Augustus Czartoryski, SDB - Feast August 2nd. Augustus Czartoryski was a Polish Prince of the Royal Czartoryski family. Poland was one of the strong countries of Europe towards the end of the 18th century. Then it lost its power and was partitioned into several pieces in 1793. Threatened with death by the Russians the Czartoryski family fled to France and set up a government in exile from the Lambert Palace along the river Seine in Paris. Efforts were made from there to restore unity and statehood to Poland. It was in these circumstances that Augustus was born in 1858 to Prince Ladislaus Czartoryski, the heir to the throne of Poland, and his wife, Princess Maria Amparo, daughter of the duke and queen of Spain. Don Bosco was touring France from January 31 to May 31, 1883, seeking funds for his various endeavors. On May 18th he accepted the invitation from the noble Polish family to celebrate mass in the chapel of their Lambert Palace. The altar servers were Prince Ladislaus, aged 55 and his eldest son, Augustus, aged 25. Augustus gazed at Don Bosco and decided that Don Bosco would be his future guide. In the following months Prince Augustus kept writing letters to Don Bosco and enclosed donations for his works. Don Bosco would write back and appreciate his generosity. In August 1864, when Augustus was 6 years of age, his mother died of tuberculosis. The disease was also transmitted to him as he would suffer from ill health for the rest of his life. At the age of 17 he had to interrupt his schooling due to lung infection. From then on he was sent to one resort after another to recover from his illness. In these trips he had a tutor by the name of Joseph Kalinowski, who was a very good Christian and whose cause for beatification and canonization has been introduced. When Joseph left to join the Carmelites, Augustus wanted a priest as a tutor and was given Fr. Stanislaus Kubowicz. In April 1887 he made up his mind to join Don Bosco, but Don Bosco would not accept him as he knew that his father was depending on him to lead the Polish people. Don Bosco was leaving for Rome for the consecration of the new basilica of the Sacred Heart. He asked Augustus to accompany him. In Rome he met Pope Leo XIII in June 1887. He told the Pope how he wished to become a Salesian and how his father was opposed to it and how Don Bosco was hesitant to accept him. The Pope told him to tell Don Bosco that he desires that he should receive him among the Salesians. Augustus completed his novitiate and entered the society. It was not easy for him to adjust to community life, time-tables, frugal meals and other sacrifices, but he took everything in his stride. When Don Bosco died in 1888, Augustus was still a novice and spent hours praying at his tomb. He took his vows on October 2nd 1888 and had earlier signed the document renouncing all his rights as the eldest son of the Prince. When the Salesian Bulletin reached Poland announcing that a young prince joined the Salesians, several young Polish boys came to Turin asking to be admitted. Don Rua accepted them. Augustus was ordained a priest on April 2nd 1892. He celebrated mass in the presence of his family on May 3rd, the national feast day of Poland. His brother Vitoldo served at his altar and his father received Holy Communion from his hands. The disease of tuberculosis afflicted Augustus. He died within a year on April 9th1893. He was just 35 years old. At his funeral Mass in Turin, 120 Polish youth came to take his place in the Salesian society. In 1898, the first Polish Salesians opened a house in Oswiecim, Poland. During the Second World War, in the Salesian parish of Krakow, a priest taught Latin to a young artisan who wanted to become a priest even though seminaries were closed by the order of Hitler. The artisan's name was Karol Wojtyla. He succeeded in becoming a priest and then Bishop and eventually Pope John Paul II. It was he who proclaimed in January 1979 the heroicity of the virtues of Augustus Czartoryski. He also beatified him on April 25, 2004 |