St. Jozef Bilczewski

St. Jozef Bilczewski was born on 26 April 1860 at Wilamowice in Poland, then under Austrian rule, and became a distinguished scholar and professor of theology at the University of Lwów (Lviv). In 1900 he was made Latin-rite Archbishop of Lwów, a see he governed for a quarter of a century amid the upheavals of the First World War, the collapse of empires, and the wars over the borderlands of Poland and Ukraine.

A man of deep prayer and tireless charity, he devoted himself to his people across the divisions of nationality and rite, building churches and schools, caring for the poor and for war refugees, and fostering harmony among Poles and Ukrainians in a region riven by conflict. He was esteemed for his humility, his fatherly kindness, and his firm defense of the faith. He died at Lwów on 20 March 1923. Beatified in 2001 and canonized by Pope Benedict XVI in 2005, he is remembered as a model bishop, celebrated on 23 March.