Jan Maria Michał Kowalski

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Jan Maria Michał Kowalski

Jan Maria Michał Kowalski (born December 25, 1871 in Latowicz , Poland ; † May 26, 1942 in the Nazi killing center Hartheim in Upper Austria ) was the first bishop of the Old Catholic Church of the Mariavites in Poland. He was persecuted and murdered by the National Socialists .

Life

Kowalski was initially a Roman Catholic priest, his ordination took place on 24 April 1897. On 6 August 1903 he became the first Minister General of Mariavitenordens chosen, but on April 5, 1906, together with the foundress Feliksa Kozłowska by Pope Pius X excommunicated . On October 5, 1909, he was ordained bishop by the Archbishop of Utrecht , Gerardus Gul , with the assistance of other bishops of the Utrecht Union of Old Catholic Churches ( Jacobus Johannes van Thiel von Haarlem , Nicolaus Bartholomeus Petrus Spit von Deventer , the German Bishop Josef Demmel and the English Bishop Arnold Harris Mathew ).

During his tenure there were so-called “mystical marriages” between priests and nuns from 1924 and the introduction of women's ordination (from 1929). This led to internal tensions and conflicts and externally to the suspension of membership rights in the International Bishops' Conference of the Union of Utrecht. After being voted out of office (in absentia) on January 29, 1935, he gathered his devoted following and founded the Catholic Church of the Mariavites . Kowalski consecrated the French Marc Maria Fatôme as bishop and appointed him to be the holder of jurisdiction outside Poland.

He was arrested by the National Socialists on January 25, 1940 and initially imprisoned in Płock and from March 25, 1941 in the Dachau concentration camp . On May 25, 1942, he was transported away as part of the so-called " Aktion 14f13 " and was taken to the Nazi killing center in Hartheim Castle near Alkoven near Linz in Upper Austria, where he was gassed the following day .

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personal data
SURNAME Kowalski, Jan Maria Michał
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Kowalski, Maria Johannes Michael
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Bishop of the Old Catholic Church of the Mariavites, later of the Catholic Church of the Mariavites
DATE OF BIRTH December 25, 1871
PLACE OF BIRTH Latowicz
DATE OF DEATH May 26, 1942
Place of death Nazi killing center Hartheim , Upper Austria