Bronisław Markiewicz, SDB (13 July 1842 – 29 January 1912) 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 ...
priest
A priest is a religious leader authorized to perform the sacred rituals of a religion, especially as a mediatory agent between humans and one or more deity, deities. They also have the authority or power to administer religious rites; in parti ...
and a professed member of the
Salesians of Don Bosco
The Salesians of Don Bosco (SDB), formally known as the Society of Saint Francis de Sales (), is a religious congregation of men in the Catholic Church, founded in 1859 by the Italian priest John Bosco to help poor and migrant youth during the ...
. Markiewicz established the
Congregation of Saint Michael the Archangel that devoted itself to the principles and teachings of
John Bosco
John Melchior Bosco, Salesians of Don Bosco, SDB (; ; 16 August 181531 January 1888), popularly known as Don Bosco or Dom Bosco (International Phonetic Alphabet, IPA: ), was an Italian Catholic priest, educator and writer. While working in Tu ...
under the patronage of
Saint Michael the Archangel.
His beatification was held in
Poland
Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It extends from the Baltic Sea in the north to the Sudetes and Carpathian Mountains in the south, bordered by Lithuania and Russia to the northeast, Belarus and Ukrai ...
on 19 June 2005 after
Pope John Paul II
Pope John Paul II (born Karol Józef Wojtyła; 18 May 19202 April 2005) was head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 16 October 1978 until Death and funeral of Pope John Paul II, his death in 2005.
In his you ...
acknowledged a miracle credited to him in 2004. 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 ...
presided over it on the behalf of
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 ...
.
Life
Bronisław Markiewicz was born in
Poland
Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It extends from the Baltic Sea in the north to the Sudetes and Carpathian Mountains in the south, bordered by Lithuania and Russia to the northeast, Belarus and Ukrai ...
in 1842 as the sixth of eleven children to John Markiewicz and Marianna Grysziecka. Although he received religious training at home, but his faith wavered temporarily in his youth, during high school. Of that he wrote: "I wanted to adapt to my teachers' views" and also wrote "Along with faith in
God
In monotheistic belief systems, God is usually viewed as the supreme being, creator, and principal object of faith. In polytheistic belief systems, a god is "a spirit or being believed to have created, or for controlling some part of the un ...
, I lost the peace in my soul and my sense of interior harmony. I was overcome by sadness".
Markiewicz began his studies for the
priesthood in 1863 in
Przemyśl
Przemyśl () is a city in southeastern Poland with 56,466 inhabitants, as of December 2023. Data for territorial unit 1862000. In 1999, it became part of the Podkarpackie Voivodeship, Subcarpathian Voivodeship. It was previously the capital of Prz ...
and 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 priest on 15 September 1867. After his ordination he was appointed as a parish priest at Harta and at the Cathedral of Przemyśl and remained there from 1867 until 1873. He later studied at the
Jagiellonian University
The Jagiellonian University (, UJ) is a public research university in Kraków, Poland. Founded in 1364 by Casimir III the Great, King Casimir III the Great, it is the oldest university in Poland and one of the List of oldest universities in con ...
from 1873 to 1875.
In addition, he served as a parish priest at Gac from 1875 until his next appointment in Blazowa in 1877. He taught theological studies at Przemyśl in 1882.
Through his parish work, he developed an interest in working with marginalized youth, particularly as a teacher.
["Bl. Bronisław Markiewicz", Salesians of Don Bosco]
/ref>
Markiewicz decided that he wanted to join the Salesians of Don Bosco
The Salesians of Don Bosco (SDB), formally known as the Society of Saint Francis de Sales (), is a religious congregation of men in the Catholic Church, founded in 1859 by the Italian priest John Bosco to help poor and migrant youth during the ...
and embarked for Turin
Turin ( , ; ; , then ) is a city and an important business and cultural centre in northern Italy. It is the capital city of Piedmont and of the Metropolitan City of Turin, and was the first Italian capital from 1861 to 1865. The city is main ...
in November 1885 where he commenced his period of formation with the Salesians. He became attracted to the spirituality of Don Bosco and made his final vows in the order on 25 March 1887 to Bosco himself. Markiewicz contracted aggressive tuberculosis
Tuberculosis (TB), also known colloquially as the "white death", or historically as consumption, is a contagious disease usually caused by ''Mycobacterium tuberculosis'' (MTB) bacteria. Tuberculosis generally affects the lungs, but it can al ...
in 1889 and almost died. The disease left him in 1890 at which point he could return to Poland on 23 March 1892 as a parish priest at Miejsce Piastowe
Miejsce Piastowe is a village in Krosno County, Subcarpathian Voivodeship, in south-eastern Poland. It is the seat of the gmina (administrative district) called Gmina Miejsce Piastowe. It lies approximately south-east of Krosno and south of th ...
. He left Turin with the permission of his Salesian superiors.[
He began a trade school in Poland for the poor and for orphaned males. Due to economic conditions, Markiewicz found it difficult to maintain the Italian model, and his Salesian superiors did not agree with his modifications. In September 1897 Markiewicz applied to the Bishop of Przemysl and to the Holy Father Leo XIII, for permission to found a new Congregation. The following December he was removed from the list of members of the Salesian Society and henceforth remained under the jurisdiction of the Bishop of Przemysl."Blessed Father Bronislaw Markiewicz", The Congregation Of Saint Michael The Archangel (C.S.M.A.)]
