St. Raphael Kalinowski , Discalced Carmelite.1835-1907 ...

St. Raphael Kalinowski , Discalced Carmelite.1835-1907
(Apprenticed to Sainthood in Siberia.) 1
Setting the scene.
St. Raphael Kalinowski , was a remarkable Discalced or Teresian Carmelite priest who was
only the second male member of the Teresian Reform to be canonized since that of St. John of
the Cross, who was canonised in 1726 by Pope Benedict X111. 2 That gives him a pronounced
importance for Carmelite Friars worldwide as well as for the whole Carmelite Family and
beyond. 3 His links with the late Pope John Paul 11, now Blessed, make him a topical figure for
the present day.
Raphael Kalinowski was born in Vilnius, or Vilna , the capital of Lithuania on 1 st September
1835 , to Polish parents, Andrew Kalinowski and Josephine (Polonska) and appropriately was
christened Joseph. They already had a son named Victor. Sadly Josephine died only two months
after Joseph`s birth. As was customary among Carmelites and other Orders in the pre-Vatican 2
era , he was given the name Raphael in religious life, the name by which he is now known.
Lithuania of course was neighbour to Poland and had political associations with Poland for
centuries, especially for a period of over two centuries since the Polish-Lithuanian
Commonwealth was established in 1569. This arrangement came to a definitive end in 1795 with
the defeat of a final insurrection against powerful enemies by whom they were surrounded –
Russia, Prussia and Austria. One of the leaders in this rebellion was Tadeusz Kosiuzko, like the
Irishman Thomas Francis Meagher , a veteran of the American War of Independence. In what is
referred to as the `third partition`, Poland was effectively wiped off the map by the three great
powers. As a result of their handiwork, from that time until 1918 there was no independent
Polish state. The Poles had engaged in various rebellions until 1864, but after the failure of the
1 Where quotations are not attributed they are taken from the French biography, Joseph Kalinowski by P.
Jean-Baptiste,Liege 1923. He was a student of Kalinowski in Wadowice and became a Discalced Carmelite
priest.
2 St. John of the Cross was named a Doctor of the Church by Pope Pius X1 in 1926.
3 The third male Carmelite to be canonized is the Spaniard Henry de Ossa Y Cervello, five years younger than
Kalinowski, born in Catalonia on 16t. October 1840 . He died on 27 th January 1896 and was canonized by Pope John
Paul 11 on 16 th July 1993.
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`January Uprising` of that year , the nation came under Russian control. The opportunity for
freedom appeared again only after World War 1, when the imperial powers were defeated .
As we shall see Kalinowski was caught up in this final rebellion.
In the course of telling Kalinowski`s story I would like to point to many similarities between
him and a fellow Carmelite Hermann Cohen – both of whom were active in the
nineteenth century in promoting the Teresian Carmelite charism in places where it had grown
weak or been abandoned due to the vicissitudes of history. Kalinowski was profoundly
influenced by example of Hermann Cohen, and in many ways he identified with him.
The main lines of congruity focus on the following: both admit to a conversion experience at
around the age of thirty after many years of indifference to religion. As a convert Jew, Cohen`s
was of course the more dramatic and more radical , while Kalinowski`s conversion
resembled more that of Charles de Foulcauld in France at the end of the century. At an early
age both became attached to young actresses and contemplated marriage but it never
happened in either case. Both wrote some `Memoirs` detailing certain aspects of their lives.
Both joined the Teresian Carmelite Order and were instrumental as founders and restorers of
Carmel in their respective areas of ministry , France and Poland. These developments took
place after the Church had gone through periods of suppression and religious persecution in
both countries. Kalinowski interest in Cohen through mutual friends led him to write a
biography of Hermann Cohen, as well as translating St. Therese` Story of a Soul` into Polish.
As sons of St. Teresa of Avila, both had the interests of the whole Carmelite family very much at
heart and they worked hard to promote the growth of both the Carmelite Sisters and the
Carmelite Third Order, now known as the Secular Order for lay people. Both had links to
members of the same family – in this case the aristocratic Polish Czartoryski 1 family who
found themselves in exile in Paris because of what is known as the `November Uprising`
against the Russians in 1830. Prince Adam Czartoryski took an active part in this revolt , as a
result of which he and his family were forced to leave their own country.Here we see how
Paris became a mecca for political dissidents in those days, just as in more recent times, we have
witnessed the same thing in the case of Ayatollah Khomani and the revolution in Iran.
1 The first part of the name derives from `Caesar` like the German `Kaiser`.Russian rulers were known as `Czars`.
2

