Bishop Jan Cieński (; 7 January 1905 – 26 December 1992) was a Roman Catholic clandestine prelate from Ukraine as an

Auxiliary bishop An auxiliary bishop is a bishop assigned to assist the diocesan bishop in meeting the pastoral and administrative needs of the diocese. Auxiliary bishops can also be titular bishops of sees that no longer exist as territorial jurisdictions. ...

of Archdiocese of Lviv and a single Roman Catholic prelate in Ukraine since 30 June 1967 until 16 January 1991, when a Roman Catholic hierarchy was reestablished in

Ukraine Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the List of European countries by area, second-largest country in Europe after Russia, which Russia–Ukraine border, borders it to the east and northeast. Ukraine also borders Belarus to the nor ...

Life

Bishop Cieński was born in the noble

szlachta The ''szlachta'' (; ; ) were the nobility, noble estate of the realm in the Kingdom of Poland, the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, and the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth. Depending on the definition, they were either a warrior "caste" or a social ...

family of a politician Tadeusz Cieński and Maria (née countess Dzieduszycka) Cieńska in present-day Western Ukraine. His maternal grandfather was Polish landowner, naturalist, political activist, collector and patron of arts of Ukrainian origins

Count Count (feminine: countess) is a historical title of nobility in certain European countries, varying in relative status, generally of middling rank in the hierarchy of nobility. Pine, L. G. ''Titles: How the King Became His Majesty''. New York: ...

Włodzimierz Dzieduszycki. After graduation of the gymnasium education, future Bishop continued to study at the Agrarian Academy in Dubliany, with graduation in 1928, and subsequently joined Faculty of Low of the

University of Lviv The Ivan Franko National University of Lviv (named after Ivan Franko, ) is a state-sponsored university in Lviv, Ukraine. Since 1940 the university is named after Ukrainian poet Ivan Franko. The university is the oldest institution of highe ...

. After that he joined the Major Roman Catholic Theological Seminary in Lviv in 1933 and was ordained as

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 ...

on June 26, 1938, by Archbishop Bolesław Twardowski, while completed of the theological studies. During 1938–1945 he served as an assistant priest in Zolochiv, in the same time worked as a chaplain of the Polish

Home Army The Home Army (, ; abbreviated AK) was the dominant resistance movement in German-occupied Poland during World War II. The Home Army was formed in February 1942 from the earlier Związek Walki Zbrojnej (Armed Resistance) established in the ...

and clandestinely rescued Jews in the

Holocaust The Holocaust (), known in Hebrew language, Hebrew as the (), was the genocide of History of the Jews in Europe, European Jews during World War II. From 1941 to 1945, Nazi Germany and Collaboration with Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy ...

persecution. In a period of the Polish population transfers (1944–1946) he remained in the

Soviet Union The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

and continued to serve as a parish priest in Zolociv (1945–1992) under the Communist persecution of the

religion Religion is a range of social system, social-cultural systems, including designated religious behaviour, behaviors and practices, morals, beliefs, worldviews, religious text, texts, sanctified places, prophecies, ethics in religion, ethics, or ...

. In 1962 Bishop Cieński was clandestinely appointed by

Pope John XXIII Pope John XXIII (born Angelo Giuseppe Roncalli; 25 November 18813 June 1963) was head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 28 October 1958 until his death on 3 June 1963. He is the most recent pope to take ...

as an

Auxiliary Bishop An auxiliary bishop is a bishop assigned to assist the diocesan bishop in meeting the pastoral and administrative needs of the diocese. Auxiliary bishops can also be titular bishops of sees that no longer exist as territorial jurisdictions. ...

of the Archdiocese of Lviv. But his consecration happened only on June 30, 1967, when he was consecrated as bishop by Metropolitan Archbishop Stefan Cardinal Wyszyński and other prelates of the

Roman Catholic Church The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

privately in

Gniezno Gniezno (; ; ) is a city in central-western Poland, about east of Poznań. Its population in 2021 was 66,769, making it the sixth-largest city in the Greater Poland Voivodeship. The city is the administrative seat of Gniezno County (''powiat'') ...

, Poland. Bishop Jan Cieński secretly ordained several

Greek Catholic Greek Catholic Church or Byzantine-Catholic Church may refer to: * The Catholic Church in Greece * The Eastern Catholic Churches The Eastern Catholic Churches or Oriental Catholic Churches, also known as the Eastern-Rite Catholic Churches, Ea ...

and Roman Catholic priests, one of them being Bishop Leon Malyi, auxiliary bishop of Archdiocese of Lviv.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cienski, Jan 1905 births 1992 deaths Clergy from Lviv Oblast 20th-century Polish nobility People from the Kingdom of Galicia and Lodomeria Ukrainian people of Polish descent Polish Austro-Hungarians University of Lviv alumni Polish people who rescued Jews during the Holocaust 20th-century Roman Catholic bishops in Ukraine Roman Catholic bishops in the Soviet Union