Recently Departed Marians

Father Richard Drabik, MIC
1.3.1934 – 07.04.2026

On July 4, 2026—the first Saturday of the month and the 250th anniversary of the founding of the United States of America—at approximately 11:30 PM at the religious house on Eden Hill in Stockbridge, Massachusetts, Fr. Richard Drabik, MIC, passed away and received his well-deserved reward in eternity. He lived to be 92 years old, including 73 years in religious life and 66 years in the priesthood.

During his long life, Fr. Richard held many positions of responsibility within the community; superior of the religious house, novice master, director of the Association of Marian Helpers in US, and, from 1981 to 1988, superior of the American Province of St. Stanislaus Kostka.

His whole life, he was a zealous apostle of the message of Divine Mercy and the author of many initiatives related to promoting this devotion in the United States, such as the production of the world’s first feature-length film on the history of the Divine Mercy devotion: Divine Mercy: No Escape, the translation of St. Faustina’s Diary and her biography into English, as well as the preparation in Stockbridge of the first Polish edition of the Diary, which was subsequently printed in Rome with financial support from the Marians and secretly distributed to Poland, hidden from the communist authorities.

The funeral services were held at the National Shrine of Divine Mercy in Stockbridge, MA, and the deceased was laid to rest at the Marian Fathers’ cemetery on Eden Hill.

Father Mateusz Stanisław Pietrzyk, MIC
04.15.1952 – 02.04.2026

Poland, Skórzec: On February 4, 2026, Fr. Mateusz Pietrzyk, MIC, died at the religious house in Skórzec. He was 73 years old, had been in the Congregation for 48 years, and had been a priest for 41 years. The funeral will take place on Friday, February 6, 2026, at the Church of the Conversion of St. Paul the Apostle in Skórzec.

Father Mateusz Stanisław Pietrzyk, son of Józef and Maria née Ptak, was born on April 15, 1952, in Damienice near Bochnia, in the Diocese of Tarnów. After completing primary school in Damienice, he graduated from the Basic Vocational School in Krakow-Prokocim in 1966-69, obtaining the profession of locksmith.

In 1970, as a candidate for our Congregation, he moved to Lublin, residing at 10 Połaniecka Street, and began working at the Lublin Cooperative for the Disabled and studying at the High School for Working Adults. After completing the first year of high school, he did his basic military service, and after completing it in 1973, he continued his education and work. He obtained his high school diploma in 1976 and was then accepted into the novitiate in Skórzec.

He made his first profession on August 15, 1977. In 1977-78, he studied at the Faculty of Theology of the Catholic University of Lublin in Lublin, and in 1978-84 at the Higher Theological Seminary in Siedlce; during this period, he was a member of the religious house in Skórzec. He made his perpetual vows on August 15, 1982, in Licheń. He was ordained a deacon in Lublin on December 8, 1983, by Bishop Bolesław Pylak of Lublin. After completing his seminary studies in 1984-85, he was a catechist at the parish of Our Lady of Lourdes in Praga. He was ordained a priest in Lublin in the seminary chapel of the Congregation of Marian Fathers by Jan Śrutwa, Auxiliary Bishop of the Diocese of Lublin, on June 15, 1985.