Family Connections.
The close bonds between Poland and Lithuania explain how you find staunchly patriotic Polish
people like Kalinowski who were born in Lithuania. Polish families were also found in the
Ukraine including members of the Kalinowski family. A certain Valentin Kalinowski , `staroste`
of Braclaw and Winnica was the hero of bitter battles at the beginning of the 17 th Century. He
was rewarded with immense estates in the Ukraine.
Foremost among the Lithuanian Poles was Adam Mickiewicz (1798-1855) - the great , if not
the greatest Polish poet, also born in Vilnius. He was the star-crossed lover of Marie
Wereszczak, who was the mother of Joseph's stepmother, Sophie Puttkamer . 1 Sophie was
Kalinowski senior`s third wife. She was a deeply religious woman and became a second mother
to her stepchildren. Indeed from his letters we can see how Joseph treated her like his real
mother, though in fact she was only seven years older than he. (Andrew`s second wife, a lady
named Victoria Polonska , a sister of Josephine died when Joseph was about ten years old. She
had already imparted to him her own strong faith and devotion. Sophie continued the good
example set by Josephine. Through Sophie also Joseph would have come under the influence
of the poet Mickiewicz`s intense Polish patriotism. Pope John Paul 11 would also be greatly
influenced by this poet patriot and refer to him in his inaugural speech as Pope. 2 As we shall
see he was also greatly inspired by the example of Kalinowski, whom he looked on as one of his
patron saints and for whom Kalinowski was a boyhood hero .
Joseph`s immediate ancestors hailed form the city of Grodno in Belarus, close to the Polish and
Lithuanian borders. His grandfather George sent his son Andrew ( Joseph`s father) to the
1 Mickiewicz would immortalize Marie under the name `Maryla`, also the name of the poem.
2 "On the evening he was elected, October 16, 1978, from the Balcony of St. Peter’s in Rome, Cardinal Karol
Wojtyla, now John Paul II, saluted Mickiewicz, as a witness of the Catholic faith and of freedom. And in far-off
Krakow, which the exiled poet was never able to see, there were ‘processions celebrating the Pontifical election by
honoring the heroes of Polish history signifying to us that from Adam Mickiewicz to Karol Wojtyla there is the
continuity of the same hope which history has finally seemed to smile upon.’" ( Henri de Lubac writing in La Croix,
27/10/1978) Karol Wojtyla grew up in the shadow of the Carmelite School and Church founded by Raphael
Kalinowski and here he would often pray.
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University of Vilnius. From there he became a professor of mathematics at the college of Vilnius.
He was a very charitable man and would give free lessons to needy pupils after college hours.
Around the year 1832 he met and married his first wife Josephine.
At the age of nine Joseph was enrolled by his father in the Institute of Nobles, where he himself
taught and of which he eventually became Headmaster. During his tenure between the years
1847 to 1857, the Institute became highly successful. Joseph had enrolled in 1844. It was a
boarding school and the boys were only allowed home on Sundays and Feastdays. In his
Memoirs, Kalinowski observes without elaboration:` The Director was German and under his
administration, he committed painful abuse`. However he was under his father`s direction for
five years of his time there. A white habited Dominican, Fr. Mokrzewski who greatly impressed
the young student, was later deported to Siberia where Kalinowski met up with him briefly in
Irkoutsk. In his Memoirs Kalinowski also relates how as a boy, he had witnessed condemned
rebels being led along Holy Spirit Street to execution by Russian soldiers. He further notes that
many of the inhabitants including the archbishop , other bishops and several members of the
clergy, had been enticed into the Russian Schismatic church. And he adds that the Basilian
Church and monastery had been converted into a schismatic one, especially sad because it had
been hallowed by the presence of St. Josaphat. The University of Vilnius itself , set up by Prince
Adam Czartorski, had been changed to college status.
In the college the boys on the whole were well behaved, but Kalinowski notes a lapse on one
occasion when the professor of French was pelted with pillows! Kalinowski described the usual
religious exercises which took place, and especially the Eucharistic processions through the
city.He remarked how Russian soldiers were on guard outside religious houses which had been
suppressed. The procession made its way to the hill of the Three Martyrs, and Kalinowski noted
with regret seeing cannons at the top with their barrels trained on the city.
Polish royal family.
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Like Mickiewicz , Prince Adam Czartoryski set up a government in exile in the Hotel Lambert or
Lambert Palace on the Ile St. Louis in Paris in 1830, which was a year of revolution throughout
Europe. The writer Voltaire was a previous owner of the mansion and he sold it to the Dupins,
ancestors of George Sand (Dupin) who in due course was a frequent visitor there. She lived in
rural France for ten years with the Polish composer Frederic Chopin at the chateau of Nohant in
rural France. 1 Later the Hotel Lambert passed into the hands of the Rothschild banking
family who still own it. George Sand figures of in the story of the young Hermann Cohen, to
whom she gave ample publicity in her writings. Both Kalinowski and Cohen exerted a
profound spiritual influence on members of the Czartoryski family.
The Pianist.
A member of that noble family, Princess Marcelina Radziwill Czartoryska, like our French
Carmelite , Blessed Elizabeth of the Trinity only more so , was a gifted pianist and was Chopin`s
most outstanding student. She moved in the same literary and musical circles as Hermann Cohen
in Paris. 2 Like themselves an exile in Paris, Chopin drew great comfort from his association with
the family. Marcelina was reputed to be the one person who eerily reproduced something of the
maestro`s virtuosity at the piano. The composer Gounod consulted her when writing his Opera
`Faust` and other works and Franz Liszt himself enjoyed hearing her play. 3
In the year 1867 after the death of her husband Alexander the previous year, Marcelina
Czartoryska left Paris and returned to Poland. She continued to give concerts for charity
as well as engaging in many other charitable and community activities.
Back home she restored the Carmelite Third or Secular Order and promoted it
vigorously there, arranging for a group to meet regularly in the Carmelite Convent in the
1 Her novels were serialized in the Revue de Deux Mondes, a periodical also read by Joseph Kalinowski.In her
famous novel `Lelia`, to which Cohen refers, she advocates infidelity in marriage and social unrest.
2 There is a `loose connection` here with the famous Jackie Kennedy-Onassis. Her sister Lee married a descendent
of Marcelina Radziwill Czartoryska`s family.
3 Marcellina was one of the few women who attended the ailing and dying Chopin in Paris during his final days ,
when he had been abandoned by Georges Sand. She took a prominent part in his funeral procession. During the
course of her career as an international artist she gave piano recitals in various cities of Europe - Vienna, Paris ,
Poznan, Krakow and London.
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Lobozowka Street in Krakow until her death in the Convent there , twenty years later. 1
Marcelina`s sister-in-law was Princess Mary de Grocholska-Czartoryska who became known as
Mother Mary Xavier and was a Prioress of this Carmel. Marcelina died on June 5 th 1894 and
was buried in the Carmelite habit in Rakowicki Cemetery in Krakow. Mary Xavier joined the
Carmel in Poznan in 1873, after the death of her husband in Paris. This community moved to
Krakow in 1875.Prior to that she also resided with Marcelina and other noble Polish
émigrés of the Czartoryski family in the Hotel Lambert . There was a strong religious
atmosphere in this aristocratic community. They especially emphasized excellence in music as
would be expected in the case of Princess Marcelina. Because of his musical reputation
and high connections Hermann Cohen was invited to the Hotel Lambert where he made a great
impression on the Czartoryski family and became a personal friend of Princess Maria Amparo,
who was married to Prince Ladislaus Czartoryski. She was the daughter of the exiled Spanish
Queen Christina. Cohen would have met the royal family in the southern French town of
Bagneres-de-Bigorre where there was a community of Carmelite friars which he had helped set
up. Here the exiled Spanish royal family frequented the spa waters. In Paris Princess Mary and
Princess Marcelina were greatly impressed by this humble Discalced (barefoot) friar , dressed
in a brown habit and white mantle and with head shaved. He was the first Carmelite they had
met. 2
Reluctant Rebel.
Joseph Kalinowski got caught up in the last Polish Insurrection against Czarist Russia at the
beginning of the year 1863 , just as the Czartoryskis had been similarly involved at an earlier
period. At this time Hermann Cohen was building up the restored Carmelite presence in
London. Though initially against such a course of action as rebellion , because he realized its
futility against superior odds, Kalinowski was prevailed on by the rebels to head a Ministry of
War. He consented on condition that he would never be required to pass sentence of death on any
1 Short Biography of St. Raphael, ( Unpublished Notes by Szczepan T. Praskiewicz ocd)
2 In a letter she wrote later as a Carmelite nun she would give Hermann Cohen the highest praise.Mother Xavier
was perhaps unaware that great houses were nothing new to Cohen, who in his days as a celebrated artiste had
access to some of the greatest salons and houses in Paris.
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prisoner. However the leaders were quickly apprehended and executed or imprisoned. The police
soon caught up with Kalinowski also and he too was imprisoned and sentenced to death. This
was later commuted to 10 years transportation with hard labor in the salt works of Siberia.
Ten years prior to this, the young Kalinowski had abandoned religious practice . 1 Later in his
Memoirs he wrote: ` I abandoned religious practices, but from time to time a craving for these
things awakened in my soul. But I was not faithful to that interior voice.` 2 Like many enquiring
students he underwent some soul-searching and eventually came to the conclusion that only faith
can form a stable basis for one`s life.
Again in his Memoirs, Kalinowski makes a short but tantalising comment on an early dalliance,
which however went nowhere – he allowed himself to be smitten by an English Rose, but it seem
to have been an unrequited love. Writing to his brother in December 1858 , when he was 23
years of age, he had this to say: `An English arrow has dealt me a slight wound. I adore
Margaret, but have no hope of being loved in return. I search for soul and I only find something
of a material kind.` 3 Kalinowski seems then to have thought seriously of marriage at this time
but hesitated at the idea of commitment. A year earlier he had written to his brother Victor, `At
Petersburg people only talk of outlaws, assassinations and daylight robbery. Corrupted by life
in the capital, I have become completely sceptical about the marriage state which has for me
little charm.I know that I will not find peace and that I will always be lacking something. My
imagination is so vivid that it makes me sway from side to side. On the other hand I suppress the
impulses that would prompt me to study…I am inclined towards worldly diversion but I do not
find the peace that I seek.`4
This self-description bears a remarkable resemblance to Cohen`s during the previous decade in
Paris. Cohen also became enamored of a famous equestrienne/dancer and later successful
writer named Celeste Mogador. Her `Memoirs` describing her life as a former courtesan,
though only briefly, caused a sensation in Paris at the time, dealing as they did with well known
1 Saint Raphael Kalinowski , Szczepan T. Praskiewicz, OCD.
2 Ibid.
3 An unidentified English actress.
4 Joseph Kalinowski, P. Jean-Baptiste, Liege, 1923.
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celebrities like Alfred de Musset, famous poet and playwright , and also a rake and friend of
Cohen , Alexander Dumas (Junior), Marie Duplessis and the man she later married, Count Lionel
de Chabrillan who was connected with the House of Monaco. He became French Consul in
Melbourne , Australia and Celeste lived there for two years, writing a novel called `The Gold
Diggers`, among other works . In her Memoirs she talks about her encounters with Hermann
Cohen whom she refers to as H or M H. (Celeste remarked re Musset, also a friend of Cohen,
`his fame, though glorious, barely eclipsed his behavior`!)
In addition Kalinowski and Cohen were both associated with two sisters, Catherine and
Nathalie Narischin. These had been members of the schismatic Polish church, a church
imposed on them by Russia, but they converted to Roman Catholicism. 1 Kalinowski tells us in
his Memoirs that he knew these women and admired them. Nathalie became a Sister of the St.
Vincent de Paul congregation and Cohen was her spiritual director . Cohen liked to visit yet
another shrine of Our Lady in the Rue de Bac in Paris where Catherine Labore received the
revelation of the Miraculous Medal. Nathalie became Superior of the Daughters of Charity in the
nearby Rue St-William. On 9 th August she wrote to her sister Catherine:` I have seen the father
(Hermann) in our chapel, where he said mass, during which his own Eucharistic canticles were
sung and which everyone who hears them agrees are most beautiful. He turned away from a
worldly life and in an instant was transformed into a St. John of the Cross, by the sudden and
all-powerful strength of the divine Eucharist.`2In
the year 1862 when he was again passing
through Paris, Cohen visited almost every morning to say mass in the chapel of the little
convent. Nathalie sent her sister a picture of Hermann and wrote: ` It carries his signature which
is that of a saint (her emphasis). Just imagine that for fifteen days I had the pleasure of the
presence of R P Hermann..If you only knew how grace works so strongly and so continually in
this soul. ..This priest loves our little house here very specially and finds here the simple lifestyle
of St.Teresa`s children. He says Mass for us almost every day and the children sing the
canticles with such devotion that it carries you happily along.` She went on to say how his time
among them had done them great good. Cohen certainly reciprocated her regard for him
describing her as `one of the most beautiful souls in the Church`.
1 Narischins were a noble Russian family related to the Romanovs.
2 Cohen composed numerous hymns and canticles which were popular in France at that time.
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A colleague of hers attended Hermann Cohen on his deathbed in Berlin and wrote to her with
an account of his last days. 1
The young Joseph and his older brother Victor attended the Institute of Nobles college in Vilnius
of which his father eventually became Director. After that he enrolled at an agricultural Institute
at Hori-Horki and three years later at the age of eighteen he enlisted in the Army and joined the
Military Engineering College of St. Petersburg. He graduated from here as an outstanding
student with the rank of Lieutenant and then started on a spell of teaching mathematics.
Like Hermann Cohen at an earlier period in his life, Kalinowski also felt a spiritual void in his
soul which he set about to fill. He began to read the Confessions of St. Augustine as well as an
influential work by Count Chateaubriand, `Le Genie du Christianisme` and other material of that
kind and attended Lenten conferences preached in French by a Dominican priest, P. Soyard. It
will be obvious that Kalinowski was gifted at languages as he seemed equally at home reading
French and English. French of course would be a second language for the educated classes at that
time. Here again we have an additional mark of affinity with Herman Cohen for whom French
also became an adopted language .Kalinowski was especially keen on Shakespeare but also read
Byron and Sir Walter Scott.
At one point he dropped into the Dominican church and was all set to make his confession but to
his great disappointment there was no priest present. Surprisingly he deferred trying again at a
suitable time, and it was not until much later when her returned to his family in Vilnius, that he
made his peace with God by means of the sacrament of penance.
By this time Kalinowski had become an army engineer and was employed on the Kutsk-Konotop
railroad project. Before that he has served briefly building fortifications at Kronstadt during the
Crimean War, but had to withdraw from there through illness. The railway project involved
1 Fleche de Feu, Dom Jean-Marie Beaurin. Quatrieme Partie, Ch. 4, Editions France-Empire,1982
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living in a very isolated station. He wrote:` In this solitude I succeeded in forming interior
peace within myself, and I confess to you sincerely that this continual work with myself and on
myself, far removed from people, produced a change for the good,I could fully acknowledge the
value of familiar religious ideas, and, finally I turned towards them.`1
Kalinowski had also been deeply moved by a patriotic demonstration on the occasion of the
funeral of Prince Adam Czartorski who died in exile in France in 1861. Kalinowski`s spiritual
growth would deepen enormously during his years of exile and imprisonment. His devotional life,
like that of Hermann Cohen would centre around the Eucharist and dedication to Mary the
mother of Jesus, so natural for a Pole.
In September 1863,Kalinowski wrote to his friend Louise Lmocka: ` I consider myself , at least
for some time as definitively settled in Vilnius. One change has overtaken me. After ten years of
apostasy, I have returned to the bosom of the Church. I have confessed and now I am going well.
I welcome you Madam, because I consider this as very important event in my spiritual life.I want
to make you part of all that has transpired.`
Kalinowski`s charitable nature is shown by the fact that he took in an orphaned boy called
Francis and took care of him. However a dramatic change in his life was on the horizon as a
result of his political involvement. At midnight on 25/26 March 1863 he was arrested by the
police. He worried about what would happen to young Francis of course but didn`t resist arrest.
First of all he was taken to the Dominican Prison. This was a religious house commandeered by
the authorities but still operating as such , so he could hear mass being said from his open
window.From here there was no escape however . He was locked in a religious cell which was
well heated and lit by a lamp suspended from the wall. He was not allowed out by night or day
for two weeks, but was given sufficient food. Kalinowski began to order his life according to a
strict regime of prayer and meditation. He could also hear mass being said in another nearby
church. During the day he began to study Latin from his missal . He tried to avoid taking a siesta
after lunch and instead recited the litanies of the Blessed Virgin. Afterwards he would triy to
exercise himself in order to keep fit. Later a friendly officer brought him some spiritual books
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such a work of St. Alphonsus de Ligouri on the passion and death of Jesus.The book also
contained pious exercises composed by King Stanilaus Lesczynski. 1 One of his concerns was
that his parents, who had taken no part in the insurrection would be incriminated because of
him.When a few weeks had passed in this way he was roused at a late hour and taken by armed
soldiers to a place of interrogation. He recited the `Sub tuum praesidium ` ( under your
protection) on the way and admitted he was very frightened. He remembered one of his
interrogators was a General Szelgunow.They told him to sit down and asked if he knew a certain
Milewicz.This he denied. They told him they knew everything and he would be better off to
make a confession. He didn’t suspect they were lying. He gave them no information however
and he was returned to his cell. Although Kalinowski was brought before the judges, Russia had
nothing to fear from this man who had voluntarily laid down his arms. His enemies however
were determined to root out any Polish sympathizers in Lithuania and destroy the Catholic
religion. In fact Kalinowski very nobly was ready to accept blame for whatever they wished to
accuse him of , rather than incriminate others. He was transferred to another cell and even though
it was more spacious, he missed being able to follow the mass from there. After some
intervention by influential friends , the death penalty was commuted to 10 years hard or forced
labor in the salt works of Siberia , he was transferred to another prison where he did have
access to mass and sacraments. About 130 rebels had been executed by hanging and 12,000
more were sentenced to transportation. The time for departure duly arrived. With him into exile
he took a copy of the New Testament together with the book of Job and the Psalms, the
Imitation of Christ and his crucifix.
`Pack your bag for exile`, Jer. Ch.46.19.
Kalinowski relates: `On June 29, 1864, began the long terrible march . On the very feast of
the solemnity of the Holy Apostles Peter and Paul, near midday, the long file that we made
up snaked its way through the streets of Vilnius toward the train station. An enormous
crowd lined the streets and Cossacks on horseback prevented anyone who tried to come
close to us; many people were watching from their windows. It looked like a funeral
cortege. But from the beginning of the insurrection how many such convoys had preceded
1 His daughter Marie married King Louis XV and their daughter Princess Louise became a Carmelite nun at the
convent of St. Denis with the name Teresa of St. Augustine.
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us! Among us were people of every age and every condition .... We took our places in the
train cars, where they piled one person on top of another. ... When the train departed, people
moving along the heights that dominated the railway threw flowers on it as they do on
graves of the dead at cemeteries.`1.
The journey to their destination , which was the salt works of Usole near Lake Bajkal lasted
almost ten months; they arrived there on April 15, 1865. Some of the prisoners died along the
way.The trip itself was quite varied. First St.Petersburg and then on to Moscow, the capital of
the Czars with its shades of Peter the Great.They were housed and guarded in a vast shed,
which inspired some fear that they might be detained in such a place.
People however were
good to them along the way and they found that many sympathized with their plight. Near
Moscow Kalinowski refers to a religious sect known as the `Starowiercy`, founded by a rich
person with the aim of helping what they called the `unfortunates` deported to Siberia.
From there they proceeded to Nizny-Novgorod. An example of Kalinowski`s growing heroism
can be gleaned from a couple of anecdotes from this part of the march to exile. The bedraggled
and starving crowd hobbled into the town on a Friday in July. Some meat was provided with
the meagre meal
and though in the circumstances of course , Friday abstinence could be
disregarded, Kalinowski took his meat dish to a neighbour. Later that evening he had the
opportunity of writing home. In a humorous aside at the end of his letter he
remarked:`…immediately I was rewarded because it was possible for me to take my meat
dish to a person who did not have any meal at all, so this demonstrates that scruples can be
very valuable.`2
Here they embarked on a steamer , really a prison ship which sailed down the Volga and the
Kama on the way to Perm which they reached at the end of July .The magnificent views on the
river went some way to distract them from their predicament. At night a tremendous
1 Op. cit. Szczepan T.Praskiewicz, ocd. Here we have intimations of the even worse violations of human rights in
the following century under the Stalinist and Nazi regimes. A certain degree of humanity prevailed in the Czarist
regime but none in the latter.
2 Saint from the Salt Mines, Chapter 11.Monk Matthew.ODC .Tert. 1986.The same writer relates a touching
example of Kalinowski`s charity.In Nizi-Novgorod he also encountered a woman from Vilnius whose exile
appeared to have been occasioned by her way of life back home! Kalinowski gave her some money and again when
writing home asked his parents to `include at least one rouble for that poor girl` , whenever they sent money to his
brother-in-law (who was deported here.)
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thunderstorm struck and the steamer had to moor by the shore. For Kalinowski it was a
manifestation of the awe and beauty of nature. Though it became extremely dark the lightning
played on the houses and cottages perched on the hill surmounted by a Greek church.
By the end of July they had reached the town of Perm and there he was able to embrace his
brother Gabriel who also had been sentenced to Siberia from his college residence in Horki,
Lithuania on suspicion of having been part of the insurrection. Perm was a distribution center
for prisoners to other parts of Russia. Convoys of deportees headed from here to the East
itself and beyond the Ural mountains – but many never made it. This area, says Kalinowski ,
was an `immense cemetery` for thousands of deported Poles. So also was the town of Perm,
now a large city, with typhus rampant in the hospital where the sick were piled on one another
without help , consideration or consolation.
Kalinowski`s brother Jerzy wrote about him on one occasion ; `his only happiness was the
Holy Eucharist and nothing worried him more than being deprived of it.` This was in the context
of his time spent in Perm, where Kalinowski was deprived of the Eucharist. The Catholic
church in this place had been taken over by the Orthodox and in order to receive Holy
Communion one would have to travel some distance from there which he was unable to do..
This regular loss of Eucharist here caused him great distress.
The military supervisor, a good Catholic, Colonel Borodziez, tried to obtain better conditions
from the Governor General, but received this reply: `They came here like dogs, they will die
like dogs`. But soon after that he was overruled.An inspector sent by the Tsar toured Perm and
was briefed by the Colonel.He visited the hospital (with the Governor-General ) and when he
saw the situation he ordered the Governor to send immediately for a priest. Like the Irish
dispersed to so many countries after the Great Famine, the Poles took their religion to almost
every country in the Eastern bloc and beyond to which they were exiled. The suffering of an
individual or a people has never been in vain, because it participates in the suffering of Christ
himself, `If the grain of wheat falls into the ground it remains just a grain of wheat, but if it
dies it yields a rich harvest.` 1
Kalinowski became aware of the weak faith and dismal knowledge of their religion on the
part of many of his fellow exiles, especially the young ,and he determined to help them. He
1 John , 12.23.
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knew he was initially destined for a short stay in Tobolsk so he wrote to his stepmother asking
her to send some of his books ; various religious treatises, the theology of Perrone , 1 the
Imitation of Christ, (he must have lost the copy he brought with him – or given it away!) He
also asked for his Latin grammar, his dictionaries, ,Latin-Polish by Bobowski, German ,
English as well as his mechanical and engineering textbooks.
So the sad pilgrimage went on its way to Tobolsk.Some of the group were treated badly, the
Cossocks forcing men, women and children to march on foot.Kalinowski noted with sympathy
that they were unable to eat their bread, which froze in their hands and became as hard as ice.
Many died on the way from cold and hunger. Kalinowski was fortunate to travel in a carriage
with Gabriel who looked after his needs. On the other hand he observed that some rich people
were kidnapped by a station manager named Kalusyn, in an effort to extort money from them
and he had anecdotal evidence that surgeons killed patients for the same reason.
Into the Unknown
Soon they were leaving European Russia behind and advancing into the Urals with the
immense plains of Siberia stretching out before them. In spite of his circumstances Kalinowski
could find it in himself to admire this panorama. As they progressed onwards however they
were greeted by Autumnal northern winds, glacial in the extreme. He admits in a letter to his
(step)mother that he somewhat reluctantly returned to a smoking habit which was thought
necessary in Siberia to ward off the scurvy.
Just outside Tobolsk they were faced with a difficult ferry crossing of the Irtys river now in
full spate. Having negotiated it successfully they settled into Tobolsk, the next stopping
place – the most ancient town in Siberia. Siberia is the coldest place on the face of the earth –
sometimes the temperature plummets to -50 Celsius.
From Tobolsk at the end of October, the sad procession pressed on to the next stop, a place
called Tomsk. At one of the staging points he struck up , what turned out to be a lasting
friendship ,with a fine young man called Casimir Laudyn. He was the son of an Irishman who
had settled in Livonia in Poland. Apparently in these places prisoners were restrained by heavy
plank beds being placed on top of them, and this young man was trying to pray in this position.
1 Giovanni Perrone was a conservative Italian theologian, active at the time of Vatican 1 on the Ultramontane side.
Perrone set out to answer the problems of the day and entered the lists against unbelief and error.
14

