St. Bogumilus

St. Bogumilus was a Polish churchman of the twelfth century, honored for exchanging high ecclesiastical office for a life of solitude and prayer. Born of a noble family and educated abroad, he served as a parish priest and was esteemed for his learning and holiness, and in time he was raised, according to tradition, to the dignity of archbishop of Gniezno, the primatial see of Poland.

Finding the burdens and honors of that office a hindrance to the union with God he desired, he resigned his charge and withdrew to live as a hermit in the forests, giving himself to penance, contemplation, and manual labor, and to quiet charity toward the poor and the peasants around him. He spent his remaining years in this hidden life of prayer until his death around 1182. Long venerated by the Polish people as a model of humility and detachment, he is commemorated on 10 June.