Historical calendar: November 9, 1910 – Fr Piotr Wawrzyniak dies

Historical calendar – the anniversary of the death of a prominent patriot and socialist operating in the Prussian partition – priest Piotr Wawrzyniak.

Today in our calendar we will look at the life and activities of an extraordinary person, specified as Fr Piotr Wawrzyniak.

A future, distinguished priest and socialist, was born in the Greater Poland village of Wyrenka, in the household of Francis and Cecilia from the home of Łopinska. He was raised in an atmosphere of deep religion. Although he had a peasant background, his parents did rather well. To specified an degree that they could afford to pay for their son's education after he had completed the state simple school.

He attended a gymnasium in Śrema, where he became active in an illegal Polish patriotic organization called “Marian”.

After the outbreak of the January Uprising, he wanted to cross the partition and take part in it. The effort to enter the battlefield ended in failure and return home. Then he dedicated himself to teaching and serving God. After finishing junior high, he joined a seminary in Poznań. His different talents were noticed by Archbishop Mieczysław Ledóchowski, who helped him to go on a scholarship to Münster, where he began studying theology.

In 1872, he was ordained priest and began pastoral work as vicar of the parish in Śrem. There he full developed wings and showed himself not only as a afraid about the souls of the faithful priest, but besides as an efficient and industrious organizer of social and economical life. He felt that in order to save the Polish Nation from Germanization it was essential to simultaneously increase its morality and material status.

In 1873, he headed the St. Wojciech Industrial Society in Mogilno. At the same time he led to the reorganisation of the local savings and debt bank, transforming it into a cooperative People's Bank, which he led for a number of years. The bank granted low-interest loans to Poles, so they no longer had to usage German and judaic debt sharks.

In 1878 he introduced the People's Bank to a larger organization called the Association of Commercial Companies. After a while, he became an crucial individual in that institution. This allowed him to operate not only locally, but throughout the full east German Empire, i.e. Silesia, Pomerania, Warmia and Mazury. He supported the fight against the Prussian settlement, helping Polish farmers whose authorities wanted to deprive the land.

For the same purpose, he sponsored the formation of cooperatives, cooperative banks and agricultural rings. The second were liable for organizing the sale of agricultural produce from Polish hosts. He was the patron of the publication of the magazine “Company Guide”, in which applicable advice was given to entrepreneurs. utilizing his many years of practice, he wrote a book in 1886 discussing cooperative work entitled Instructions to members of the supervisory board in companies.

The economy is not the only area he focused on. He fought with the same commitment in the field of culture and discipline and politics. He sought to reconstruct education in Polish, founded a public library in Śrema and a printing home and bookstore in Poznań. He supported the Karol Marcinkowski Society for technological Assistance. In 1893, he became an MP for Prussian Sejm. During his trips to Berlin, he activated the local Polonia and served as the secretary of the ellipse of Polish Members.

In 1897 he founded the Polish paper "The Berlin Journal". In his pastoral work, he focused on making average Poles aware that they should save any of their work's fruit and invest in further development. He was a large talker at political rallies and economical meetings. He organised anniversaries of crucial events, pilgrimages and fun and competitions for children and youth. He became a individual widely respected by Poles.

The Prussian authorities considered him a dangerous pest of the thought of Germanization and Protestantization of Wielkopolska. Father Peter always acted in accordance with the law, so they could not formally charge him. Many times they attempted to hinder his activities, including blocking promotion in the church hierarchy (Berlin then usurped the right to approve appointments for posts). This did not prevent Leon XIII from giving him the title The papal chamberlain.

The church promotion was not achieved until 1898 erstwhile he became a parish priest in Mogilno. He proved himself in this position, restoring the local temples and the rectory building, and building a fresh chapel and cemetery fence. His socio-economic initiatives were highly effective and resistant to intelligence infiltration and corruption, as they relied on respective simple economical rules, Polish national solidarity and, above all, Catholic principles.

In fresh years, he has focused on the creation of a circumstantial trade union of priests, in which he strengthened the religion of priests. He besides initiated a sanatorium in Zakopane called the Duchess. His ceremony became a large manifestation of national solidarity. The Berlin press called him posthumous. Polishuncrowned king.

Piotr Wawrzyniak was a large priest, organizer and socialist. Thanks to the titanic work he did during his priestly ministry, he made a crucial contribution to defending the Polish state of possession in the era of the most aggressive German Culturekampfu. Continuing the work of Primate Dunin, he became the leader of the Wielkopolska organic work. To this day, it is simply a pattern that makes the eye conscious, how to organize a functioning society and economy based on Catholic principles.

Previous entry from our calendar is available Here.