Kalinowski engaged him in conversation and found that like himself he had attended an
Agricultural College. This is an example of how Kalinowski tried to help and befriend his
companions in misery. By this stage he had given away most of his money to those in need.
Prisoners were given 10 – 15 `kopecks` per day, the equivalent of 50 cents. With this they were
expected to provide themselves with food and whatever else they needed. On the way to Tomsk
also , Joseph had the unexpected joy of meeting up with a relative, who like him, had been sent
into exile. In this ancient town of Tomsk it was also a great joy for him to be able to attend mass
for the first time since leaving Vilnius. After two months in Tomsk , it was time to move on and
the prisoners were escorted through various towns and villages on the way to Irkoutsk. This was
the most important town in Siberia at that time with a population of over 50,000 people of whom
about 4,000 were Catholics. It became known as `the Paris of Siberia.` The population is now
over half a million. Here again there would be a break up of the group, some marked out for
slave labor in various distinations. Kalinowski had the joy of attending mass but was tearful and
apprehensive about his own future. He begged the Lord after Holy Communion to help him.
Soon after he felt his prayer was answered; an agent approached him and told him to get into a
carriage with the Governor General Szalasnikof.Presently Szalasnikof addressed him, `I have a
letter from your family.What can I do for you? Where would you like to be sent?` On the spur of
the moment he mentioned the iron works at Piotrowsk of which he had heard good reports, but
the Governor said: `I will give you better advice. Go to Usole where you will find good
company. 1 Kalinowski agreed to go along with this. While he was heartbroken to leave his
friends, he saw in this development an answer to his prayer.
Eucharist in his life.
No matter where he stayed in Siberia - Perm, Smolensk or Irkutsk, Joseph Kalinowski tried to
live as near as possible to a church. For some time he even lived in a presbytery – this was
during his stay in Irkutsk - so as to be close to the Blessed Sacrament. He gladly spent time
in Eucharistic adoration. Here again we have a distinct echo of his fellow Carmelite of only a
few years earlier, Hermann Cohen who became known as an apostle of the Eucharist. In the
letter to his family he wrote: `I live close to the chapel so I can have my daily spiritual
1 In recent years the Teresian Carmelites , both men and women have made foundations in Usole.Kalinowski had
prepared the way for them there.
15

nourishment and I am troubled when I think of losing it by being transferred from here , as
therein lies my strength . ` On another occasion he wrote: ` ..In my dreams I see the
Eucharist and I prostrate myself and, if I can, I choose something from sacred doctrine or a
theme from our Savior`s suffering to meditate on. Strengthened by Spiritual Communion I rise up ,
ready to accept anything with equal calmness, united with the Lord.`1
So it was soon off again on another gruelling march in freezing weather conditions, taking the
road to Usole. Here he was reunited with a friend, Felix Zienkowicz, who had already reached
there. In addition he was able to meet up with another friend from Lithuania , Alexander
Oskierko, who had been one of the leaders of the insurrection. Due to influential friends his
death sentence had also been commuted and this was the person who would eventually arrange
for Kalinowski to become tutor to Auguste Czartoryski.
Saltmaking
In the village of Usole they found in place the huge boilers used for making salt.They were
situated on a spacious island formed by two branches of the river Angara.It would also be the site
of their prison. The day after their arrival they were presented with heavy chains which had to be
worn whenever they left the island. These had to be adjusted to each one`s feet in the local
forge.The chains were so well polished that they appeared to be made of silver, which provided a
point of wry humor. Their job on the island was to extract the salt crystals from the boilers after
evaporation. I suppose you could call it a desalination plant in reverse! They also had to collect
various deposits of lime, marl and other minerals and dispose of them.This was an extremely
difficult job as the deposits strongly adhered to the walls and bottom of the boilers. If you were
unable to do this task then you would have to pay someone 40 kopecks a day to do it for you.
Later on they were allowed to leave the island and live in the village. The work too was
diversified and some were ordered to create a kitchen garden by making a clearing in the forest
nearby. Kalinowski didn’t have the energy for this heavy work and he was helped by the local
priest! Other work involved tending the hospital garden or clearing out the stables of the beasts
1 Here we have yet another echo of Hermann Cohen.It was always his wish to be next door to the chapel and even
as a novice he was given this privilege.
16

kept for work in the fields. For their pains they were give 3 kopecks per day and some bad flour
once a month.Inevitably the bread produced from this was bad for one`s health.
While the prisoners were allowed to receive gifts of money from home , this was limited to 25
roubles per month. Kalinowski himself begged money from his family but this was in order to
relieve the suffering of those more in need than himself. But it was found that an employee at the
station was syphoning off some of this for his own purposes. Things eased off for a while and
there was some degree of freedom , but when this freedom was abused, Kalinowski`s friend
Osierko, who was `starosta` or `prefect` of the group had to take the punishment.Apparently
some of the group had obtained guns in order to hunt in the forest.
Walks through the island were permitted and Kalinowski found these refreshing. The island itself
was not wooded, but the limpid waters of the Angara gave an air of life to the scene. However by
contrast the nearby mountains emitted cheerful echoes, and the larch woods extending as far
as the eye could see, were the chief ornaments of this area. Kalinowski observed that a lot of
damage was done to this forest with some trees up to 400 years old, which were chopped down
to feed the boilers.Here we have a lover of nature and an early environmentalist speaking.
Life in the Prison Camp.
The prisoners tried to organize themselves well so as to maintain order and harmony among the
group. They elected a `prefect` over them, in this case Osierko, with councillors and judges. A
fund was established and 10 per cent of gifts received was put aside for the future. Dining
facilities were arranged even though food was not all that plentiful. There were plenty of priests
in the area and they led morning and evening prayer also.The authorities however suppressed
mass and religious ceremonies as such, though there was a small ,simply built church in Usole
but it was kept locked . However they were able to get on with their lives , such as they were, do
the usual chores to keep things ticking over and even educate their children. They managed to
acquire a stock of books for spiritual and literary stimulation. On their shelves they numbered the
following:`History of the Church in 4 volumes , by Darras .(Kalinowski wrote a summary of
these in 250 pages) The had 6 – 8 volumes of the works of the great Frederick Ozanam, now
17

Blessed, founder of the St. Vincent de Paul Society. Also there were the Conferences of Fr. Felix
1 , Sermons on the Passion by P Ventura as well as his `Women of the Gospel` and `The Catholic
Woman.` On the bookshelf too was the work `Jerusalem Delivered ` by Tasso, 2 plus Dante`s
`Divine Comedy`, the Catechisms of Guillois and de Gaume 3 and the book mentioned above
sent by Kalinowski`s stepmother, `Theology` ` by Perrone.There were others besides. He also
used a Roman Breviary for reciting the Divine Office.
In the evenings those who wished could play games of checkers or chess. In summer you could
walk along the island taking in the fresh air with a book in your hand. They indulged in
discussions of a political or religious nature.They tried to avoid controversial issues that could
disrupt the community.This period of his exile seemed to have gone well, given the expected
privations, and , to use his own word, Kalinowski found it `tranquille`. There were curative spa
waters also in the area and Kalinowski had access to these, which he would frequent at 5.am.
Pere Jean-Baptiste in his biography of Kalinowski , from which I have taken many of these
details, emphasises his devout life, dedicated to the needs of his neighbors , and he tells us he
found a way to converse with God `all evening`. Indeed his reputation as a person of prayer was
so well known that some wag made an addition to one of the litanies: `By the prayers of
Kalinowski, deliver us O Lord!`
He would also read theology when the opportunity arose and he would balance this by
continuing his studies in his own profession of engineering. He had also previously requested his
`Guide to Topography` be sent to him in order to make a contribution in this field of study. He
also kept up his study of mathematics, using the books sent by family friend Louise Mlocka . She
also sent his a copy of the Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius which he carried out. He was fluent
in German and French also but continued to deepen his knowledge of the latter. Writing (in
French) to a benefactress at the beginning of Spring 1867 he says:` We now have real Spring
sunshine but the ground is completely denuded of verdure.The nightingale cannot be heard here
– the country is too glacial for its delicate throat.We do make a little music. We have one
1 In a speech he gave in Malines, Hermann Cohen refers to the influence of the Felix talks in Paris.
2 An epic poem by the Italian poet on the First Crusade.
3 Pere de Gaume was Superior of the Paris Carmel and was known to Hermann Cohen there.
18

damaged piano but it follows its owner into forest areas as he tried to soften the mores of a
primitive population. The fine arts don’t flourish here as the emphasis is on the useful rather than
on the pleasing. No artists either, but we have a few poets. I continue as usual and I put my
energy into the company of the children I teach , which is my only relaxation.The Lord wills that
I can be of some use in an activity which gives me more pleasure than pain.`
In June of that year there was talk of an amnesty and Kalinowski began to prepare for such a
development by revising his geometry, geography, mechanics and architecture. But almost a year
later nothing had happened , still Kalinowski continued to study geometry and
mathematics.There were journals available but the only one he read was the French `Revue de
Deux Mondes`, referred to above, which had occasional articles on the Church and the First
Empire.
In a book by Piotr Scarga SJ 1 he first read about the Order of Our Lady of Mt. Carmel with its
dispersion throughout both East and West. This book became a source of inspiration for him, as
he considered the Order well placed to help Schismatic Catholics in Russia and surroundings to
return to the bosom of the Church.
As regards doing manual work he had also requested his family to send some seed to grow
vegetables - carrots, salads, peas, parsley etc.
After three years of this `lifestyle`, Tsar Alexander 11 proclaimed a kind of amnesty in July
1868 , which was a half-way house between full freedom and forced work .He shared the good
news with his family: `My dear parents, yesterday an amnesty was proclaimed which means that
Gabriel and myself are freed from hard labor. I now pass to the state of `deportee`, and I will
ask permission to settle in Irkoutsk , which I am certain will happen.On the 27 th July he had sad
news from home - the death of his young (step) sister Monique.
Though now free to leave, Kalinowski`s next move, or rather failure to move ,which
demonstrated such a noble and generous side to his character, surprised no one who knew him.
He voluntarily extended his stay in Usole because of his commitment to the children whom he
1 He influenced Karol Wojtyla, who based one of his plays on a theme of his. He was quoted as saying that Poland
would fall if it did not put its house in order.( John Paul 11, A Biography, Michael Walsh.Harper Collins,1994.He
lived from 1536-1612 . P Skarga Paweski was a renowned Polish preacher.
19

had been preparing for First Eucharist. Naturally all wished to leave as soon as possible as a first
step to full freedom, but Kalinowski refused to join them and he stayed on until a Marian
priest , Christopher Szwernicki came along and completed their instruction and presided at
their First Communion. He sacrificed his freedom for the good of others. He showed by his
example, not with words only what living by the Eucharist really means.
Change of scene - hard laborer becomes a deportee.
Only when the priest arrived in Usole did Kalinowski make the necessary preparations for
departure. His friend Casimir Laudyn who had suffered from typhoid fever early on, offered him
a room and financial help , so on August 8 th 1868 he was able to inform his parents: ` I have
been in Irkoutsk for six days. I was not able to write immediately. I wanted to investigate the
town and work at settling in.I cannot write any more just now as the post is departing.` Irkoutsk
had a fine church with a high spire and Kalinowski reported that it was a great joy for him to
attend mass every morning. 1 Again he would come back in his letters to the passing of his dear
sister Monica. He tried to console his parents though he himself also needed consolation:` Death
is for me a passing over to a better life, and this thought is the only consolation I can give you.I
pray that God will do the rest`. And he quoted a passage from St. Paul from the mass for the
dead, `do not be sad like those who have no hope.`
Though the government made it difficult for deportees to find work, Kalinowski felt that
Providence had intervened. He was able to do some teaching of youth and that , together with
another part time job got him 15 roubles a month. Local head teachers were happy to avail of
new staff in their schools and turned a blind eye on government prohibitions. To help him in his
work, Kalinowski requested his father to send him on some teaching course literature as well
as his copy of Shakespeare!
His comments on education of the young one hundred and fifty years ago might well be relevant
for today`s educators: `Feverish activity, so characteristic of our century, is also reflected in
modern education. We want to turn into intellectuals these poor children whose spirits or bodies
1 This church was Polish built in 1840 and Kalinowski was pleased to discover the name Clement Polonski
among the founders who was possibly his mother`s uncle.The pastor enlarged and renovated it in 1869 but it was
burnt down in a town fire in 1879. After appealing for help all over Poland he was able to rebuild it.
20

are not yet mature enough for mental exercises. And what do we see? Weakened organisms with
enfeebled spirits which refuse to nourish the organism, alive no doubt , but bruised and who need
to look for help in the hospitals.` 1 Local Russian doctors seemed to agree with him and one in
particular, Dr. Persyn , thanked him for his advice on the education of his children.`
Like all those who can throw off the oppressive yoke of being under constant surveillance,
Kalinowski enjoyed his new found freedom. Once a week he went for a walk along the banks of
the Angara. Speaking of one such walk with his students he remarked: `It is great to relax one a
week from work and rejoice, as we did today in the charms and freedom of rest! I went for a
walk this morning with Marian and his friend along the other bank of the Angara.It was just
before Spring and the weather was good.The flowers were not yet plentiful.The shrubs and plants
had not yet budded but the vegetation charmed the eye and the air was perfumed with the scent
of larches which abound in this country. ` After two weeks of rain he would comment on
another walk: ` The appearance of the vegetation, the pleasant sent of the fields, the creek with it
silver waters that runs along the field – all this carries me away in thought to a better world more
in harmony with the beauty of nature.`2
There are eyewitness accounts of Kalnowski`s dedicated style of life when he moved to Irkutsk.
Quite soon he was given two rooms in the presbytery by Fr. Szwermicki , the local priest who
said Kalinowski was his `right hand` during this period. Needless to say he was overjoyed after
so much spiritual deprivation to live in close proximity to the Blessed Sacrament, before which
he spent long hours in prayer. He always did a period of meditation before retiring.One of his
favorite books of meditation was that of contemporary French Jesuit Pierren Chaignon. A
lady called Casimira said he was completely taken up with the education of the children and
loved to share the treasures of the knowledge he possessed with them.
Kalinowski was a keen observer of things around him and he has left very complete descriptions
of places he knew.His account of Irkoutsk would do justice to a good travel writer.He could
tell us that there were 20,000 volumes in the Schismatic seminary and 27,000 in the town
library!He described how the Irkutsk area was rich in minerals of various kinds. He was happy to
1 Op.Cit. Joseph Kalinowski, Pere Jean-Baptiste ocd.Ch 7.
2 Op.cit.Ch. 9
21

