Father Kapaun, a native of Pilsen, Kansas [Diocese of Wichita] on Holy Thursday, April 20, 1916 and ordained June 9, 1940 entering the U.S. Army Chaplain Corps in 1944. 
     Hre was sent to Japan in 1950; in July he was ordered to Korea where he was taken prisoner in November. He served seven months before his death from starvation and typhus and a leg blood clot: the hunger was a direct result that the Communists placed his neager bowl of food by the entry door where he could not reach it as he was too ill to reach it; before his death he served heroically to help his fellow prisoners, as testified by the men of all faiths. He died on May 23, 1951.

     The Diocese of Wichita and the Vatican have begun the formal process that could lead to Father Kapaun's canonization.  In 1993, it was announced that Fr. Kapaun would receive the title of "Servant of God".

Update, 2013: On April 11, now Servant of God, Fr. Emil Kapuan has received the US Medal of Freedom for his courage and aid to our men in the Korean prison camp and during World War II. There is a new book published about his life, THE MIRACLE OF FATHER KAPUAN by Roy Wenzl and Travis Heying, IGNATIUS PRESS.

OFFICIAL WEBSITE FOR FR. KAPUAN




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