Stanisław Kędziora (6 December 1934,

Seligów Seligów is a village in the administrative district of Gmina Łyszkowice, within Łowicz County, Łódź Voivodeship, in central Poland. It lies approximately north-east of Łyszkowice, south of Łowicz, and north-east of the regional capital ...

– 25 December 2017,

Warsaw Warsaw, officially the Capital City of Warsaw, is the capital and List of cities and towns in Poland, largest city of Poland. The metropolis stands on the Vistula, River Vistula in east-central Poland. Its population is officially estimated at ...

) was a Polish

Roman Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics worldwide as of 2025. It is among the world's oldest and largest international institut ...

bishop and doctor of theology. He served as auxiliary bishop of the

Archdiocese of Warsaw The Metropolitan Archdiocese of Warsaw (, ) is a Latin Church ecclesiastical territory or diocese of the Catholic Church in Poland encompassing the Polish capital. It was erected on October 16, 1798 and was elevated to an Archdiocese on June 30, ...

from 1987 to 1992 and as auxiliary of the Diocese of Warszawa-Praga from 1992 to 2011.

Biography

Kędziora was born on 6 December 1934 in Seligów. From 1948 to 1952, he attended the secondary school in

Łowicz Łowicz is a town in central Poland with 27,436 inhabitants (2021). It is situated in the Łódź Voivodeship. Together with a nearby station of Bednary, Łowicz is a major rail junction of central Poland, where the line from Warsaw splits into ...

. After finishing secondary school, he was an employee at the commune's office. From 1953 to 1958, he studied philosophy and theology at the Higher Metropolitan Seminary in Warsaw. He was

ordained Ordination is the process by which individuals are Consecration in Christianity, consecrated, that is, set apart and elevated from the laity class to the clergy, who are thus then authorized (usually by the religious denomination, denominationa ...

as a

subdeacon Subdeacon is a minor orders, minor order of ministry for men or women in various branches of Christianity. The subdeacon has a specific liturgical role and is placed below the deacon and above the acolyte in the order of precedence. Subdeacons in ...

on 29 June 1957 by the auxiliary bishop of Warsaw at the time, . Subsequently, he was ordained as a

deacon A deacon is a member of the diaconate, an office in Christian churches that is generally associated with service of some kind, but which varies among theological and denominational traditions. Major Christian denominations, such as the Cathol ...

on 11 August 1957 by Cardinal

Stefan Wyszyński Stefan Wyszyński (3 August 1901 – 28 May 1981) was a Polish Roman Catholic prelate who served as Archbishop of Warsaw and Archbishop of Gniezno from 1948 to 1981. He previously served as Bishop of Lublin from 1946 to 1948. He was created a ...

. Kędziora was ordained to be a

presbyter Presbyter () is an honorific title for Christian clergy. The word derives from the Greek ''presbyteros'', which means elder or senior, although many in Christian antiquity understood ''presbyteros'' to refer to the bishop functioning as overseer ...

on 3 August 1958 at St. John's Archcathedral, Warsaw, again by Wyszyński. From 1961 to 1964, he continued his studies in

dogmatic theology Dogmatic theology, also called dogmatics, is the part of theology dealing with the theoretical truths of faith concerning God and God's works, especially the official theology recognized by an organized Church body, such as the Roman Catholic Chu ...

at the Faculty of Theology of the

Catholic University of Lublin John Paul II Catholic University of Lublin (, , abbreviation KUL) is a university established in 1918. History Father Idzi Benedykt Radziszewski founded the university in 1918. Lenin allowed the priest to take the library and equipment of ...

, where he graduated with a

bachelor's degree A bachelor's degree (from Medieval Latin ''baccalaureus'') or baccalaureate (from Modern Latin ''baccalaureatus'') is an undergraduate degree awarded by colleges and universities upon completion of a course of study lasting three to six years ...