meet up with the famous Dr. Benedict Dybowski, like himself exiled to Siberia for his part in the
1863 insurrection . 1 He was the leading naturalist and zoologist of his time . He was a
member of the Russian Geographical Society and was awarded a gold medal by it. He was also a
medical doctor and tended the sick and opened hospitals in various areas. Kalinowski was
delighted to meet up with this likeminded scholar and he was given the opportunity of spending
some weeks exploring with him in Kultuk in the area of the great lake Bajkal. Kalinowski could
remark that Dybowski`s studies of the fauna of the region were already well known in the
academic world. He recommended that anyone who was passing through this area should call on
the genial and jovial Dybowski and view his laboratory. Kalinowski himself had been invited to
contribute articles on meteorology to the `Imperial Society of Geography` which he did. 2
As he was unable to follow Dybowski on his researches further afield , he settled down to
observing barometric variations, and to drawing and painting the seals – this he did as a service
for Dybowski. He admits that he had discovered in himself this latent talent for painting. As
game was plentiful around him he took a gun with him on his walks. He remained in Kultuk for a
short while and wondered how the people could survive in such an isolated area. For all that they
were always cheerful but he noted that most of the menfolk were subject to drunkenness. He had
to admit that it was the mothers who by some means or other, had to find the money necessary to
feed their numerous offspring.
Before leaving Kultuk Kalinowski made on final expedition by horse with Dybowski into the
surrounding mountains, then they parted but they maintained a correspondence with one another.
When Dobowski was a professor in the university of Leopoli he wrote a tribute to his friend
Kalinowski. He refers to the fact that their friendship stemmed from a mutual friend named
Jean Czerki who studied in the `Institute of Nobles`, when Kalinowski`s father Andrew was
Director of the Institute. Czerki had also been deported to Siberia and later came to Irkutsk to
study under Dr. Dobwoski.In the meantime he had joined the schismatic church and in spite of
Kalinowski`s efforts he remained obstinate. Dowbowski`s cousin Emily wrote a lovely tribute to
Joseph Kalinowski.
1 An account of his research on sponges in Lake Bajkal at this time was published by the Proceedings of the
Academy of Natural Sciences (Part 11, Ap – Aug 1887.) His brother was also a scientist.
2 Op.Cit. Ch 11.
22

Kalinowski returned to Irkutsk at the beginning of August 1869. He worked hard not only for the
children but visited the sick in the hospital. Inevitably exile took its toll on his companions so far
from home, and many broke down and suffered mental illness. To these too Kalinowski would
give special care , drawing on his own immense resources of faith. This did not mean that he
himself was free from the pangs of loneliness and feelings of isolation over so many years.But
when his dear sister Marie offered to come out and share his exile, he would not hear of it.He
replied to her letter:` Don’t trouble yourself much on my account. If the external circumstances
of my life are difficult, internally I am filled with light and peace: and then, suffering here below
is the lot of mortals, that is why I can willingly put up with my misery. And then again, a ray of
joy comes to scatter the darkness that surrounds me.` For all his piety Kalinowski was never stiff
or starchy. He would take part in parties for the children and when another person put on a
party and invited Kalinowski to dance, he did so with good grace – presumably traditional Polish
dances!
Almost everyone is a person of their own times with its consequent limitations. In the month of
May 1870, writing to his brother Victor , Kalinowski has this to say on a topical issue.
`Actually the theory of the emancipation of women is very much in vogue in Irkutsk. For myself
I see this as a little bit quixotic but, on the other hand, it goes against natural law. If there is a lot
to be done for the education of women, that of men is no less desirable. ` Then he proceeds to
give his brother a homily on the `general corruption` of the times. He believes that it is good
example not words that children need. `I have indicated that this is the real obstacle that serves to
damage human progress, not just a kind of paper progress or what you find in books, but the
kind that manifests itself in life and works…..religion and morals ought to be the basis of all true
civilization`. 1
In 1869 Kalinowski`s parents sent in a request to the authorities to obtain his return from exile.
Kalinowski`s reservation on this move was that it would mean abandoning the children whom he
felt were at risk in Russian schools. In any case deportees like Kalinowski were required to
spend two further years in Russia before being allowed home. Although in actual fact he had
spent two years already in Irkutsk after the amnesty.Many of Kalinowski`s close friends had
1 Op.Cit. Ch X
23

een dispersed in the general area of Perm, including Bishop Krasinski of Vilnius. (The
Archbishop of Warsaw had also been deported to Siberia.)
It was a real wrench for Kalinowski to finally cut his ties with Irkutsk.He would particularly miss
teaching the children there. He had also become good friends with the pastor of Irkutsk. Fr.
Szwermiki who had extended such hospitality to him and was father confessor and spiritual
director to him as well. Finally the reverse journey was under way back to Perm starting out on
12 July, a distance of over 1,500 kilometers .Kalinowski again draws attention to the majestic
scenery he had remembered but the boat`s captain also had to contend with the swollen waters of
the Orb and they reached Perm safely on 6 August. His first port of call in Perm was the Catholic
chapel where he had the joy of meeting up with a college companion from Vilnius.This old
friend arranged some accommodation for him. He had indeed happy memories of Perm. It was
here he had been reunited with his young brother Gabriel, like himself exiled to Siberia. From
Perm he was able to write to his parents and friends and receive a generous gift of money from
them by post.
Soon he was engaged as a tutor for three children from the Diageleff family. He was also
engaged to teach other children.
Eventually after much letter-writing and pleading on the part of his family with friends in high
places, Kalinowski was given his `ticket of leave` as it was called in Australia. He made his way
through Russian territory and arrived at Victor`s house `Les Studzionski,`1 near Minsk, where
his brother awaited him.With a keen eye again for the beauties of nature Kalinowski gives a
poetic description of the grounds. On one side of the house there were two vast lakes united by a
little river.This scene had previously caught the eye of Mickiewicz and in his epic poem, `Pan
Tadeusz` he wrote :` Eve lost paradise, you Madame , have recreated it.` The lines were
inscribed on stone in the grounds.
After a few days rest he proceeded to the chateau of Hrozow 2 where the rest of the family
eagerly awaited him. The warmth of this reunion after almost ten years of exile can scarcely be
1 This imposing house originally belonged to the Radziwill family. Victor Kalinowski married into the family.
2 This house with Portico was bought by Prince Leon Wittegenstein. At this time the estate was administered by
Kalinowski`s brother Charles.
24

imagined. Kalinowski still had some conditions to fulfil before he could enjoy complete freedom
and for this purpose he move the Smolensk one of the most ancient cities of Lithuania. Napoleon
laid siege to the city in August 1812 and almost completely destroyed it by fire. Kalinowski
was not impressed by the people here. Wherever he was Kalinowski in his letters continued to
dispense sound advice. In a letter to his sister Marie we find this passage:
` The person who is unoccupied is like sterile ground, or more exactly uncultivated ground which
produces only bad growth. On the contrary, work reinforces activity and allows salutary fruits to
grow.`
Kalinowski`s friends, especially Oskierko were trying to arrange a position for him when he was
eventually released. For instance in March 1873 he lined up a job teaching the children of
Prince Eugene Lubomirska. This Kalinowski declined, obviously because he was thinking of his
priestly vocation. Oskierko knew that this would be difficult in Poland so he suggested that to by
continuing to teach children and say a `Sursum Corda` to them would be the nearest thing to
priesthood! He didn’t seem to suspect that Kalinowski would be prepared to go anywhere to
achieve his goal – even into another kind of exile – which is exactly what he did. The months
dragged on and the Tsar made no move to issue a certificate of final freedom. This did not
materialize until January 25 th . 1874. Only then was he given a passport and allowed to go
wherever he wished. However that was qualified to the extent that he was not allowed to return
to Lithuania or Ruthenia – only reside within the confines of the Kingdom of Poland. He first
made his way to Warsaw on 11 April 1874, where his brother Gabriel had taken up residence. He
was able to call immediately too on his friend Oskierko , Louise Mlocko and others.
The lucrative Paris position had materialized at this stage , but he had to establish himself first
as a stable resident of Warsaw and take an oath of `fidelity`. A cloud on his horizon however was
his father`s weakening health.
Kalinowski considered himself blest that his new residence was close to St. Joseph`s church and
also fortunate that the distinguished priest and future bishop, Fr. Kossowski agreed to be his
spiritual director .The church served by this priest had been formerly attached to the Carmelite
25

Reform of Blessed John Soreth. Kossowski , who later became a bishop, would bring out a
Polish edition of the works of St. Teresa of Avila.
Kalinowski continued to do useful work, translating articles for religious and secular magazines.
The secular magazine was devoted to a subject he had studied – Agriculture , and Kalinowski
was disappointed to see it carried an article on Darwin`s theory and he had a discussion with the
Editor in chief on this matter. He expressed the hope that Darwinian theories would be
banned! 1
At this time then Kalinowski now made up his mind to take up the offer from the
Czartoryski family, undertaking to become the official tutor in their Paris residence of the
sickly Auguste Franciszek Czartoryski, affectionately known as Gucio , who was heir to the
Polish throne. He was the son of Hermann Cohen`s deceased friend Princess Maria Amparo.
This would further Kalinowski`s aim of eventually becoming a priest which was not possible
in Poland at that time.
This was a decided blow to his family - an ailing father and a devoted stepmother. Sophie, who
considered him as her `consoling angel` was particularly upset and blamed his friends for
arranging this for him. Kalinowski tried to respond as best he could, pointing out that it seemed
to be God`s will for him. He had heard that Prince Czartoryski had trawled the universities of
Krakow and Paris for an ideal tutor for his son, the heir apparent, and he had chosen Kalinowski.
He also reminded Sophie that it was her good example that instilled in him the strong Christian
principles and faith that appealed to Czartoryski.
There remained the matter of acquiring a passport out of Poland and through bureaucratic
mix-ups (his papers made the round of different centers), they did not reach him until
September 3 rd .
1 We ought not blame Kalinowski or Hermann Cohen for the limitations of their views on theological or scientific
topics of the day. Many of their contemporaries, including church leaders like Cardinal Manning thought the same .
It would take great minds like that of Blessed John Henry Newman not to be rattled by the discoveries of
science.Just a few years before Kalinowski made this remark on Darwin, Newman had been asked about evolution
and replied:`It does not seem to follow that creation is denied because the creator, millions of years ago, gave laws
to matter.He first created matter and then he created laws for it, etc - ` Quoted in Newman`s Unquiet Grave,John
Cornwell, Continuum,London, New York, 2010.
26

He was introduced to Auguste for the first time in Cracow on September 9 th 1874.After a week
in the city, visiting the famous shrine of Our Lady of Czestochowa , the Lourdes of Poland, as
he had previously promised himself he would do after a bout of illness. There was a huge crowd
around. Amusingly he tells us in his Memoirs, that it was almost `at the peril of his life that he
was able to get as far as the altar of the holy Virgin to render homage to our revered protector
who , according to a pious tradition, had covered the roof with her mantle.`1
They visited the Cathedral of Wawel to pray at the tomb of St. Stanislaus, Patron of Poland, the
churches of St. Hyacinthe, of St John Kety, the Sukiennice Museum, set in the Merchant`s
Square, dominated by the magnificent market building. Kalinowski also tells us that :`his
principal refuge in Krakow was the chapel of the Sacred Heart at the Visitation Convent: I went
there every morning.` Then he tells us he visited the home of Princess Marcelina , where he
met her and her son Marcel: though he felt ill at ease in such exalted company she was
hospitality itself! One thing that intrigued him was the little cup of aromatic water placed before
each guest to rinse out the mouth after the meal. Not knowing how to deal with this situation he
simply left it untouched!
Kalinowski writes:
`I should recall that here that it was Princess Marcelina, who ,some years later, was the first to
suggest I should enter Carmel`.
Then they set out for Paris by train, first visiting the Czartoryski family residence in Sieniava
on September 20 , 1874 . Here in this other princely household ( the remaining Polish property of
the Czartoryskis not confiscated) , Kalinowski felt uneasy for a different reason: He writes again
in his Memoirs: ` As for myself , I felt tired and it took the special help of grace not to cancel the
undertaking I had made. It seemed to me also that Prince Ladislaus was not happy with me and
didn’t see in me the qualities he liked and believed to be necessary for his son.In fact I was
losing confidence in my own ability.I could see that the young prince had great potential, that
he had an developed an intelligent and critical spirit amazing for his age. Would I be able to
supply all the perfection of which he was capable? Moreover, his father gave me no instruction
1 Ibid, Joseph Kalinowski, P. Jean-Baptiste, Liege, 1923
27

as to how he should be trained and no one informed me precisely what my job would be in
Paris.` To make matters worse, which Kalinowski realized it was a temptation, for at that precise
time a dispatch arrived at the place asking if he would undertake the education of a friend`s
children! Kalinowski found strength in daily mass nearby and the help of the local priest.
However he would not break his word and on 23 rd October they continued their journey ,
arriving in Vienna on 25 th .Kalinowski enjoyed his visit to St. Stephens`s Cathedral where he
made confession , attended mass and received Holy Communion.He was impressed by the
beauty of the chant and the piety of the faithful.Later he was able to view `the riches of this
superb basilica` .(Memoirs) During the day they visited the Imperial Art Gallery. Then it was on
to Strasbourg and a visit to the Cathedral also. He was not impressed however with the famous
astronomical clock, the third on the site built in 1843. In his Memoirs he remarked in a
somewhat spiritually churlish fashion: `What has a clock like this to do with a church?`While
admitting that it was a work of art and human ingenuity, he was not edified by the fact that it was
an object of curiosity and amusement for the public, something he didn’t associate with a place
of prayer . In fact similar `striking` clocks of course can be found in many cathedrals of the
world. Finally the fetched up in Paris and were amiably welcomed by Princess Marguerite , wife
of Prince Ladislaus ,at the Hotel Lambert. And though he felt himself very much a blow-in and
a newcomer as well as a object of curiosity , she and her staff were able to put him at his ease.
Gucio`s delicate health was under strain by the fatigue and emotions of travel as well as
by family worries. In his first letter home, Joseph reflects, in perhaps a typical way for a person
of strong faith: `When I consider people and affairs, my own and those of others, I see sadness
and affliction everywhere.The reason for my pain this time was the trials of my parents, Victor`s
sickness (Gucio`s brother) and the difficulty he was in.` A few days later he wrote in similar vein
and even more pointedly to a close friend M Gieisztor,: Since my arrival in Paris I feel and
indefinable malaise. Its not a praiseworthy thought to wish for death as a way to find final
repose.The saints understood suffering much better when they said – to suffer or to die! Before
now I thought it was a simple enough thing to arrive at sanctity; I can now see that I badly
understood the spiritual life.For the basis of this life is mortification…I`ll stop here so that my
letter doesn’t look like a treatise on theology, but its good that one can cast a ray of light on
conversations and letters, by introducing the sweet name of Jesus.`
28

