Poland – A weekend to get to know and learn to imitate Blessed Fr. Bronisław Markiewicz

13 June 2022
Poland – A weekend to get to know and learn to imitate Blessed Fr. Bronisław Markiewicz
Photo: Zbigniew Cygnar

(ANS - Miejsce Piastowe) - From June 4 to 5, 2022, the Salesian Cooperators of the Krakow Province met in Miejsce Piastowe to commemorate the 130th anniversary of the arrival of the first Salesian in Poland, Blessed Bronislaw Markiewicz, who worked there as a Salesian for five years and from the very first days of his stay took in poor and abandoned boys, transforming much of the rectory into an institute of care and education, based on Salesian principles.

Miejsce Piastowe is also home to Poland's only Shrine dedicated to St. Michael the Archangel, patron of the Congregation of St. Michael the Archangel (CSMA - so-called "Michaelite Fathers"), founded by Fr. Markiewicz; and of the Congregation of the Sisters of St. Michael the Archangel (CSSMA - known as "Michaelites"), also founded by Fr. Markiewicz, but together with the Venerable Mother Anna Kaworek. The two congregations are now part of the Salesian Family, as the 21st and 26th groups, recognized and welcomed in 2000 and 2009, respectively.

Participants in the weekend of Micaelite spirituality learned this and many other facts from Fr. Piotr Prokopowicz, who gave a lecture on Fr. Markiewicz, his spirituality, his work with poor boys in the Polish region of Galicia, and his preventive educational system, which in its basic principles is consistent with the Salesian system.

Also on the first day, Saturday 4, Salesian Cooperators participated in the "Fatima Prayers" service, which has a tradition of nearly 45 years and is a feature of the life and work of Blessed Markiewicz. On this occasion, for the month of June, the prayers had a special intention for young people, that they might attain and maintain the grace of faith and that they might mature a deep discernment of their vocation.

They spent Sunday morning in the nearby town of Dukla, following in the footsteps of another important Polish saint, St. John of Dukla, a 15th-century religious.

Today Blessed Fr. Bronislaw Markiewicz constitutes an inspiration to fulfill love in the contemporary world, toward the marginalized and even toward one's enemies and persecutors, in the full spirit of the Gospel. That is why his figure emerges today as a guide for today's times. As he himself wrote: "We live in extraordinarily sad times. Never as at this time have the powers of hell acted with such ferocity, insolence, and cunning against the Lord God and His Church. The envy of these hostile powers has reached such a level that the battle waged by them clearly has the mark of a superhuman struggle."

Beata Cygnar

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