. He then obtained a doctorate in theology from the same university in 1971 with his dissertation titled ''Science of

Saint Bernard of Clairvaux Bernard of Clairvaux, O.Cist. (; 109020 August 1153), venerated as Saint Bernard, was an abbot, mystic, co-founder of the Knights Templar, and a major leader in the reform of the Benedictines through the nascent Cistercian Order. Bernard was ...

on the mystical knowledge of God''. From 1958 to 1961, and again from 1964 to 1965, Kędziora worked as a

vicar A vicar (; Latin: '' vicarius'') is a representative, deputy or substitute; anyone acting "in the person of" or agent for a superior (compare "vicarious" in the sense of "at second hand"). Linguistically, ''vicar'' is cognate with the English p ...

and a

catechist Catechesis (; from Greek language, Greek: , "instruction by word of mouth", generally "instruction") is basic Christian religious education of children and adults, often from a catechism book. It started as education of Conversion to Christia ...

for the Parish of St. Floriana, based in

Brwinów Brwinów is a town in Pruszków County, Masovian Voivodeship, Poland, about from the centre of Warsaw. As of December 2021, the town has a population of 13,718. Until 1954, Brwinów was the location of the Helenów parish council and between 19 ...

. From 1982 to 1987, he was the

parson A parson is an ordained Christian person responsible for a small area, typically a parish. The term was formerly often used for some Anglican clergy and, more rarely, for ordained ministers in some other churches. It is no longer a formal term d ...

of the Parish of All Saints, based in Warsaw, as well as the

dean Dean may refer to: People * Dean (given name) * Dean (surname), a surname of Anglo-Saxon English origin * Dean (South Korean singer), a stage name for singer Kwon Hyuk * Dean Delannoit, a Belgian singer most known by the mononym Dean * Dean Sw ...

of the deanery of Warszawa-Śródmieście. In 1985, he became a member of the priesthood council and the collegio consutorum. In 1976, he was given the privilege of Rochettum et Mantolettum. From 1965 to 1987, he was a lecturer in dogmatic theology at the Higher Metropolitan Seminary. From 1965 to 1971, he was the

Apostolic prefect An apostolic prefect or prefect apostolic is a priest who heads what is known as an apostolic prefecture, a 'pre-diocesan' missionary jurisdiction where the Catholic Church is not yet sufficiently developed to have it made a diocese. Although it ...

of the seminary, and from 1971 to 1982, he was the vice-rector. On 11 March 1987, Kędziora was appointed as an Auxiliary Bishop of the Archdiocese of Warsaw, along with becoming the

titular bishop A titular bishop in various churches is a bishop who is not in charge of a diocese. By definition, a bishop is an "overseer" of a community of the faithful, so when a priest is ordained a bishop, the tradition of the Catholic, Eastern Orthodox an ...

of Tucci. He was ordained on 25 March 1987 at

Łowicz Cathedral The Cathedral Basilica of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary and St. Nicholas ( ) also called Łowicz Cathedral is a religious building affiliated with the Catholic Church and is located in the city of Łowicz in the Łódź Voivodeship, Po ...

. Cardinal

Józef Glemp Józef Glemp (18 December 192923 January 2013) was a Polish Cardinal (Catholic Church), cardinal of the Catholic Church. He was List of bishops and archbishops of Warsaw, Archbishop of Warsaw from 1981 to 2006, and was elevated to the cardinalate ...

consecrated him with the assistance of fellow auxiliary bishops and

Kazimierz Romaniuk Kazimierz Romaniuk (21 August 1927 – 25 February 2025) was a Polish Catholic prelate, professor of biblical studies and participant of the Warsaw Uprising. In 2004, Romaniuk became the bishop emeritus of the diocese of Warszawa-Praga. He was ...

. For his episcopal motto, he adopted the Latin phrase "''Secundum Verbum Tuum''" (

Latin Latin ( or ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken by the Latins (Italic tribe), Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio), the lower Tiber area aroun ...

