Saint Józef Sebastian Pelczar

Saint Józef Sebastian Pelczar was a professor and rector of the Jagiellonian University and, from 1900, the bishop of Przemyśl. He founded the congregation of the Sister Servants of the Sacred Heart and left many writings on the spiritual life. The Roman Martyrology commemorates him on March 28, the day of his death.

He was born on January 17, 1842, at Korczyna near Krosno, the son of Wojciech and Marianna, née Mięsowicz. He went to school in Rzeszów and, while still a secondary school student, decided to become a priest; he wrote in his diary that he saw the ideal of life in sacrifice and the ideal of sacrifice in the priesthood. In 1860 he began his studies at the seminary in Przemyśl, and on July 17, 1864, he was ordained a priest.

For a year and a half he was a curate at Sambor, and from 1866 to 1868 he studied in Rome, where he earned doctorates in theology and canon law. After his return he taught at the seminary in Przemyśl, and from 1877, for twenty-two years, he was a professor at the Jagiellonian University in Krakow. There he was dean of the Faculty of Theology and, in the academic year 1882/1883, rector of the university.

In Krakow he presided for sixteen years over the Society for Popular Education, which in that time founded hundreds of libraries and distributed more than one hundred thousand books among the people. On April 15, 1894, he founded there the Congregation of the Sister Servants of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus, so that the sisters might care for servant girls, working women, and the sick. He entrusted its direction to Klara Ludwika Szczęsna, co-foundress and first superior, who was beatified in 2015.

In 1899 he became auxiliary bishop of the Diocese of Przemyśl, and a year later its ordinary. He often visited the parishes, cared for the education of the clergy, and held three diocesan synods. Under his governance the number of churches and chapels grew, and nurseries, kitchens for the poor, shelters for the homeless, and vocational schools for girls were opened. The lot of workers and emigrants and the fight against alcoholism were close to his heart; in his pastoral letters he pointed to the social teaching of Leo XIII. During the years of the First World War he helped its victims.

His piety centered on the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus, the Eucharist, and the Mother of God. The motto of his life was: “All for the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus through the immaculate hands of the Most Blessed Virgin Mary.” He wrote works of theology, history, and canon law, prayer books, sermons, and pastoral letters. Among his books is Życie duchowe, czyli doskonałość chrześcijańska (The Spiritual Life, or Christian Perfection), and the Roman Martyrology calls him an excellent teacher of the spiritual life.

He died in Przemyśl during the night of March 27 to 28, 1924. His relics rest in the cathedral of Przemyśl. John Paul II beatified him on June 2, 1991, in Rzeszów and canonized him on May 18, 2003, in Saint Peter’s Square in Rome, together with Ursula Ledóchowska. In Poland his memorial is kept on January 19.