Kalinowski tells us that Marguerite lived a retired life and the house was almost like a cloister.In
describing the guests who were coming and going we are reminded that European royalty were
all interrelated, whatever the country in question. Princess Marguerite`s father was the Duke of
Nemours of the House of Orleans. Her grandparents were King Louis-Philippe and Queen Marie
Amelie. 1 Her sister was Princess Blanche of Orleans and she came to dine every day.
Marguerite`s brother was the Duke of Alencon, the birthplace of St. Therese of Lisieux.He was
married to the daughter of the King of Bavaria. Another visitor on one occasion , Kalinowski
tells us, was Prince Ernest Cobourg-Gotha, born in the magnificent Windsor Castle in England ,
one of the residences of Queen Elizabeth 11, and so he was related to the British Royal family.
There was an outing to the theatre which Gucio didn’t enjoy. Kalinowski continues: `We went
twice to concerts, Judas Maccabeus and the Messiah. I enjoyed the first ,but fell sound asleep at
the second, at the risk of being observed by MacMahon, President of the Republic, and
Queen Isabella of Spain and many of the royal family of Naples who were sitting a short distance
from us`.
Kalinowski remained detached from all this royalty and was not at all impressed by honorific
titles and great personages. ` God always displays his greatness and humankind its miseries`.
But royalty very much suffered their ups and downs. At Handel`s concert mentioned above , a
performance of the Messiah , he was engaged in conversation (during his waking moments) with
the exiled King of Hanover lamenting the loss of his throne.
From what he tells us of the concert itself, it seems that he was not bored so much with the
music of the Messiah but with what he thought was the superficial way it was performed. He
felt it had been emptied of genuine religious content and was merely put on by way of diversion
for these people. He might indeed say the same thing about some modern adaptations of classical
1 Here again we have link between Cohen and Kalinowski. We find that while widowed and exiled in Clarendon
House, Kensington, London, (the exiled king had died previously) Hermann Cohen became her chaplain until her
death.She made a vestment for the new Carmelite Church which Herman built and donated an illuminated Missal,
both of which were probably lost when the Church was destroyed by an incendiary bomb in World War 11.
Kalinowski sent his sister a copy of her Life and Letters.The town of Amelie-Au-Bains in the Pyrenees was named
in her honor.Here Bishop Brady, first Bishop of Perth, WA was buried but plans are being made right now to
return his remains to Perth.
29

opera and the plays of Shakespeare. He felt Opera in general was vain, and theatrical productions
not fitting entertainment for `Christians redeemed by the precious blood of Jesus Christ`.
As regards religious life in Paris, Kalinowski felt there was a genuine taste for beauty , and the
clergy tried to carry out the ceremonies with as much splendor as possible.However he deplored
the somewhat social and nationalistic nature of the sermons he heard. Somewhat controversially
perhaps from our standpoint, he expressed the wish that ; ` In their sermons they would occupy
themselves a little less with the transient needs of humanity and a little more with the salvation
of their immortal souls`.
All in all, Kalinowski`s priorities would be ;` To work, to help one`s neighbor, to sacrifice
oneself for your sisters and brothers, to heal the wounds of society, to build up national and
religious structures, using one`s energy in the cause of youth, of children and of the working
class - all in a spirit of faith and out of love for God`. These remarks go some way to redress
his criticism above of sermons which only dealt the `transient needs of humanity`.Here his
social conscience is definitely to the fore.
Meanwhile back in the Hotel Lambert, Kalinowski were placed on the ground floor at first but
later they were given two spacious rooms on the first floor, near the domestic chapel.They had a
butler named Auvergnat who was kind and helpful. When the clock struck each morning he
woke his protégé, not always easy to do, and they attended mass in the Church of St.Louis with
about a dozen people. Back at the house they had coffee , and until the second meal at midday,
Kalinowski worked on his own, while Gucio had lessons from various professors.Sometimes
studies were interrupted for ball games or such like (shuttlecock!). In the afternoon they went for
a walk along the Seine.Then on Thursdays they took the train to suburban gardens with which
Paris is so superbly served. Until 6.30 pm, which was dinner time, they continued lessons in their
rooms or somewhere in the house. Later on they might play chess or attend a lecture. `Sometimes
I would return to my room or go the some church where Perpetual Adoration of the Blessed
Sacrament took place, something which was held without interruption throughout the year in
the churches of Paris….It is difficult however not to be distracted by the children singing their
chants before the Blessed Sacrament exposed. There is admirable order and discipline prevailing
in these gatherings of children. Just one signal from the master or mistress suffices for them
30

to give all their attention to the chant, and this discipline does not seems to detract in any way
from the satisfaction on their faces. `(Memoirs)
Kalinowski instilled strong moral qualities in his pupil. He led him in morning and evening
prayers in the domestic chapel.When returning from a lesson or a walk or when passing a chapel
with perpetual adoration, he never missed making a short visit. In a letter to his father , he relates
how the cathedral of Notre Dame being in the vicinity (like the Hotel Lambert on Ile St.Louis),
they called in off their walk and attend benediction, where he heard `O Salutaris Hostia` being
sung in Paris for the first time.
Writing to a friend, Louise Mlocka, he observed: `Auguste had taken a lesson, and leaving the
house we walked along the Seine.Passing near Sainte Clothilde, we went in for a visit to the
Blessed Sacrament which was exposed for perpetual adoration. I must tell you, Mme Louise, I
suspect, I believe it is most devout. You suspect too that this has not been without profit for me
and I have been more vigilant : the other day in fact, I must admit that in giving thanks to Jesus
in the Blessed Sacrament of the altar, I found and I still find it , a source of patience, of
perseverance and a consoling strength. If I can put it in a word, it is for me the source of life, fons
vitae. Without this mystery of love which the Savior has left us in the Church, I would have been
living in the dark this long time. Also may the good Jesus permit me to draw without ceasing on
this inexhaustible source, and ask him for this grace for me when you make your visits.`1
In his Memoirs he also tells how he frequented the nearby church of St. Louis for Eucharist and
early prayers – the litany of the Blessed Virgin recited at 5 am with a short instruction followed
by mass at 6. He confessed here twice a week.He was amazed at the crowds attending mass here
– no sooner had one congregation left than another took its place to avail of the frequent
celebration of the Eucharist.
Kalinowski noted that the clergy showed no signs of `Gallicanism` in their instructions.
Gallicanism stood for a French aspect of Catholicism that showed no enthusiasm for the Pope. It
loomed large at Vatican Council 1. The ex-Carmelite Loyson became active in this movement;
he had already left the Carmelite order some years before. Hermann Cohen would see eye to eye
with Kalinowski on this issue also.
As regards the reading material in his library , he mentions the following books: Histoire de la
1 The sentiments of this letter are almost identical to what we would find in Hermann Cohen and we remember that
the Church (Basilica) of St. Clothilde also figured in his life.
31

Pologne, Le Revue des Deux Mondes, M. de Berulle et les Carmelites de France, by M.Abbe
Houssaye, and some Greek exercises. He was interested in Greek with a view to priesthood –
as also the book on the Carmelites. How that particular book came to be there was perhaps due to
the Czartoryskas visiting the Carmelite Convent in Paris.From the very favorable impressions
made on the household by Hermann Cohen, Kalinowski felt able to disagree with Houssaye `s
opinion of the Discalced Friars. Kalinowski certainly grew enormously in his spiritual life during
his sojourn in Paris. He confided in his sister Marie who also worked in the education of
young children, that he suffered quite a bit at this time: `I must tell you, dear Marie, that
throughout the time I am entrusted with looking after this child under my care, I am fretful day
and night, and only that I am strengthened by the sacraments, I would be too relaxed in the
accomplishment of my duties or perhaps I would escape from an obligation which is too heavy
for me.`
We have a letter from an eyewitness , a lady named Budzinowska who was on the staff of the
Czartoryski family at Sieniawa , as to how extremely ascetical and charitable Kalinowski was.
She observed him on his visits there with Gucio during the summer and she herself sometimes
visited the Hotel Lambert. In both places she observed how he would conceal food and leftovers
from his meal – or go without – and take the food to poor people in the vicinity. ( In fact as an
obviously curious lady, she once followed him at a discreet distance wondering what he was up
to and found he was on a visit to a poor family!) She also observed his humble lifestyle and how
he would avoid the grand pews of his aristocratic hosts and kneel with the ordinary people in
church.
While Gucio`s studies were proceeding satisfactorily – he was provided with all the necessary
resources needed, and he started on his Baccalaureate in Letters, a change in fact became
necessary.There was a deteriorization in Gucio`s heath and doctors advised that he move to a
more salubrious climate. The place chosen was Menton in Monaco.Kalinowski was sorry to
leave.They arrived there in early March. Kalinowski`s gives us most informative and poetic
comments on his new abode. He found the little town `feerique`, enchanting, and his
description of their villa reminds me of Hermann Cohen description of Hyeres in the south of
France, to which he also had gone to recuperate on one occasion. Kalinowski wrote, `The villa
we live in is situated in a garden planted with olives, oranges and citrus fruits. I was amazed to
32

find such a pleasant climate here. Our environment is like Vilna itself, (I say Vilna because it is
my birthplace) and I can compare the two. The mores of the inhabitants are very agreeable – and
something even better, they are sincere Catholics.The ceremonies in church remind me of
Lithuania and the churches there….The flora here could not be more beautiful, thanks to the
clement climate.Violets abound all the year round and the plants and trees are also covered with
fruit throughout the year. Orangeries, citrus orchards, olives, myrtles are all ornaments of nature,
but for all that they seem to me less beautiful than the forests and fields of Lithuania.At the
moment it is hot, but this is tempered by the proximity of the sea.The devotion and fervor of the
inhabitants lend the place an added charm. ` However he also drew attention to the flip side of
things. Because of its very wholesome qualities it was filled with invalids – mostly English, but
also Russians and Poles. He comments: `But you can hardly hear any language other than
English. The `patois` of the people is a mixed bag of Italian, French, Provencal and Arabic , for
in medieval times it was the haunt of Saracens and Moors – and it still is. One can still see the
ruins of their fortresses, suspended like eagles` nests on the high summits. At Menton on the site
of the citadel there is a cemetery.The place is most picturesque. It is planted with cypresses and
dominates the whole town, rising as it does to the summit of the mountain….The people
cultivate olives and citrus fruits – agriculture is impossible because of the steepness of the
terrain.The wine presses remind me of those old establishments in Lithuania. You can also find
perfumeries in Menton because it gives the area an unbelievable quality of scented flowers.
Another group of people work on building steam boats which are becoming popular.Another
speciality of Menton (and each village has one) is that of making beautiful objects from citrus
wood. The old village streets were so narrow and steep that it was difficult to walk on them or
even travel with donkeys or mules. On the other hand, the new town is made up mainly and
indeed uniquely of hotels, boutiques and villas here and there. The custom of the sick people
who have come here to improve their health ,is to go along the promenade or go in canoes on the
sea or take a carriage to Monte Carlo or Monaco and also to travel up the mountains on
donkeys.I don’t do any of this.I accompany Gucio, true, on all his excursions, but nature,
breathtaking as it is, has no attraction for me.My thoughts rise towards God on high and I like to
rest in him, the source of all beauty..I wrote to you on Holy Saturday.You remember perhaps,
that I liked to take part in the ceremony of the Resurrection, as it was celebrated back home and I
33

liked to sing the Alleluia with the Italian and the French – but they don’t have those
processions here. And you must admire that religious spirit, so prominent at home , which had
introduced such sublime ceremonies into divine worship. That spirit had been handed down to us
by our fathers and we ought to preserve it. If we cannot do much in regard to others at least by
the sacrifice of ourselves and by prayer, we can obtain from God the grace of perseverance for
ourselves and the light of salvation for our neighbor.`
Again , in a letter to his sister Marie , Kalinowski gives us an interesting socio-religious insight
into devotional practices of the faithful in that era:
`The people crowd around the altar and seem to have a great devotion to the Blessed Sacrament.
Communions are frequent , and when holy viaticum is taken to the sick the faithful accompany it
singing the Psalm Miserere, and when they return the Te Deum. When the priest approaches the
sick person they sing the litanies of the Blessed Virgin on the street. The clergy are constantly
taken up with ministry…`
Kalinowski`s sister had just taken a job as governess with a family called Rymsza back home
in Lithuania. She wrote and told Joseph about a woman in the vicinity who had lost her brother
and had fallen into a state of melancholy which made her extremely restless. Marie was very
concerned about the girl and wrote to her brother for help on how to counsel her.
Joseph replied: `At Irkoutsk I knew a young man who had fallen into a similar state and the
doctors held out no hope for him. We were able to heal him however by means of confession and
manual work. He worked every day and went to confession every week: that young man who
was the worst case among all our companions in exile, is now in Galicia , in the novitiate of the
Jesuit fathers preparing himself for the sublime mission of bringing healing to souls and being
a mediator between God and humankind. I know of no other remedy for such a malady. But
nevertheless we must use it with charity, firmness and perseverance.`1
And here is an extract from another lovely letter he wrote to Marie, reminiscent of the letters
exchanged between St. Therese of Lisieux and her family, including the ubiquitous `petite`:
1 His name was Joseph Wasilewski.Afterwards he became a Jesuit priest. He attended Kalinowski`s ordination and
helped spread devotion to the Scapular in Roumania.
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`My dear little Marie,
When you write don’t imitate this bad model I`m sending you today! Don’t let yourself be
carried away with the impetuosity of your thoughts or by the first movements of your heart;
learn from my faults and act like a prudent and wise woman.I will finish now to go to work with
Gucio. Keep well, very dear little sister and may God bless the seed which you scatter on the
souls of the children entrusted to you, and may your work in the world produce a delicious fruit,
ad majorem Dei gloriam. Work then, in loco pascuae, ubi Deus collocavit.`
P.S.
`Do you say morning and evening prayers with the children? Nothing is as strong as the union
we enter into in God`s sight.`
Kalinowski was somewhat harder on his dear brother George ( who later became a priest), using
a somewhat lecturing tone, which however he denied he was using, giving him this advice for
example: ` you ought to moderate a little the liveliness of your character.`
Kalinowski`s father worried about his son`s health and his reported absences from meals to pray
before the Blessed Sacrament. ( Kalinowski himself suffered some respiratory problems - ten
years hard labor in Siberia often in hugely sub-zero temperatures did nothing for his health!)
However his son set out to put his mind at rest on this issue:`Very dear Father, I want to answer
your last two letters: I am much touched by your love, full of concern for me which promoted
your help and counsels….I ought first of all to put you at ease as regards my fasting.I am writing
on Easter Sunday.My health is good, my spirit is tranquil……I owe you an explanation
regarding your deep concern about my temperance. Compared to those who love God more than
me I seem to live a life of luxury. So that my very dear old father may really believe that I don’t
exaggerate – in the houses of the high and mighty it is excess you must watch out for rather than
fasting. Its true that I sometimes disappear at meal times and my dear father is convinced that
this is a huge mortification. I`m of the same opinion myself, but on the other hand in this little
struggle with myself, God seems to me like a good father who wishes to give me a few
moments of rest , paying homage through this spiritual relaxation to the Blessed Sacrament
35

