The volume, edited by Łukasz Kobiela, was presented in Warsaw, on the occasion of the 70th anniversary of the death of Cardinal Hlond and the recognition of Venerability by Pope Francis, which took place on 19 May.
At the presentation, Cardinal Kazimierz Nycz, archbishop of Warsaw, spoke of the text as "a beautiful and useful publication", while Dr. Jarosław Szarek, President of IPN, said, that so far the image of this eminent figure has been too little investigated, and therefore the IPN "wants to revive the memory of this man, a charismatic intellectual, with great organizational talent."
"Many of his initiatives," continued Dr. Szarek, "have reached even to our times: the Akcja Katolicka (Catholic Action), the Towarzystwo Chrystusowe dla Poloni Zagranicznej (Society of Christ for the Emigrants of Poland), the foundation of the diocese of Katowice, the application of the Social Doctrine of the Church in Silesia."
According to the IPN President, Card. Hlond knew that "one must talk with society, including through the media, and therefore founded Gość Niedzielny (the Sunday Host), still published today."
Marek Jędraszewski, metropolitan archbishop of Krakow, observed that "the work and teaching of Card. Hlond constitute a patrimony from which, in the years that followed, both the Polish people and the great pastors of the Polish Church, such as Primate Wyszyński and St. John Paul II, drew upon."
Finally, Łukasz Kobiela, the book's author, explained that this was the first work that dealt so extensively with the activity of Cardinal Hlond, including the historical background, especially in his native Silesia. For the book, he claimed to have used several sources ...
Much of the material was presented for the first time; among them, the documents concerning the arrest of the Primate by the Germans in 1943, photos of the period of imprisonment and documents found from the IPN concerning actions the communist government undertook against the Cardinal after the Second World War.