: ''According to Your Word''). In the

Roman curia The Roman Curia () comprises the administrative institutions of the Holy See and the central body through which the affairs of the Catholic Church are conducted. The Roman Curia is the institution of which the Roman Pontiff ordinarily makes use ...

, he was the chairman of the Faculty of Catholic Science. He became a member of the priesthood council, a member of the collegio consutorum of the archdiocese, and a member of the economic council of the archdiocese. On 25 March 1992, Kędziora was transferred to become the auxiliary bishop of the Diocese of Warszawa-Praga. He was appointed vicar general of the diocese. In the Roman curia, he was the chairman of the Department of General Administration and the Faculty of Catholic Science. He became the deputy chairman of the priesthood council and a member of the collegio consutorum of the diocese. In 2008, as a result of the transfer of the diocesan bishop

Sławoj Leszek Głódź Sławoj Leszek Głódź (born 13 August 1945) is a Polish prelate of the Catholic Church who served as Archbishop of Gdańsk from 2008 to 2020. He has been a bishop since 1991 and before that spent a decade working in the Roman Curia. Early l ...

to the

Archdiocese of Gdańsk In church governance, a diocese or bishopric is the ecclesiastical district under the jurisdiction of a bishop. History In the later organization of the Roman Empire, the increasingly subdivided provinces were administratively associated ...

, Kędziora became the

Diocesan administrator A diocesan administrator (also known as archdiocesan administrator, archiepiscopal administrator and eparchial administrator for the case, respectively, of an archdiocese, archeparchy, and eparchy) is a provisional ordinary of a Catholic partic ...

of the diocese. In 1992, he was appointed as a

prelate A prelate () is a high-ranking member of the Minister (Christianity), Christian clergy who is an Ordinary (church officer), ordinary or who ranks in precedence with ordinaries. The word derives from the Latin , the past participle of , which me ...

of the cathedral chapter of the diocese of Warszawa-Praga. On 5 January 2011,

Pope Benedict XVI Pope BenedictXVI (born Joseph Alois Ratzinger; 16 April 1927 – 31 December 2022) was head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 19 April 2005 until his resignation on 28 February 2013. Benedict's election as p ...

accepted his resignation as auxiliary bishop. As part of the

Episcopal Conference of Poland The Polish Episcopal Conference or Polish Bishops' Conference ( or KEP) is the central organ of the Catholic Church in Poland. It is composed of 3 cardinals, 24 archbishops and 118 bishops. 21st century In 2018, KEP completed a survey on cleric ...

, Kędziora joined the Clergy Commission, the Commission for Academic Pastoral Affairs, the Commission for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life, and the Committee on Catholic Education. Kędziora died on 25 December 2017 in Warsaw. He was buried at

Bródno Cemetery :''You may also be looking for the Bródno Jewish Cemetery.'' Bródno cemetery () is an old cemetery in the Targówek district, in the eastern part of Warsaw, Poland. Occupying an area of , it is the largest cemetery in Warsaw. With more than 1 ...

on 29 December 2017.

Awards

By the decision of the former President of the Republic of Poland,

Lech Kaczyński Lech Aleksander Kaczyński (; 18 June 194910 April 2010) was a Polish politician who served as the city mayor of Warsaw from 2002 until 2005, and as President of Poland from 2005 until his death in 2010 in an air crash. The aircraft carrying ...

on 17 July 2008, Kędziora was awarded the Officer's Cross class of the

Order of Polonia Restituta The Order of Polonia Restituta (, ) is a Polish state decoration, state Order (decoration), order established 4 February 1921. It is conferred on both military and civilians as well as on alien (law), foreigners for outstanding achievements in ...

References

External links

Biographical note of Stanisław Kędziora on the website of the Warszawa-Praga diocese

Stanisław Kędziora at episkopat.pl
* 1934 births 2017 deaths 20th-century Roman Catholic bishops in Poland People from Łowicz County Officers of the Order of Polonia Restituta 21st-century Roman Catholic bishops in Poland {{Poland-RC-bishop-stub