Poland and the General Chapters
The origins of the Polish Province
In 1609 Brother Gabriele Ferrara, an outstanding surgeon, was summoned to Poland to treat King Sigismund III who was seriously ill, but recovered thanks to the care of the Italian Brother. As a token of his gratitude, the king donated the hospital of St Ursula V.M. in Krakow, where the first group of Brothers Religious Hospitallers was brought into being, as the General Commissariat of Poland. In 1642, the Polish-Lithuanian Province was established dedicated to the Blessed Virgin Mary of the Annunciation. From that moment onwards the Order began to flourish in Poland, especially between 1630 and 1660.
During this time of greatest growth, in 1656, the Province lost eighteen Brothers from the monasteries of Łowicz, Lublin and Warsaw, martyred by Russian and Swedish soldiers.
In 1685, according to Brother Marco Aurelio Scodaniglio's Tavola Cronologica, the Province had 172 Hospitaller Brothers ministering in 13 hospitals, earning the gratitude and admiration of the people for their tireless service and self-sacrifice on behalf of the sick and needy.
With the final division of the Kingdom of Poland in 1795, the original Province was divided between the Provincial Vicariate of Lithuania, to which the Houses on Russian territory were annexed, and the Polish Province. In 1816 the Vicariate became the Lithuanian Province, but it was short-lived, because little by little the Russians suppressed all the monasteries until it was finally suppressed in 1844, while the Polish Province was suppressed in 1865, only to be re-established in 1922.
The most significant General Chapters for the Polish Province
Until the 1674 General Chapter, the Vicars and Provincials had always been Italians, but at the 1677 Chapter a Polish Provincial attended for the first time: Brother Illuminat Chudzinski. He had been elected by the Province’s 1674 Chapter, held in Warsaw.
Polish Brothers thereafter attended all the General Chapters until the 1778 Chapter. Six years later they were unable to reach Rome because of heavy rains, and then again when Europe was so fraught by political and military events that not only the Poles, but also Brothers from other European Provinces were unable to attend.
It was not until 1922 when the restoration of the Polish state after the First World War coincided with the re-establishment of the Province. The Polish Brothers, who had joined the Austrian and Silesian Provinces, returned to Krakow, which after more than three centuries was again promoted to the rank of Metropolitan Convent. The General Chapter was convened that same year, attended by the Provincial, Brother Jacek Misiak, the first Superior of the reborn Province, and Brother Michał Buhl, Prior of Zebrzydowice.
At the 1928 General Chapter, Brother Bogumił Lewandosky was elected fourth General Councillor, the first Polish Brother to hold office at the General Curia. He was followed him in 1939 by Brother Eliasz Ulman who also served as Fourth General Definitor.
It was at the 1947 General Chapter that Brother Maurycy Bialek was elected fourth General Councillor. He had already lived in Rome since January 1936. From 1946 to 1953 he was Metropolitan Prior of the Tiber Island Community. At the 1953 General Chapter he was reconfirmed as fourth General Definitor and appointed Bursar General.
And finally Brother Leto Grela. He was fifth General Councillor from 1959 to 1970. In March 1960 he was sent to Agadir, Morocco with other confreres to organise a field hospital following of the disastrous earthquake that had shaken the Moroccan territory. He left Rome in 1970 and first ministered for several months in India, in our hospital in Kattappana, and then in Zambia, in the Lusaka hospital, but in 1972 due to serious heart problems he returned to Tiber Island, where he died on 16 March 1973, leaving behind many grateful memories for his friendliness and readiness to lend a hand wherever he was needed, and not only in nursing.
Historical group pictures of the capitulars of the general chapters of 1922, 1928, 1934, 1947 and 1953
