Walter J. Ciszek

Walter Ciszek was born and raised in Shenandoah, Pennsylvania, and started life as a street ruffian who hated school. He played hookey often enough that he wound up in reform school for a while. His mother was a devout Catholic and raised her children in the values of the church. As Walter matured and left his wild days behind, he became inspired by his religion and felt he was being called to it. He decided to become a Jesuit priest.

During the long process toward ordination as a Jesuit priest, Walter became inspired by a plea from the Pope for young priests to consider entering a training program in Rome that would prepare them for missionary work in the godless Soviet Union. There were millions of Catholics in Russia who had no parish priests and were denied the Mass and the Confessional. Ciszek along with other...