exposed in the churches for the Forty Hours adoration : that`s where I spend my moments of free
time, giving Our Lord the gift of myself. `
Joseph keeps his family informed on his frequent travelling with young Gucio. He tells his father
at the beginning of May that they will be returning to Paris, taking in health spas on the
way.They spent a few weeks in the little village of Neuilly near the Bois de Boulogne. He also
writes to his father about the famous places they stopped off at on their various journeys –
Toulon, Avignon, Lyon and Dijon. He noticed the hard work the French were putting into
rebuilding their country after the disasters of the recent Franco-Prussian war. `At Lyon we
visited the church of Our Lady of Fourviére, renowned for its miraculous image of the Holy
Virgin.There are still many devoted people in France,who by their prayers and good works are
saving this nation`.
He was not overly impressed by the paintings in the Salon which they visited. He felt they
lacked beauty and inspiration and really were an eclectic mix of Christianity and paganism. He
made an exception for the painting `Le Priere` depicting a woman at prayer. 1
The next stopover on their program was destined for a place called Eaux-Bonnes, a name
suggesting that the curative properties of the waters would benefit Gucio`s tuberculosis. This
meant a journey back to the Pyrenees. It was popular with the sick, from June to October, those
suffering from various maladies, catarrh, bronchitis, laryngitis, etc. So just like Menton they
were surrounded by sick people wherever they went. However the locality was charming and had
beautiful views. In this case , as in that of Hermann Cohen, Kalinowski seemed to appreciate the
majesty of the Pyrenees.`Above our heads`, he writes, `all the summits of the Pyrenees are
covered with snow; at our feet lies a beautiful valley at the base of the mountains, with torrents
gushing down to form the river Oloron. Eaux-Bonnes is forty kilometers south of Pau.The
church , which is near our hotel, overlooks the ravine, but it is beside a rocky outcrop which
pours out at the base, a huge quantity of water which renders it humid and threatens to
undermine it. There are numerous masses here as there are many priests, especially preachers
and religious who are obliged to recite the divine office. The thermal waters, the repose and the
good air are a great help.` Kalinowski also visited nearby Lourdes: ` I departed from Lourdes
1 This could be `Le femme en priere` by Alexander Legros, now in the National Gallery in London.
36

more quickly than I would have liked. It is definitely a very attractive place and a profound
feeling of joy filled my heart when visiting the grotto where the Blessed Virgin manifested
herself.` Hermann Cohen had similar feelings at Lourdes over ten years previously. Kalinowski
also visited Bagneres-de-Bigorre , a place associated with the Carmelites sisters and where
Hermann Cohen had helped to set up a foundation of friars.
Kalinowski was not feeling well himself at this time .He writes: `the weakness and dizziness
which I feel again, doesn’t allow me long concentration.I dwell on one thought that occurs to me;
happiness is not our lot here below. If the burdens that weigh us down are the result of our work,
or the duties of our state in life, or independent circumstances of our will, let us place them at
the feet of the Savior.But if our troubles proceed from our temperaments or our passions, then we
should strive against these because in fact we can`t overcome them. Only God, in his goodness
can pour peace into our hearts and allow our trials to serve our own sanctification and the
spiritual good of those who are dear to us.`
Meanwhile Gucio had returned to Paris alone and was due to visit Galicia with his
father.Kalinowski was ordered by the doctor to rest up for a while before undertaking his own
journey to Krakow. In fact from May to September that year Kalinowski had covered 7,000
kilometers. Back in Poland he rejoined Gucio and his aunt Princess Iza at their magnificent
turreted castle of Goluchow , seat of the Grand Duchy of Poznan. 1 From here they set out for
Paris by way of Breslau. 2 On the way the took in various cities, such as Gniezno and Berlin.
Berlin impressed Kalinowski for its cleanliness and sense of order, but he felt that the buildings
and monuments were not distinguished for their beauty or style.
Kalinowski kept in constant touch with his family and their needs, helping them financially when
he could. Their spiritual welfare also was paramount for him. Again writing to his brother,
future priest George he said:`When I think of you I recall your needs, both of body and
soul.While we have all these faults and its very difficult to overcome them by our own energies,
1 Princess Isabella had the castle restored in French Renaissance style and assembled a magnificent collection of art.
In this she was following in the steps of her grandmother , also Princess Isabella.
2 Breslau or Wroclaw was the capital of Silesia. Formery Polish territory, it had been conquered by Prussia but after
World War 11 it reverted to Poland. The Carmelite martyr Edith Stein (St. Teresa Benedicta)
1891.
was born here in
37

we should seek the help of God in addition. I advise you to recite this little prayer during the day,
`Jesus meek and humble of heart, make my heart like yours`. I emphasize this last point; on this
subject your confessor will give you better advice than mine.`
After mid-October it was time to take Gucio back to sunnier climes .As they depart he writes to
his parents: `I am delighted to hear that Mama has at last found interior peace, and by God`s
grace she is being comforted as before…for myself since my arrival in France , I have read
almost nothing, and I repeat more often than ever: give me your love and your grace and I shall
be rich enough, I ask for nothing more.Tomorrow we will spend the night in Lyon , then
Marseille and after that Menton. `
Referring to his former visit he writes later:` Earlier on it was Spring when we passed through
Lyon and I visited the church of Our Lady of Fourviere , built on a beautiful hill and it had an
interior full of votive offerings.This time we visited the cathedral which possesses many relics
and some souvenirs of the celebrated council which took place here. After that we visited the
museum which has a rich archaeological collection from the Gallo-Roman period and a gallery
of paintings, with a good number of religious themes, the pictures taken no doubt from the
monasteries and churches that had been suppressed.It was night when we arrived at Marseille, so
I saw nothing, except in the distance the church of St. Vincent de Paul, where I was able to adore
the Blessed Sacrament..`
Next morning he was delighted to get news of the troubled young man mentioned earlier and
whose uncle was a Capuchin. `He has finished two years novitiate with the Jesuits and he who
previously had been a wreck now enjoys the grace of religious observance and the joy of interior
peace.`1
Their accommodation was close to the sea. They resided on the first floor and below them was
the famous Prince Leon Sapieha and his family, like the Czartoryskis, in exile in France and
availing of Menton`s curative air. 2
1 This was Joseph Walenewski mentioned above.
2 A close relative of his was Prince Cardinal Archbishop of Krakow and ordained Karol Woytyla a priest;he
dissuaded the future John Paul 11 from joining the Carmelites!
38

Kalinowski`s old friend M.Blotnicki, who would become a go-between with Mother Xavier to
persuade him to join the Carmelites, arrived in Menton at the beginning of December.He had two
students to whom he taught Latin and Greek. He read Cicero to Gucio and Kalinowski as also the
New Testament Greek gospels and epistles for Sundays and feast days.Gucio also studied the
history of the church and Christian doctrine under the direction of his teacher. There were also
fixed times for prayer which were enforced. Recreational activities included whist drives and
daily walks or otherwise carriage and boat trips. Kalinowski would take any opportunity to retire
to his room in solitude for prayer and meditation.
Joseph reported to his parents that he could write to them on January 3 rd with window open and
hot rays of the sun coming through. However later it became unusually cold and he could tell
them :`During the past few weeks there has been a cold, penetrating wind and even into April
`such cold gusts that the old people could not remember ever having taken place.` None of this
was good for Gucio`s frail health of course and Kalinowski was always deeply concerned for
him. From his letters we find this layman Kalinowski fully committed to the ascetic life.
`All three of us` , he writes, ` are accustomed to our solitude and it is a trial for us to respond to
the invitations we receive. One family invited us to a meal one day. I went but it was a
mortification for me because we were into Lent and I didn’t have the right to eat the rich food
permitted to the sick of the house. But I didn’t take it at the risk of appearing to be a `holy Joe`. 1
In the same letter he mentions an encounter on the train with Bishop Gaspard Mermillod of
Geneva, who was on his way to Rome. Joseph joined the throng who knelt to receive his blessing.
It was Bishop Mermillod who welcomed Hermann Cohen to Geneva when he was forced to
leave France at the beginning of the Franco-Prussian war.The bishop asked Cohen to undertake
the pastoral care of war refugees, which he did, opening a chapel for them on October 7 th .
However next month Bishop Mermillod asked him to minister to the French prisoners of war in
Spandau, because the Prussians would not allow them a French priest.
As a change for Gucio from the harsh weather in Menton, it was decided that he travel to Italy
in early May, though they would not remain there very long.Their first stop was at Genes on the
1 He added another culinary note: what I foresaw came about.We were served sardines, tea and an apple.This
family entertained us in Slavic fashion because they were our race.The French have different ceremonies.
39

Riviera and then on to Milan.It was still cold and Gucio found the going tough.Kalinowski
remarks that this part of Italy produced many saints; they visited the tomb of St. Ambrose, and
that of St Gervais and St. Protais as well as that of St. Charles Boromeo where he attended
mass. On the 17 th May they reached Venice and stayed in the Hotel Europe. 1 He noted the
splendid buildings and masterpieces of art , as well as the precious relics venerated by the
people.He was particularly impressed by the devotion of the people who filled the churches ,
honoring Our Lady during her month of May. Then on 26 th May they made their way to Vienna
and from there to Krakow, which they reached on 28 th . By June 1 st they had reached home, the
Czartoryski ancestral mansion of Sieniawa. Kalinowski continued his constant care for the sickly
Auguste but he also had the joy of family reunions. His brothers Alexander and George came to
see him there and later his sister Marie. Marie stayed on with Czartoryskis while her brother
returned to Krakow. From there he wrote her this very intimate letter:`Here I am at Krakow. The
journey was fast but fatigueing. Have you made all your arrangements?Are you happy with your
lodging? Look after you health, dear little sister and particularly when you feel tired, make sure
you rest before the open window of your room.Write to me from Sieniawa and let me know what
your program is each day.Write without delay and do tell me about everything you need. I insist!
And I remember you in my prayers.` It appears that Marie was going through a bout of ill
health and her vacation was meant to help her recover. It seems that she had a hand in Joseph
recovering his faith.Her devoted brother writes to her again:` You, little angel, to whom I owe
my return to God and the church, how I wish you now to recover the energy you need to serve
God!In the Krakow library I looked through many books, trying to decide what would suit you,
but I found nothing suitable.Write to me yourself and tell me what you would like to read and I
will send them immediately. For the moment I`m sending the `Philothea of St. Francis de
Sales.`2You
should find there abundant nourishment for your soul`. Later he would recommend
that Marie do a retreat with the Visitation Sisters in the solitude of the cloister.
On August 1 st it was decided to set out again for Davos , second most important town in
Switzerland. He tells us it lies high in the Alps, 1,600 meters, and the idea was to remain there
for some months if the climate proved favorable.He worried about Gucio`s lungs and hoped the
1 This may be the present Westin Europa and Regina.
2 Better known as `The Introduction to a Devout Life.`
40

pure mountain air would do them good. `The valley of Davos is surrounded by mountains, the
peaks of which are covered with snow and ice all the year round.Today the snow covered the
mountain nearest to us..` The air was certainly bracing and one day they had to light fires in their
rooms, something he never did before in the month of August, not even in Siberia!
It was at this time of their sojourn in Davos that Joseph Kalinowski started to discuss the subject
of his religious vocation with his parents. He told them he wished to leave the world and live in a
little religious cell. He constantly asked his family and friends to pray for him, reminding them
that it was the prayers of his family that saved him the first time ; now he needed them again
for his new life!
Writing to them at this time he said:` Here is a new token of the mercy and goodness of God
which brought new consolation and hope to me through persons I love.The revered Sr.
Marie-Xavier of Jesus, aunt of my Gucio, former princess and a powerful lady , today a religious
in the convent of Discalced Carmelites whom I met only once at the grill and who barely knew
me. She was kind enough to send me recently, and especially when I didn’t deserve the attention
of this holy person, but at the same time it was something I really needed – these words of the
seraphic St.Teresa.
`Let nothing trouble you, let nothing frighten you.
All things are passing; God never changes.
Patience obtains all things.
He who possesses God lacks nothing:
God alone suffices.`
These words are in perfect accord with those which I found, very dear parents ,in your last
letters and they arrived at the same time brought to Davos by M. Blotnicki…`
Around this time the Czartoryska women, Marcelina and Mother Mary-Xavier were on the
lookout for a potential reformer and restorer of the Carmelite Friars in Poland. It didn’t seem to
matter that he was not yet a member of the Order or even a postulant. Another member of the
family Princess Iza set the ball rolling - she had already made contact with Kalinowski.
41

