Jan Beyzym

Jan Beyzym (born May 15, 1850 in Beyzymy Wielkie, Volhynia , † October 2, 1912 in Fianarantsoa , Madagascar ) was a Polish Jesuit, priest and missionary.

Life

After high school, the son of Polish aristocrats entered the novitiate on December 10, 1872 with the Jesuits in Stara Wieś. He was ordained a priest on July 26, 1881 in Cracow . Until 1889 he worked as an educator and teacher at schools operated by the Jesuit order in Tarnopol and Chyrów . During this time, he developed his conviction of faith to devote himself to the pastoral care of lepers in Madagascar. The 48-year-old religious clerics took this year's pastoral care and nursing activities in the near Antananarivo located leprosarium , where about 150 people suffering from leprosy in complete isolation lived under inhumane conditions, without medical care. Beyzym was the first missionary in Madagascar to take care of the sick who were expelled from society. He was not deterred by the risk of infection. Leprosy, also known as Hansen's disease , was not treatable at the time. However, Beyzym discovered that the mortality rate of the sick could be reduced considerably by sustainably improving the diet. He reported to his order about the conditions in the leper colony and organized donation drives. As a result of the better food supply that this made possible, the number of deaths fell significantly. In the following years Beyzym campaigned for the establishment of a hospital for lepers in Marana near Fianarantsoa. Construction work on this began in 1903; The hospital, financed by donations from Poland, Germany and Austria, was inaugurated in 1911.

Father Jan Beyzym was on 18 August 2002 by John Paul II. As the apostle of lepers in Madagascar beatified .

literature

Czeslaw Drzek: Vie, activité et sainteté du Serviteur de Dieu Jean Beyzym, prêtre de la Compagnie de Jésus (1850-1912) , 2 vols. (1989).

Web links

Commons : Jan Beyzym - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Jan Beyzym (1850-1912) . Vatican. Retrieved September 19, 2013.
Blessed Jan Beyzym, SJ . Congregation for the Clergy. Retrieved September 19, 2013.
Jan Beyzym . In: Dictionary of African Christian Biography . Retrieved September 19, 2013.

Individual evidence

↑ ^a ^b Homepage Vatican, there Jan Beyzym (1850-1912)
↑ La Mission de Madagascar a vol d'oiseau, pp. 62–63.
↑ Chine, Ceylan, Madagascar, 1912, p. 94.

personal data
SURNAME	Beyzym, Jan
BRIEF DESCRIPTION	Polish Jesuit, priest and missionary
DATE OF BIRTH	May 15, 1850
PLACE OF BIRTH	Beyzymy Wielkie, Volhynia
DATE OF DEATH	October 2, 1912
Place of death	Fianarantsoa in Madagascar

[vat-1] Homepage Vatican, there Jan Beyzym (1850-1912)

[2] La Mission de Madagascar a vol d'oiseau, pp. 62–63.

[3] Chine, Ceylan, Madagascar, 1912, p. 94.