At Lviv in Ukraine, Blessed Zygmunt Gorazdowski, priest, who, a Pole by nationality, outstanding in his devotion to his neighbor and a pioneer of works for the protection of life, founded the Institute of the Sisters of Saint Joseph, devoting himself in every way to the good of the poor and the abandoned.
Lifespan: 1845–1920
Beatified: 26 June 2001 by Pope John Paul II
Canonized: 23 October 2005 by Pope Benedict XVI, Saint Peter’s Square
Memoria liturgica: 1 January
To be all things to all, to save at least one
Zygmunt Karol Gorazdowski was born in Sanok, Poland, on 1 November 1845. His family held the precepts of the Catholic faith in high regard and observed them with great fidelity. Zygmunt himself, from his earliest childhood — though seriously ill — always longed to help those who lived in suffering and pain. After completing secondary school, he undertook the study of law at the University of Lwów. Sensing, however, a vocation to the priesthood, he left his studies in the second year and entered the Major Spiritual Seminary of Lwów.
In the seminary he was to face a great trial of faith. As his illness grew steadily worse and placed his life in danger, his priestly ordination was suspended. His fellow seminarians, who witnessed this existential struggle at close quarters, wrote in their memoirs: “For Zygmunt, being barred from the priesthood was an extremely painful blow; he suffered both morally and physically, but he did not lose his trust in the Lord God.” Two years later, however, his health improved so markedly that he was able to be ordained a priest in the Cathedral of Lwów on 25 July 1871.
In 1877 Father Zygmunt began his priestly and charitable activity in Lwów. Serving as vicar, administrator, and later parish priest, he undertook catechetical work in many schools. He continued to engage in publishing and editorial activity. He brought out several editions of a catechism of his own composition and of his Principles and Norms of Good Catholic Education for parents and educators, and published articles dealing mainly with pastoral, social, and pedagogical matters. He also founded the Bonus Pastor Association, which supported the work of priests, and for several years edited a journal of the same name.
To manage the majority of the charitable works he had established, Father Zygmunt enlisted the Franciscan tertiary sisters, taking pains to ensure their adequate formation and to obtain ecclesiastical approval — with monastic rights — for the new Congregation of the Sisters of Saint Joseph. 17 February 1884 is the official date of its foundation. As the Congregation grew, its Founder involved the sisters in the care of the suffering in hospitals, orphanages, and nurseries, and encouraged the care of the sick in private homes. He himself was for the sisters a model of prayerful communion with God and, at the same time, an example of heroic service to those in need — from which springs the motto that took shape in the life of the Congregation: “The heart close to God, the hands at work.” The Congregation of the Sisters of Saint Joseph, faithfully following the charism of its Founder, continues to this day to operate educational institutions, engage in catechetical and religious instruction, and carry out the ministry of care for the sick, the suffering, and the poor of every kind. The Congregation works in Poland, Germany, France, Italy, and Ukraine, and has opened missions in Africa and South America.
Zygmunt Gorazdowski died on 1 January 1920 in Lwów. At the time it was said of him that he was “the eye of the blind, the leg of the lame, the father of the poor.” The cause for his beatification was opened in 1989. On 26 June 2001, in Lwów, Pope John Paul II proclaimed the Apostle of God’s Mercy blessed, establishing his liturgical memorial on that date.