We have a letter on subsequent developments written by Mother Mary-Xavier ( she is
referring to news regarding developments from Princess Iza.) In the beginning of the letter she
talks about the great impression made on her and the whole household in Paris when Hermann
Cohen visited the Hotel Lambert, to which I referred earlier. He was the first Teresian Carmelite
they had met. She then goes on to talk about her own vocation to Carmel and the eventual
vocation of Kalinowski also. 1 As we know there was a happy outcome to this letter when
Kalinowski joined the Carmelites on November 26, 1876. We see clearly from the first
paragraph of this letter something of the role or at least the indirect influence exerted by
Hermann Cohen in the renewal of Carmel in Poland. Without him Mary-Xavier would probably
have entered the Paris Carmel who had no contact, nor did they wish to have any contact with
the Discalced Friars. Having met Hermann, Mary-Xavier could not accept the attitude of the
Paris Carmelite nuns.
At this time also , 25 th August, 1876 Princess Marcelina visited Davos and suggested that Joseph
join the Carmelites.(She herself was involved in establishing the Third or Secular Order in
Poland)
Even while still in exile Kalinowski had given hints to his parents that he would not be returning
to the engineering profession when he came home. His heart was already set on religious life.
When his stepmother Sophie wrote referring to accounts of his charitable work which were given
to her by returning exiles , he was highly embarrassed but turned the tables by attributing his
good qualities to the example she had given him. In terms reminiscent of Hermann Cohen who
expressed similar sentiments he responded: ` It is rare to find an affection so stable, focussing
constantly on the same object.What incomparable benefits for me in this affection so concerned
and so strong, as that of my father and of you too, my dear mother…..that constancy and that
strength of your affection are a benefit and at the same time a lesson for me; they teach me how I
should act in regard to others`.
1 See Appendix 1 for the full text of this interesting letter.
42

Soon after this Kalinowski began to plan his future as a Carmelite. He was not abandoning Gucio
in this situation. He could see that Gucio had made considerable spiritual progress under his
tutelage and he felt he had taken him as far as he could. He was now convinced that a priest
would be the right person to continue to guide him. He made this proposal to Gucio`s father who
found it acceptable and consequently he released him from his contract.
Answering the Call.
On July 5 th 1877 he left the Czartoryski household and headed for the Carmelite novitiate in Linz,
Austria. He was 40 years of age, a late application by the customs of those days. The Provincial
accepted his request for admittance and he was sent to Gratz on November 26 and clothed the
habit of a Carmelite novice. He was given the name Raphael of St. Joseph. Sadly for his
parents and himself his dear and generous hearted sister Marie died on 3 rd March 1878 at the
age of 30. His father Andrew, died three weeks later.
After completing his novitiate he was simply professed and then sent to Gyor in Hungary to
continue his formation and begin his studies for the priesthood.
He made Solemn Profession on November 27 1881 into the hands of the Provincial Jerome-Mary
Gotti – later created Cardinal. After this he was sent back to Poland, to the old-established and
former `Desert House` and the only remaining Carmelite presence in Poland.
At the age of 46, Kalinowski was ordained a priest by the Bishop of Krakow on January 15 th
1881. Present at his ordination were his brother Gabriel, Count Romain Bninski, the Capuchin
Fr. Wenceslaus and Joseph Wasilewski, the former troubled young man now a Jesuit priest –
all had been his companions in exile.
His ability and worth were quickly recognized, being appointed Prior of Czerna the following
year. Three years later the Provincial Council, meeting in Linz appointed him a Definitor
(Councillor) He was never out of office in the years that followed until his death.
Next he was made Prior of Czerna for a second time and following that was entrusted with
founding and leading a new Carmelite house in Wadowice between 1891 and 1894.
43

1 (Wadowice of course was the birthplace of Karol Woytyla, later Pope John Paul 11.)Then it was
back to Czerna again for another period as Prior. After that it was back to Wadowice again in a
similar capacity until 1889 when he was appointed Vicar Provincial for the Carmelite nuns in
Galicia. At the Chapter following this period he was named a Provincial Councillor once again.
His last appointment was again as Prior of Wadowice in 1906 but he did not live to finish his
term of office. 2
Needless to say during his period of ministry , helping the Carmelite nuns was predominant in
his life – both as confessor, spiritual director and lecturer. This was unsurprising seeing it was
to them that he attributed his Carmelite vocation.He was responsible for promoting two new
foundations of Carmelite sisters, first Prezemysl (1884) and then Leopoli (1888). He also
became spiritual director to the Third Order of Carmel , now the Secular Order , previously
founded in Krakow by Princess Marcelina.
Raphael Kalinowski more than fulfilled the trust the Czartoryska women placed in his potential
even before he became a Carmelite. His work led to the expansion and growth of the Carmelite
Order in Poland. He can truly be called the Restorer of Carmel in Poland. Here again he bears a
distinct resemblance Hermann Cohen, whose biography he compiled and who did so much to
restore the Teresian Carmelites in France and England a short time previously.
Mother Xavier of course ought to have the last word – even if a long one – on the influence of
Raphael Kalinowski on her and her sisters.
`We ought to preserve the memory of this father who gave himself for so many years for the
good of the Order,for each one of us, wanting only to guide us to heaven and form in us a true
religious spirit, forever wishing to see that each one walked in the steps of our mothers in the
past and become a holy Discalced Carmelite. His own life itself pointed out to us the way to go
to achieve this holiness. He was for us a model of mortification, both exterior and interior, his
total detachment form all earthly things, of all that didn’t lead to God. His life was one continual
1 Kalinowski founded a `little college` here also for boys attached to Wadowice , which is still in existence.It was
meant as a Juniorate for the Order and produced many vocations for the Order up to the present day, much like
Castlemartyr in the Anglo-Irish Province in the following century.
2 See Saint Raphael Kalinowski ,Szezepan T. Praskiewicz, ocd. ICS.
44

death, a heroic death to all created things. He only wanted the God`s love to have first place in
his heart and with God`s love , love of neighbour. We never heard the least word escape from his
lips that could cause offence to neighbor.Never. On the contrary he always jumped to the
defence of others. He had a horror of entertaining the least thought capable of hurting charity or
of troubling the peace of his soul, always united to God and pure as crystal.He seemed to pass
through this world without touching the ground.He seemed to be an intermediary between God
and people and obtained for them grace and comfort. His profound humility and his mortification,
one can say without fear, worked miracles of grace: and the more he obtained from God, the
more he concealed it, so that God might be glorified and reign in the hearts of people.`1
We can gather from his career in the Carmelite Order, always in positions of responsibility , that
he was crucial to the renewal of the Carmel family in Poland. He was a leader and restorer
among the friars, he was a promoter of new foundations of the nuns – Prezemysl (1884) and
Leopoli (1888). He ministered to their needs in every way by spiritual guidance, retreats and
lectures. And in regard to the Third or Secular Order he was instrumental in founding numerous
communities whom he would guide along the path of prayer according to the spirit of St.
Teresa. The most famous member of the Secular Order would be Pope John Paul 11.
Allied to this and feeding into it was his work in promoting everywhere devotion to the Brown
Scapular of Our Lady of Mt. Carmel. He aimed at setting up Confraternities of the Scapular in as
many places as possible, knowing that this would also be a means of building up the other
branches of the Order.In this he did not confine himself to Poland , but with the aid of
intermediaries he spread it also in surrounding countries.
Kalinowski exerted tremendous energy in compiling the Chronicles of Carmel, including
material from the scattered archives of both friars and nuns. His aim here was to look to
examples of the past to inspire and enthuse the present generation of Carmelites. This was an
invaluable resource and created a bridge with the past when a new Province was set up in
1911.He also produced a biography of the saintly foundress ,Mother Teresa of Jesus (Marchocka)
who lived from 1603-1652.She established the Carmelite convents of Warsaw and Leopoli and
1 Op. Cit. Pere Jean-Baptiste ocd, (appendix) Le Vie Religeuse.
45

was revered as the `Polish Teresa of Jesus`. Kalinowski was greatly interested in promoting the
cause for her Beatification. 1
Though he continued to work without interruption into 1906 though his health was beginning
to give way. While visiting the convent at Prezemsyl he suffered a stroke but continued to work.
He was able to attend a Profession ceremony on July 21 in the church at Wadowice and was able
to address the community exhorting them to live not for themselves or for the world but only for
God, for the Blessed Virgin and for the good of the faithful.
Final Reprieve.
Later he would write letters of Goodbye to his former comrades in exile, the last one on August 7
to Fr. Fischer who was his confessor and friend in Perm: `I am on the edge of the tomb.I must
`shuffle off this mortal coil` and hold myself ready.` On 20 August he celebrated the Eucharist
for the last time. He received the last rites on November 13 th , though he had hoped to die on the
feast of All Souls. Two days later he took up his breviary. The brother assisting him told him it
was November 15, the feast of all the Deceased of the Order. So he got his wish in a slightly
different way. He replied the brother: `Well then, I go to my rest`.These were his last words.
Raphael Kalinowski was beatified in Krakow by Pope John Paul 11 during his historic
homecoming , on June 22 1983 in the presence of two million people. He was canonized a saint
by the same Pope on November 17 1991at St. Peter`s in Rome. 2
1 Op.Cit, Szczepan T. Praskiewicz, Notes to Part 11, 59.
2 Before leaving for the Conclave in Rome that elected him Pope in an historic election, Karol Woytyla,
Archbishop of Krakow prayed at the tomb of Raphael Kalinowski.
46

Appendix 1
`In reading the Chronicles of Carmel, I arrived at an answer to some unexplained points. In spite
of my inability I will report what comes to mind, and that should be sufficient. I asked myself
after my entrance into Carmel from where could have come this strong affection for our
Discalced fathers , because before this I had not known the Discalced Carmelites. Fr. Hermann
was the first Carmelite that I had the opportunity to meet. He had come to know Marie-Christine
and the whole royal family of Spain, who lived in exile in France and spent the season in the
Pyrennees. This father heard the confessions of the whole family and gave them talks. When he
came to Paris, Amparo, the eldest daughter of Queen Christine by her second marriage to Duke
Rianzares and before that married to Prince Ladislas Czartoryski, greatly wished to see Fr.
Augustine and invited him to the Hotel Lambert. I remember how I was struck with
admiration for this religious whom I saw for the first time, so holy, so humble, only recently
miraculously converted. I saw him enter the stately hall gilt from top to bottom decorated with
paintings by Le Sueur and Le Brun , famous works from the era of Louis X1V, then the
magnificent furniture which contrasted so much with this holy and humble Carmelite, dressed in
a heavy habit and white mantle. After he had greeted everyone he sat down at the piano and
played so beautifully that it made a lasting impression on us. 1
As yet I had no desire to enter Carmel, but I went along with my sister-in-law Iza to visit the
Carmelites, unknown to the family, who very definitely wanted her to get married.
Iza wished to escape from them and take refuge in the cloister; I remember how, while she was
chatting with the Prioress at the grill, I sat down in a corner and cried! I never thought that six or
seven years later, that same Iza would come from Paris and be at my side when I opened the
doors of the Carmel in Poznan. 2 I did not enter the Carmel in Paris because it was not under the
jurisdiction of our fathers. 3 I entered then in Poznan , in the Convent of Discalced Carmelites,
where I found everything that I had desired: the observance, joy, mutual love, great cleanliness in
the convent, the very lovable Prioress Mother Hedwig, really burning with zeal for the glory of
1 Joseph Kalinowski (P Raphael), P Jean-Baptiste, Liege,1923.
2 Also known as Posen.
3 The Paris Carmel was Berullian as were many French Carmels. Cardinal Berulle put his own stamp on these
Carmels, rejecting the wishes of St. Teresa herself and her first followers like Venerable Anne.
47

God; so sensitive in her questions and in her responses, animated with a holy joy, often naïve
even , showing at every opportunity a real affection for this old postulant, for whom you might
say she wished to turn all heaven in my favor. In Poznan we often talked about our fathers from
Czerna. 1 Fr. Andrew from the Belgian province was our confessor and he proved to be a real joy.
He told us that one day when he saw a poor woman walking barefoot , he gave her the money to
buy some shoes.
Mother Hedwig reminded me of my own mother by her great charity of heart and her apostolic
zeal. She worried a lot about the state of the last and only house of our fathers and that of our
sisters in Wesola. She received letters from Fr. Joseph (Tyrka), prior of Czerna , on the desperate
state of his house and from Mother Wenzyk on the sad state of hers. She told me that if we had to
leave Poznan (for the government threatened to dissolve our community), we should withdraw to
Krakow and with Fr. Andrew try and find a way to save the house at Czerna.
After a lot of negotiation and squabbles, we had in fact to abandon our convent in Poznan and take the exile`s
road. Mother Hedwig had obtained permission to visit our Archbishop, Mgr. Ledochowski, who was detained
in the prison of Ostrowo. 2 Canon Maryanski accompanied us with two brothers (Stanislas and Tadeusz
Grocholski). No sooner had we got there when an enormous iron door opened before us and we ourselves, just
the Carmelites, were admitted to the prison. Two small cells were at the disposal of our archbishop. His bed
was in one and his desk in the other. We all went down on our knees and kissed his hand and greeting him with
an outpouring of our hearts. Everything he had in the prison, his little altar, his pictures, the linen and priestly
ornaments had been sent to him by our Mother Hedwig; the linen and the ornaments had been made by our
sisters also. Without delay we opened up the drawers to see if there was anything else needed. The archbishop
looked at this unexpected intervention by us a bit uneasily and in an amiable way asked us to tone down our
enthusiasm. We talked about Wesola, about our hopes. The Archbishop, turning to me, the novice in the white
veil, said to me again with an amiable smile: Sr. Mary-Xavier, you come to warm the frying pans so that we
won’t be cold! We spent the night at Ostrowa, with the Visitation sisters and next day, quite early we took the
road to Krakow.
1 Czerna was originally a Desert House of Prayer like that founded by Hermann Cohen in Tarasteix.
2 Ostrowa was a town near Krakow
48

