Lucjan Pereświet-Sołtan was born on 5.05.1906 in his family estate in the district of Vyšetsk on the Dnieper River. In 1926, he graduated from King Sigismund Augustus Gymnasium in Vilnius, then entered the Vilnius Theological Seminary. He celebrated his first Mass on 5.06.1933. For several years he was curate at the University Church of St John in Vilnius, and in October 1937 he was transferred to the Parish Church of Christ the King in Vilnius Colony. In October 1937 he was transferred to the parish church of Christ the King in Vilnius Colony. He worked there as a parish priest. In the September campaign of 1939, he was chaplain to the 5th Lieutenant's Regiment, then joined the clandestine movement, participated in the underground movement, and helped in the operation to preserve Jews. With the rank of captain, he became chaplain of the 1st Battalion of the Bolesław Chrobry Regiment. On the night of 16/17 September 1943, he was arrested as one of 100 hostages and held for two months in Prowieniszki. During the Operation Ostra Brama (Gates of Dawn) on 7.07.1944, he organised an AK field hospital, canteen and cemetery for the fallen from scratch. On New Year's Eve 1944/1945 he was arrested by the Soviets and after a long investigation on 4.08.1945 deported to Vorkuta. After a year he returned to his parish, but on 20.01.1949 he was arrested again for counter-revolutionary activities and sentenced to 25 years in gulags. In the gulag in Inta, where he was imprisoned, he worked in the mines and secretly performed his priestly duties. He died on 21.01.1951 in the camp hospital in Incie, as a result of psychological shock caused by the brutal interruption by an NKVD officer when he was secretly celebrating mass.
A few years after the priest's death, his fellow sufferers found the priest's most likely burial place and arranged his grave, placing a cross on it with a plaque and an inscription in Polish: "Ś.P. / Priest / Lucjan Pereświet-Sołtan / died 21 I 1951 // But You, God, who from on high / Drop Your arrows on the country's defender, We beg You through this handful of bones / Light at least for our death - the sun! / [...]".

Compiled by T. Zachara / MKiDN, VIII 2025