ARCHBISHOP CIEPLAK.

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume LXXXI, Issue 19034, 11 June 1924, Page 3

ARCHBISHOP CIEPLAK.

The special correspondent of the Chicago Tribune wires:—With his face emaciated and yellow and his hair snow-white from sixteen months of imprisonment in the notorious Buturka prison at Moscow,. Archbishop Cieplak arrived at Riga yesterday. The appearance of the aged Prelate was so changed that his own pupils, who had studied under him in the Petrograd Seminary, failed to recognise him. Arriving at the home of Bishop Transun, at Riga, Archbishop Cieplak’s first request was for a hot bath and a baber’s shop. A few hours later he was divested of his beard, and, clad in the robes of his office, he held mass in St. Francisco Church, giving thanks for his deliverance from a Soviet gaol. The Archbishop’s arrival took Riga by surprise, and ne was the most surprised of all the Catholic clergy who turned out en masse to welcome him. The Archbishop said he was unaware that he was released until a Latvian border official approached him On the Russian frontier, asking him where his baggage was.

Until that moment I had not the faintest idea where I was being taken (the Prelate stated). My two guardian angels—Soviet armed guards—who had escorted me to the train in Moscow and who rode with me all night, without exchanging a word, but sharing with me their scanty ration of black bread, had suddenly disappeared. A few moments later one returned, and, grinning, said, “You see, we are not such bad fellows after all.” I thanked him for their kindness and boarded the train for Riga. I was unprovided with food or money. A slip of paper bearing a Lettish visa announcing my release from prison was given me by the Soviet border official. A kind young Latvian, hearing of my predicament, paid my fare and procured food for me. When I arrived I immediately went to see my old pupil, Bishop Transun, who at first failed to recognise me. I seem to have changed somewhat.

Archbishop Cieplak first announced his intention of remaining at Riga to rest for a few days. “But this morning, after my first night’s rest on matresses in sixteen months,” he continued, “I feel so refreshed I am going to continue my journey to Rome.” Archbishop Cieplak left on the morning train for Warsaw. A large part of the Prelate’s imprisonment was in solitary confinement. Once, he states, he was imprisoned in a large cell with twentyseven others in the Buturka prison. One day a guard saw him in conversation with another prisoner, who the next day was called from the cell and disappeared. “After that the other prisoners feared to speak to me, and I also feared to speak to them, lest they also disappeared,” he said. While confined the Archbishop received regular meagre fare which the Bolshevik prison administration furnished all prisoners. This consisted, he says, of hot water three times a day, to aid the prisoners in making tea, if they had tea. For lunch a watery soup without fat was served, for supper a bowl of “kasha,” rye, and hominy. This, with a pound of black bread, is the regular prison ration. Occasionally Archbishop Cieplak was permitted to receive packages of food from friends, also letters and Soviet newspapers. Once a week his aged servant for forty years was permitted to speak with him for a few minutes. When asked if he had hungered the Prelate answered: “No. I am used to fasting and prayer, and since I never knew when I was going to be executed, I spent most of my time in fasting and prayer.” During the months of imprisonment the Archbishop lost track of his companions, many of whom were also sentenced to death.