St. Albert Chmielowski

St. Albert Chmielowski (20 August 1845 – 25 December 1916), born Adam Chmielowski, was a Polish nobleman who fought in the January Uprising of 1863 against Russian rule, losing a leg in the struggle. Turning afterward to art, he became a gifted and recognized painter, best known for his religious canvas Ecce Homo. Yet a deepening spiritual life led him to abandon his artistic career to serve Christ in the poorest of the poor.

Becoming a Secular Franciscan and taking the name Brother Albert, he moved into the municipal homeless shelters of Kraków to live among the destitute, and founded the Albertine Brothers and, later, the Albertine Sisters to care for the homeless, the hungry, and the outcast. He insisted on giving the poor not only bread but dignity, famously teaching that one should "be good as bread." He died on Christmas Day 1916. His life deeply influenced the young Karol Wojtyła, who as Pope John Paul II beatified him in 1983 and canonized him in 1989.