/ref>
In 1898, he founded the "Work and Temperance Society" to support these people and base their education on Salesian principles.[ The corresponding magazine first started to publish - with the same name as the group - on 16 July 1898.][ Markiewicz also opened an orphanage in Pawlikowice that soon had over 400 people enter as residents.][ His work received the approval and the blessing of the ]Bishop of Przemyśl
A bishop is an ordained member of the clergy who is entrusted with a position of Episcopal polity, authority and oversight in a religious institution. In Christianity, bishops are normally responsible for the governance and administration of di ...
Józef Sebastian Pelczar
Józef Sebastian Pelczar (17 January 1842 – 28 March 1924) was a Polish Roman Catholic bishop and was also the co-founder of the Sister Servants of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus which he had established in 1894 with Ludwika Szczęsna. He ...
who encouraged Markiewicz's work.
Markiewicz died from complications from his tuberculosis in 1912.[
]
Michaelites
On 29 September 1921 the Archbishop of Krakow - and future cardinal - Adam Stefan Sapieha approved the order as being one of diocesan right. The male branch and female branches received approbation on 29 September 1921 for the males and on 15 August 1928 for the females.[ The order later received the full papal approval of ]Pope Paul VI
Pope Paul VI (born Giovanni Battista Enrico Antonio Maria Montini; 26 September 18976 August 1978) was head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 21 June 1963 until his death on 6 August 1978. Succeeding John XXII ...
on 15 June 1966. His congregation now operates in nations such as Papua New Guinea
Papua New Guinea, officially the Independent State of Papua New Guinea, is an island country in Oceania that comprises the eastern half of the island of New Guinea and offshore islands in Melanesia, a region of the southwestern Pacific Ocean n ...
and Belarus
Belarus, officially the Republic of Belarus, is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe. It is bordered by Russia to the east and northeast, Ukraine to the south, Poland to the west, and Lithuania and Latvia to the northwest. Belarus spans an a ...
.[
]
Beatification
The diocesan process for the beatification of Markiewicz opened in 1958 and closed in 1961 - the opening of the cause in 1958 granted him the posthumous title of Servant of God
Servant of God () is a title used in the Catholic Church to indicate that an individual is on the first step toward possible canonization as a saint.
Terminology
The expression ''Servant of God'' appears nine times in the Bible, the first five in ...
. The Congregation for the Causes of Saints
In the Catholic Church, the Dicastery for the Causes of Saints, previously named the Congregation for the Causes of Saints (), is the dicastery of the Roman Curia that oversees the complex process that leads to the canonization of saints, passi ...
signed a decree recognizing the process completed its work in 1990 and assumed control of the cause in order for them to investigate the merits of it.
The postulation compiled the Positio
A ''positio'' (short for the Latin ''positio super virtutibus'': "position on the virtues") is a document or collection of documents used in the process by which a Catholic person is declared Venerable, the second of four steps on the path to can ...
in 1990 and submitted it to the C.C.S. for further investigation. The consulting theologians met to discuss the merits of the cause and voted in the affirmative for it on 30 November 1993. The C.C.S. also approved it on 12 April 1994 and would present it to the pope for his approval. It was presented to Pope John Paul II
Pope John Paul II (born Karol Józef Wojtyła; 18 May 19202 April 2005) was head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 16 October 1978 until Death and funeral of Pope John Paul II, his death in 2005.
In his you ...
on 2 July 1994 who conferred upon Markiewicz the title of Venerable
''The Venerable'' often shortened to Venerable is a style, title, or epithet used in some Christianity, Christian churches. The title is often accorded to holy persons for their spiritual perfection and wisdom.
Catholic
In the Catholic Churc ...
upon acknowledging his life of heroic virtue
Heroic virtue is the translation of a phrase coined by Augustine of Hippo to describe the virtue of early Christian martyrs. The phrase is used by the Roman Catholic Church.
The Greek pagan term hero described a person with possibly superhuman a ...
.[
John Paul II approved a single miracle credited to his intercession on 20 December 2004 in a move that would allow for the beatification to take place. The beatification was celebrated on 19 June 2005 in ]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 ...
with 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 ...
presiding on the behalf of 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 ...
.[
]
See also
* Congregation of Saint Michael the Archangel
References
External links
Hagiography Circle
Congregation of Saint Michael the Archangel
{{DEFAULTSORT:Markiewicz, Bronislaw
1842 births
1912 deaths
People from Subcarpathian Voivodeship
Clergy from the Kingdom of Galicia and Lodomeria
19th-century venerated Christians
20th-century venerated Christians
Beatifications by Pope Benedict XVI
20th-century deaths from tuberculosis
Founders of Catholic religious communities
Jagiellonian University alumni
Michaelite Fathers Order
Polish beatified people
19th-century Polish Roman Catholic priests
Salesians of Don Bosco
Venerated Catholics by Pope John Paul II
Tuberculosis deaths in Poland