In 2020, the Vatican approved the opening of the cause for beatification and canonization of Karol Wojtyła, Sr., and Emilia nee Kaczorowska. This gave the local bishops in Poland the authority to proceed with their investigation into the life and legacy of St. John Paul II’s parents.
Since then, Luke Coppen for The Pillar reported in 2022 that "Msgr. Sławomir Oder, who also served as postulator of the Polish pope’s cause, told the Catholic news agency KAI that he had received multiple reports of purported miracles."
Msgr. Oder explained that, "I am now waiting for the medical records to be collected for expert opinion."
However, before any reported miracles can be considered, the Vatican will need to affirm that they lived lives of "heroic virtue." Once that is confirmed, they will be given the title of "venerable." Currently they are recognized as "Servants of God."
If the Wojtyłas are eventually canonized, the recent custom of the Church has been to assign their feast day to the date of their wedding. Sts. Louis and Zelie Martin are the prime examples, as their feast day is on July 12, the day when they were legally married.
February 10
According to the Museum of the Family Home of John Paul II, Karol and Emilia were married on "February 10, 1906, Krakow's Church of St. Apostles Peter and Paul on Grodzka Street."
Eryk Łażewski wrote an article for Aleteia that profiled the extraordinary example of holiness his parents gave to him as a child.
It was a devoutly Christian family, whose members began their day with Holy Mass, prayed before every meal, and in the evening listened to the father read out passages from Scripture.
Naturally, when Karol was little, his mother had the biggest influence on him. Though she was with him on earth for a short time, he no doubt inherited her compassion for her neighbors, her optimism and joy, and her knack for telling jokes. As the pope himself admitted in the book Gift and Mystery, his mother Emilia’s contribution to his religious education “was no doubt profound.”
Karol’s mother’s influence on the young boy would decrease with time due to Mrs. Wojtyła’s intensifying illness. Both the household chores and the upbringing of the youngest child was gradually taken over by her husband, Karol Wojtyła, Sr.
After his wife’s death, it was he who dedicated himself wholeheartedly to the care of his 9-year-old Lolek. In order to have more time for the boy, he retired early and never remarried.
Emilia Wojtyla died on April 13, 1929, at the age of 45.
St. John Paul II's father would become a major influence in his life, becoming a "seminary" for his future vocation to the priesthood.
