The annual Father Walter J. Ciszek Day will be marked on Oct. 15 with a 2 p.m. Divine Liturgy in the St. Casimir Sacred Worship Site of Divine Mercy Roman Catholic Parish. St. Casimir Church is at 29 N. Jardin St.

The late Ciszek, a native son of St. Casimir Church, is a candidate for sainthood in the Catholic Church.In 1941 he was arrested for alleged espionage for the Vatican, imprisoned and then detained in the former Soviet Union for more than 20 years, during which he prayed, celebrated Divine Liturgy, heard confessions and otherwise administered to the faithful despite risk to his own safety.He was finally released in 1963 in exchange for two Russian spies. He returned home to a widely heralded Mass of Thanksgiving in St. Casimir Church and then worked at the John XXIII Center at Fordham University in New York. He died on Dec. 8, 1984, the Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception, and is buried at the Jesuit Novitiate, Wernersville.The main celebrant for the Oct. 15 service will be Monsignor Ronald C. Bocian, Divine Mercy pastor, and the homilist will be Jesuit Father Brian Van Hove, according to The A.D. Times, the newspaper of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Allentown. Van Hove, as a young Jesuit at Fordham in the 1970s, knew Ciszek.A social in St. Casimir Hall will follow the liturgy. The new Father Walter J. Ciszek Prayer League Center at 218 W. Cherry St. will be open to visitors from noon to 1:30 p.m. Oct. 15.