Wichita, Kan., Sep 29, 2021 / 07:51 am
The Diocese of Wichita held a rosary and vigil for Servant of God Father Emil Kapaun on Tuesday, Sept. 28 at 7 p.m. Central Time, and a funeral Mass and procession on Wednesday, Sept. 29, at 10:30 a.m. Central Time. Both events were livestreamed on the Diocese of Wichita’s YouTube channel and on EWTN.
Father Kapaun died in a prison camp May 23, 1951 at 35 years of age. He was known for risking his life on the battlefield during the Korean War to minister to troops on the front lines. He was taken as a prisoner of war in November 1950 where he suffered from pneumonia and a blood clot in his leg. He continued to serve fellow prisoners until his death.
“When he was taken to that death camp he told one of his fellow POWs: ‘If I don’t make it back, tell the bishop that I died a happy death,’ said Father Wayne Schmidt, a retired priest of the Diocese of Wichita, during a send-off Mass for the remains of Father Kapaun at the Cathedral Basilica of Our Lady of Peace in Honolulu Sept. 23. “That can only come from a man of deep and committed faith, who believed that he lived to his last breath, in the presence of Christ in the world in which he was given.”