[featured-image single_newwindow=”false”]
“The call to marriage is also a vocation,a gift from God. I will never forget a young man, an engineering student in Kraków, who everyone knew aspired with determination to holiness. This was his life plan. He knew he had been ‘created for great things,’ as Saint Stanislaus Kostka once expressed it. And at the same time, he had no doubt that his vocation was neither to priesthood nor to religious life. He knew he was called to remain the secular world. Technical work, the study of engineering, was his passion. He sought a companion for his life and sought her on his knees, in prayer. I will never forget the conversation in which, after a special day of retreat, he said to me: ‘I think that this is the woman who should be my wife, that it is God who has given her to me.‘ It was almost as if he were following not only the voice of his own wishes but above all the voice of God Himself. He knew that all good things come from Him, and he made a good choice. I am speaking of Jerzy Ciesielski, who died in a tragic accident in the Sudan, where he had been invited to teach at the University. The cause for his beatification is under way.” (Pope John Paul II, Crossing the Threshold of Hope, emphasis added)
On December 18th, 2013, Pope Francis recognized the holy life and heroic virtues displayed by Jerzy Ciesielski, a devout husband and father. His cause for canonization has been underway since 1985, when the Archdiocese of Kraków began the process. Jerzy was a close friend of Karol Wojtyła, who as a priest was his university chaplain in Kraków. When he heard about his tragic death in 1970, Wojtyła felt that he lost not just a friend, but a family member.
Środowisko
In fact, they became very close friends and the two discovered they both had a love of the outdoors. Jerzy was a scout when he was younger and never stopped kayaking and hiking in the mountains. Father Wojtyła then invited Jerzy to be a part of his Środowisko group on young people. This close-knit group of university students would often accompany Wojtyła on his adventures in the countryside. This time spent out in nature also included serious conversations about the meaning of life and the many struggles to be holy in the midst of the world.
Jerzy, an engineering student, benefited greatly from this relationship and enjoyed the Środowisko excursions. Providentially, among the members of the Środowisko Jerzy met his future wife Danuta, who also had been a faithful member of the group. They both enjoyed being with Father Wojtyła and went everywhere with the zealous chaplain. Danuta recollects that,
“Fr. Karol came with us on trips, to concerts, to the theatre and the cinema….We talked during excursions, around the fire and at organized meetings which took place in our homes. We had long one-to-one conversations with him about relationship problems and married life. To this day I have no idea how he found the time.” (Vatican Insider)
Father Wojtyła was honored to preside at their wedding on June 29, 1957 and continued to be a spiritual father to the young couple throughout their life.
Ordinary Holiness
One of Jerzy’s greatest attributes was his desire and determination to be a saint in the midst of the world. As already mentioned, he knew that he was called to holiness not in a monastery or rectory, but in the ordinary experiences of secular life. His thoughts on the subject were revolutionary at the time and greatly influenced Karol Wojtyła’s contributions to the Second Vatican Council. Wojtyła recalled how,
“Jerzy said lay people were also called to become saints. We talked about marriage as the sacramental path towards the fulfillment of life as a couple; and about work as an essential part of a person’s vocation. And this was before the Second Vatican Council took place.” (Vatican Insider)
During his homily at Jerzy’s funeral, Karol Wojtyła highlighted this attribute of ordinary holiness:
“[Jerzy] carried God’s witness in himself. And he shared this witness…He knew that this witness of God which he carried in his soul must not be hidden under the bushel basket, that it is a light: therefore he bore witness…I dare say: he bore exceptional witness. It was exceptional also for this reason that he never said: I bear witness. And yet everyone knew that he did bear witness. He never said: I strive for holiness. And everyone knew that he strove for holiness.” (The Making Of The Pope Of The Millennium: Kalendarium of the Life of Karol Wojtyła, 411, emphasis added)
On The Road to Sainthood
The cause for Jerzy’s sainthood is underway and currently needs one miracle to pave the way to his beatification. The Archdiocese of Kraków have been in charge of process since 1985, which was 15 years after his tragic death on the Nile river. While on assignment teaching engineering students at the University of Khartoum, Jerzy took his children on a boat ride while his wife stayed behind at the hotel. The boat capsized and Jerzy, along with two of his children, died. Wojtyła returned from Rome to preside at the funeral in Kraków and was greatly saddened at the lost of a dear friend.
In the end, his life is a great inspiration for all people, especially men who are husbands and fathers. He teaches us that everyone is called to be a saint and that it is in our vocation of marriage and in our work that we attain holiness. Marriage is not somehow a “lesser” vocation, but it is a valid path to holiness and essential to the greater good of society.
Unfortunately, there is not much information on Jerzy in the English language, but I hope that someday we can learn more about him through the many notes and letters that he wrote in his short life.
Let us pray that Jerzy Ciesielski will soon be lifted up to the altars for veneration.
He is a light in the darkness.
If you have information relevant to this Cause, contact
Rev. Michal Jagosz
Biuro Postulacji J. Ciesielskiego
ul. Sw. Anny 11
31-008 Kraków, POLAND