Edmund Bojanowski

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Edmund Bojanowski (born November 14, 1814 in Grabonóg , † August 7, 1871 in Górka Duchowna ) was the founder of the Congregation Maidservants of Mary of the Immaculate Conception , he built several children's, sick and poor homes. He was a representative of holistic, physical, mental and spiritual education with the priority of religious education. He was beatified in 1999 .

Memorial plaque for Edmund Bojanowski

Life

His father, Walenty Bojanowski, was a landowner in Grabonóg, Placzkowo and Bojanowo and came from a noble Silesian family . His mother Theresa came from the influential Uminski family. Edmund grew up in a harmonious family with his half-brother Theophil Wilkonski, and in 1825 they moved to Placzkowo. His poor health prevented him from attending a public school, so he was taught by private tutors. His comprehension was great, so within five years he learned the basics of literature and the history of Poland. During this time, Edmund developed a strong social interest and encouraged the desire to help people in misery and need. In 1832, just 18 years old, he began studying philosophy at the University of Wroclaw . In 1834 his mother died and in 1836 his father, the loss of his parents hit him hard, and his health deteriorated. Nevertheless, he moved to Berlin and studied literature, psychology , aesthetics , philosophy and art history at the university there . In 1839 he had to break off his studies for health reasons and returned to Grabonóg, where he lived with his half-brother and was a great helper during a cholera epidemic . After the Grabonóg estate was sold, Bojanowski first moved to Poznan and then to Gniezno , where he entered the seminary . Once again, his illness prevented him from studying, and a year later he left the seminary and returned to his home village. Bojanowski spent the last months of his life in the rectory of his friend in Gorka Duchovna . On the evening of August 7, 1871, Edmund Bojanowski died of years of serious illness. He was buried in the crypt in Luboń .

Edmund Bojanowski was beatified by Pope John Paul II in Warsaw on June 13, 1999 , his feast day is August 7.

His life's work

After the canceled seminary, he returned to Grabonóg. Here he founded the village “custodial institutions” for the children with the aim of caring for them from a moral and material point of view. As carers, he recruited girls from the village communities who lived in a group of three carers in an order-like community. This then became the basis for the foundation of the "Sisters of the Immaculate Conception". Bojanowski gave her life an orderly style, wrote a rule for her and placed her work especially under the protection of the Blessed Mother Mary. On May 3, 1850, the first religious house was built, at the same time he opened the “House of Mercy”, which consisted of: an orphanage , a pharmacy for the poor and a library . On the day of his death the congregation had 22 houses with 98 sisters. In 2009 another “Window of the Life of Blessed Edmund Bojanowski” was inaugurated in Czestochowa . This facility is intended to save newborns and can therefore be given to the sisters.

See also

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Bojanowski, Edmund
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Polish founder of the order, Blessed
BIRTH DATE November 14, 1814
PLACE OF BIRTH Grabonóg , Prussia
DATE OF DEATH August 7, 1871
PLACE OF DEATH Górka Duchowna