The Warsaw Province of Redemptorists


History

The Redemptorists returned to Poland in 1883 after having been expelled in the days of St. Clement in 1808. Father Bernard Lubienski and his family were responsible for the foundation in Mosciska on 31st May 1883. The houses in Poland were separated from the province of Prague as an autonomous province on 8th December 1909. The first superior was Father Theophilus Pasur. The province now has a vice-province in Argentina, that of Resistencia, and the vice-province of Bahia in Brasil (Bon Jesus da Lapa).

Vice-provincials: Engelbert Janecek: 1894-1901; Teofil Pasur: 1901-1909.

Provincials: Teofil Pasur: 1909-1918; Emmanuel Trzemeski: 1918-1933; Franciszek Marcinek: 1933-1948; Ludwik Fras: 1948-1953; Kazimierz Holda: 1953-1964; Jan Piekarski: 1964-1969; Stanislaw Stanczyk: 1969-1972; Stanislaw Podgórski: 1972-1981; Andrzej Rebacz: 1981-1987; Stanislaw Kuczek 1987-1990; Leszek Gajda 1990-1996; Edward Nocun 1996-

Back


Warsaw - St. Benno's and St. Clement's

Warsaw is a venerable city for Redemptorists on account of the activity of St. Clement and his companions. Established in the seventeenth century church of St. Benno's, in February 1787, St. Clement really founded the Congregation outside Italy. The intense and successful pastoral activity he initiated attracted the first new members from northern Europe. When the foundation was suppressed by the Napoleonic government in 1808 the house and church were turned to profane uses. In 1855 they came into private hands and in 1938 were purchased by Maria Biernacka, a generous benefactress of the Polish Redemptorists. She donated the site to the archdiocese of Warsaw, but World War II prevented any further development. In 1944 the house and church were completely destroyed. After the war the property was given to the Redemptorists, who with some assistance from the government succeeded in having a new St. Benno's erected by 1958 in time for the one hundred and fiftieth anniversary of the expulsion of the Redemptorists from the city. In the following year on 21st June 1959 a Community under Father Edmund Kowalkowski as superior took up residence in a new house under the patronage of St. Clement and St. Benno. This new house now became the residence of the superior of the province of Warsaw.

Another house, also under the patronage of St. Clement had already been established on 24th January 1918 in a working class suburb of the city. This house was the scene of a massacre perpetrated by Nazi troops on 6th August 1944, when thirty Redemptorists were murdered. [It is the actual residence of the superior of the province].

Back


Tuchów

The pilgrimage church of Our Lady's Visitation in the little town of Tuchów passed into the care of the Redemptorists of the Austrian province on 26th April 1896. The first superior was Father Anton Jedek. The shrine is a venerable one, said to the date from the time of Poland's conversion to Christianity about the year 1000. Tuchów served as a juvenate and then became the studentate of the Polish province.

Back


Kraków

Wait, please...

Back to the CSSR Topics

 


 

Lubienski

Fr. Bernard Lubienski CSSR

Was born in Warsaw on 9th December 1846. As a child he spent much of his time in England, where he was educated and where he became acquainted with the Redemptorists He took his vows in Bishop Eton on 7th May 1866 and was ordained priest after studies in the same house on 29th December 1870. After some years as a missioner in England he transferred to the Austrian province in the hope that he could assist in reintroducing the Congregation into his native Poland. His negotiations with the support of his brother Count Roger Lubienski, made possible the foundation of the house of Our Lady of Perpetual Help in Mosciska in Galicia on 31st May 1883. In Poland Father Lubienski's reputation as a preacher did much to assure the rapid growth of the Congregation In fact some of the stories told of his missions suggest that he became almost a figure e of legend. He died with the reputation of holiness in Warsaw on 10 September 1933.

Back to the CSSR Topics


Polish Confreres


Last updated by Andrzej Wodka CSSR, November 1997