in the Archdiocese of Gniezno on October 21, 1874, and on February 24, 1898, was ordained a priest .

After 1900 he was a member of the National League.[2] On March 8, 1920, he was appointed auxiliary bishop of Archdiocese of Sicca Veneria. After the death of Cardinal Edmund Dalbor in 1926, for a short time he managed the Archdiocese as Vicar Capitular. On 29 December 1921 he was awarded the Commander's Cross of the Order of Polonia Restituta.[3]

On June 24, 1926, was made bishop of the Diocese of Łomża, where he coordinated the work of the diocesan Catholic Action group, and contributed to the expansion of the cathedral. 1926 also saw him serve as secretary of the Polish Episcopal Conference. He resigned from this role in 1936, but his resignation was not adopted until May 1946.

He sympathized with the National Democrats and was a strong opponent of Jozef Pilsudski and known for his extreme right-wing views. In 1922, he condemned the general agriculture strike in Wielkopolska, which was one of the reasons for its failure.[4] In 1947, he wrote a letter to the Communist authorities and condemned the murders in Zawady(including the governor) by the militia "underground army national".[5]

In 1948, with the death of August Hlond saw him the most serious candidate for the office of the Archbishop of Gniezno and therefore Primate of Poland. He remained however a staunch opponent of the newly ascendent communist authorities. On October 28, 1948, he died in an unexplained car accident on the Ostrów Wielkopolski–Łomża road.

He was buried on November 4, 1948, in Łomża Cathedral.[6][7]