We got there as night was falling and we reached the chapel of the Carmelites. On our knees
before the Blessed Sacrament, we joined in fervent prayer with Canon Maryanski, and when
we had received his blessing and took our farewells , also with the two brothers.
At that moment the great door opened, and we entered the cloister, illuminated by a faint light
and met Mother Mary Wenzyk, the prioress and Mother Xavier, subprioress. We embraced them
and the two mothers led us to our cells, though it was during the great silence. Our Mother
Hedwig, who only thought of the reform of Czerna, sent for Fr. Joseph next day and he soon
arrived; but she was disappointed however with what she heard .Father spoke to her about the
state of the house; there was no observance, mass was scarcely said every day and none of the
people attended their church any longer. Without delay she wrote to Rome and pleaded with
Father General to visit; but he replied that nothing could be done for the moment, until we
prayed to the Lord for good vocations. That is when we started on our assault, and what an
assault! What penance, what disciplines, what novenas!
At this time I had a visit from my sister-in-law, Princess Iza, the one who had accompanied me
to the Carmel in Poznan. During the whole conversation we only spoke about the situation we
were in – we had no fathers to direct us; observance at Czerna had collapsed and I begged her to
find a `postulant` who would be capable of initiating and bringing to completion the work of
reform. Some months later she wrote to me saying; the person who is bringing you this letter is
none other than the one we are looking for. That person was M. Joseph Kalinowski. Naturally he
deposited the letter at the `turn` 1 in Wesola and disappeared without introducing himself!
Letter within a letter - contents of Iza`s letter.
My very dear Mary, I have not forgotten your recommendations, but until now nothing has
turned up. Still an idea struck me – the person who delivered that letter to you is the one we are
looking for. Naturally I have said nothing to him but look into it. I believe he is someone of great
holiness, and that all his thoughts and all his aspirations are directed to God; only don’t say
anything to anyone about this. This is very important. Say nothing, but pray. In these matters
there is no need to get involved, to do anything but allow God to act. That is why I implore you
1 The `turn` was or is an ingenious contraption for passing items into the convent, otherwise impossible because of
a fixed grill.
49

not to discuss this with anyone. When I say anyone, however Mother Prioress can be informed,
but nobody else. Please recommend me to her good memory and pray do not believe me foolish
that I get mixed up is such a situation. But she must know that when Mary (Mother
Mary-Xavier) 1 wants something she can manage it with discretion. Write and let me know what
you think. (End of letter)
It is easy to imagine what happened at Wesola when this letter was received – unlimited
gratitude to God and continual prayer that what had miraculously begun would be brought about.
Gucio Czartoryski, the pupil of M Kalinowski, and son of Prince Laidlaw and Amparo, went
from Sieniawa to Davos, where they were to spend the winter and passed through Krakow with
his mentor. They came to Wesola to say goodbye. But I was so timid that I didn’t dare talk to
them in the parlor about our projects. When they had gone I was mad with myself for not having
availed of such a favorable opportunity, and when I got to recreation all the mothers and sisters
got stuck into me! Some time later, M Hippolyte Blotnocki also came to say goodbye. I began to
breathe freely again; he is a great friend of our family.Before the revolution of 1831, he had
already been secretary to Prince Adam Czartoryski.After that he became the teacher of his two
sons, and later of his grandson, Prince Auguste (Gucio); so I was able to confide everything to
him. After we had exchanged most cordial greetings, I begged him earnestly, to get involved, to
pray, to ask M.Kalinowski to kindly help us with the reform of our Order in Poland, which
without him would come to grief. Good M Blotnicki was so profoundly touched by my ardent
prayer, that he promised to tell him everything , and he regretted that he was no longer young (he
was nearly 80) in order to take to the Discalced Carmelite arena himself and help us realize our
project. He returned next day to inform us of his efforts. With what anticipation and what
impatience we awaited his arrival!
Well, Sir, I said after greeting him, did he refuse you? To which he responded:
I told everything to M. Kalinowski, I told him absolutely everything.
And what did he say?
He said nothing, he just continued to pack his bag for his departure.
That`s a good sign , Sir, and it shows that he wishes to reflect and take the matter seriously.
1 She seems here to be referring to the subprioress.
50

Our whole community started to pray and to offer penance and holy communions to
God.Immediately our Mother Sub-Prioress, Mother Teresa of Jesus, attached a note on the choir
door of the intentions for which we were to pray:
`Our Holy Order and Poland – M. Kalinowski. ` And I myself, writing to Gucio at Davos, always
added on some words to my letter: We are praying to God for him to let us know his will, for the
Holy Spirit to communicate his light; we are offering communions and making novenas for these
intentions. And in every reply of Gucio we always recognized a little passage written under the
dictation of M.Kalinowski which filled us with tokens of joy.`
Appendix 2.
Devotional life of St. Raphael Kalinowski.
Devotion to Our Lady of Mt .Carmel.
Raphael, in an address to the Marian Congress at Leopoli in 1905, stated that `Carmelites are the
first-born of Mary.` Then he recalls that following the tradition of their Father Elijah they were
the first to build a chapel to Mary on Mt. Carmel. He further states that it was the Virgin Mary
who gave the strength to the Polish church to withstand attacks from all sides. The reason for this
is that during her earthly life she was given the task of watching over the infant Jesus and
protecting the infant church.
A Marian Congress was held at Leopoli in 1905 and Kalinowski was one of the speakers there.
He said among other things;` (The spirit of penance and prayer), is the heritage that has been
passed on to us and that we have accepted in coming to Carmel. We ought to bring this about by
our activity and where that isn’t possible by our penance and prayer……Believe me , our
devotion to Mary is not sufficiently alive. Its a point of the greatest importance for both
Carmelite friars and nuns, to honor the most holy Virgin. We show our love when we try to
51

imitate her virtues, her humility, her recollectedness in prayer, when we work to correct our
faults in order to be pleasing to her.We ought to fix our gaze constantly on her and give her all
our affection; we ought to keep in mind her favors and always be faithful to her.`
Raphael was a great believer in the power of the Brown Scapular and spread devotion to it
everywhere. A young man called Joseph Wasilewski , mentioned above in the course of our
story and who entered the Jesuits , later helped Raphael spread devotion to the Scapular in
Romania.
One of the people to whom he gave spiritual direction was Princess Teresa Moruzi and she urged
him to bring the Scapular devotion Romania – Soulina, Braila and other places and this work
bore fruit. A Jesuit Missionary, named Wiercinski reported a spiritual transformation at a place
called Husz in Romania which he attributed to the Brown Scapular. On another occasion the
same priest reported the conversion of a young man named Schnell, originally from Austria
who was on a downward spiral and heavily into gambling. Four children from this family
attended the priest`s school. The young man`s mother and family were greatly concerned and
approached Kalinowski for help. He gave the young man the Brown Scapular and a little book
to read. He turned his life around. When the mother came to thank the priest he said, `Don`t
thank me, thank the Blessed Virgin and Fr. Raphael`.
In a Conference given to Carmelite Friars in Wadowice in 1906, on the vigil of the Feast of the
Divine Maternity, Raphael quotes with great approval an 17 th century writer ( whom he does
not name) who sees as one positive sign amid the general failing in religious mentality was a
perceived increase in devotion to Mary. Raphael wondered :`if a voice made itself heard in this
way three centuries ago, the voice of Mother Church in our own time is not very different.In
those former times people took refuge under the protection of the Virgin Mary,Mother of God,
who renewed the Church.Why shouldn`t we, in our times, also receive help from heaven if we
faithfully invoke Mary in the glory of her divine Maternity?`1
He also remarks that because Mary was a virgin mother such a degree of consanguinity bestows
on Mary the right not only of maternity but of paternity over Christ`!
1 Op.Cit. Szczepan T.Praskiewviz.ocd
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Eucharist in the life of Raphael Kalinowski . 1
`If Eucharistic life expresses itself in fulfilling the greatest commandment, which is love of God
and of neighbour, then this love finds its source in the sacrament of the Eucharist, which is
commonly called the sacrament of love ` (John Paul 11)
People who have based their lives on the Eucharist know the truth of these words of the late
Pope John Paul.There is no saint in Church who has not lived by the Eucharist and this is
verified in the life of St. Rafael Kalinowski (1835-1907) Like Hermann Cohen he was one of
those people who derived constant strength from Christ's presence in the Eucharist.
We know from the details of Raphael's life , that he went through a phase of indifference to
Christian practice in his youth, which was made worse by the absence of religious values which
he experienced in a strange environment away from his family. Yet, he changed completely
when he experienced God's merciful love during the Sacrament of Reconciliation , just as
Charles de Foulcauld did at an earlier period in France. Joseph as he then was, grew spiritually
through the Eucharist which he tried to attend every day since the day of his conversion.
In addition he frequented the sacraments on a regular basis. Each morning, after his conversion
and before his arrest, he made his way through the streets of Vilnius to attend mass ,
usually in St. Elisabeth's Church of the Benedictine Sisters but occasionally in the church of
the Bonifrat Fathers. Again like Hermann Cohen in France some years before ,while still a
layperson he became something of a precursor of devotion to the Eucharist and anticipated
future developments by decades. Indeed it was only as late as the beginning of the 20 th
century that Pope St. Pius X promulgated frequent Communion for all .In this he was said to
have been influenced by St. Therese of Lisieux.
He believed that frequent presence at Lord's Table would make it easier for Gucio, an
aristocratic pupil so absent-minded by nature, to reach the state of concentration so necessary
while learning. Through "the school of Eucharist" our Patron led August Czartoryski to the
Salesian Priests Congregation, and today his pupil is a canonized saint.
1 Unpublished notes of Szczepan T.Praskiewviz,ocd
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In one of them he wrote: `Since the time I believed in Jesus Christ present in Holy Sacrament, all
my being has concentrated on the High Altar ; even in Czestochowa I just glanced at
various object there.`
In a letter from Menton in Switzerland he confessed: `My only entertainment is to relax in
God's presence and replenish my heart with the treasure left us by the Savior on our altars.`
It is worth emphasising that as a layman, thirty year old Joseph Kalinowski wrote to his family
from Siberia : `God entirely devoted himself to us. How can we not devote ourselves entirely to
God?`. He fully understood that the Lord is madly in love with us , as he showed even to
death on the Cross; then by his presence with us in Eucharist, again by identifying with
every human being , especially the suffering ones. He experienced Christ's love in every
Eucharist.
`Christ's love urges us` ... wrote St. Paul in his letter to Corinthians. St. Raphael's response to
God was complete love expressed through his life as a Carmelite priest. St John of the Cross
would say: `Love is repaid by love alone`. He lived for the Eucharist, dispensing it with joy
every day.
As a friar he could live under the same roof as Christ present in the Eucharist. One of the
servers at his mass in the Carmelite convent chapel in Lobzowska in Kracow wrote about him
later: `When he approached the altar his face looked recollected and during mass all his
concentration seemed to be focused on the Eucharist alone. People liked looking at him and
many of them could not take their eyes off him. `
One of his friends , Ludwika Mlocka wrote : ` During the Eucharist said by Father Raphael
you could not help being moved just by seeing his concentration and devotion`. In this matter
he took his example from St. John of the Cross, Doctor of Church, of whom similar observations
were reported.
Witnesses to his life called during the canonical process unanimously witnessed to Raphael's
great love for the Eucharist. They attest that he celebrated the Eucharist with great fervor and
devotion and sometimes seemed to be carried away, his appearance really
transformed .Certainly he also paid special attention. to liturgical practice .Veronika
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Smoczynska, a Carmelite nun and a directee - considered St. Raphael's Eucharistic life to be
`the basis of his whole life and work . You should have . seen him at the altar celebrating the
Eucharist . What concentration, what attention - he seemed to see the mystery we was
celebrating at that moment. What respect, what love in distributing Holy Communion. Deep
faith seem to reveal the secrets of God to him. He obviously came to the altar prepared
to receive the grace of his fidelity.`
We know that Raphael prepared to celebrate the Eucharist by reading the traditional prayers
in the sacristy. There was also his prayer of adoration during the day and during the night as
well as the usual morning meditation laid down by the Carmelite Constitutions. Then after mass
he would recite the thanksgiving prayers. He never conversed with people
after the Eucharist until he had prayed in the sacristy. In his opinion the fruit of Eucharist
depended not only on its frequent reception but also on proper preparation to receive it. In his
letters and during conferences he recommended saying thanksgiving prayers after receiving Holy
Communion and at that time he recommended himself and his most important concerns to
God because - as he wrote : ` when will our prayer may be more fervent and deserve to be
heard by God if not after receiving our the body of our Lord Jesus Christ? `
He spoke to the Carmelite nuns about Pope St. Pius X`s decree recommending frequent Holy
Communion: `I remind you that it is not the frequency of Holy Communion alone that is good
for us but by preparing ourselves for it , by trying to lessen our faults and by equipping
ourselves with the flowery ornaments of virtue and attending to the needs of others with love.`
He expressed his Eucharistic teaching not only because he was obliged to do so by the fact that
he was a priest, whether from the pulpit or in confessional , but also in letters to his family ,
sharing his convictions with his relatives and closest friends.
Here are his main points. In the Eucharist Jesus unites himself with us, vivifies us with his grace,
strengthens us with the Bread of Life and wanting us to try to be like him.
In conclusion here are the main points of his teaching on the Eucharist. There are three
conditions for a worthy Holy Communion:
1. One must value it as much as the saints valued this great gift of God.
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2. Approach the Eucharist in such a way that Holy Communion properly received , forms
the goal of one's life; all the energies of the person should be dedicated to Jesus alone and
to His glory. (Jesus must live in us so that all our actions do not come from us but from Him.
His presence in our souls should produce the fruits of supernatural virtues.)
3. Use the grace received in the Eucharist and don’t waste it , but allow it bear to fruit in
us. We receive the Lord in order to have the strength to carry on the fight. People are subject
to weakness so they need the Eucharist to provide the necessary strength. This food from
heaven gives us power and strength, satisfies our hunger and thirst, and makes us reach
out courageously to the Lord for his presence and grace which we are there for us. This was
his teaching and he followed it up by actions not words only as he would have said himself
so often.
One who observed him made this point; `What he said about Holy Communion, he practised
himself. He valued the gift of the Eucharist, and saw it as the way to be sanctified .` It is
worth asking ourselves how we value this treasure of the Church today, and whether we fully
live this gift, and what influence does it have on our daily lives?
Appreciating the value of the Eucharist as he did, living it day by day, we ought imitate
him in our understanding and love of the Eucharist. Is the Eucharist the source of life, of love, of
forgiveness and of true joy for us? Certainly we will not be able to express entirely what the
Eucharist is and how to experience it. But the saints who are witnesses of faith , and St.
Raphael Kalinowski in particular , can help bring us closer to what they lived through ,
prayed through and experienced.
Little things;
He once returned a needle he had been lent at the turn in a Carmelite, saying it wasn’t pricking
his finger but his eye. ( I presume he meant that when he actually saw the needle on his desk it
also pricked his conscience).This reminds me of the story of John of the Cross replacing a pin
outside the Prior`s door!
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Kalinowski`s basic position in regard to his religious orientation can be summed up in his own
words;` It is God who created me: therefore I ought to live totally for him. Justice requires it and
on it my happiness depends`.
He was a most prayerful man in the spirit of St. Teresa herself and like her he was always
faithful to his prayer, even while on journeys. Again a witness attests;`The life of Fr. Raphael
was, right to the end, a life of prayer, of silence, of recollection, of mortification and of penance`.
Again we let him speak for himself;`The apostolate of Jesus on the cross ought to be continued,
for it is the suffering members of his mystical body, who are, as well as the martyrs who shed
their blood, willing victims dedicated to expiation, in solitude and in a life of penance and
prayer. Just as Jesus on the cross converted and drew to himself the good thief,…..continues
even now his divine mission in his suffering members who, by their penitent lives teach and
convert individuals.`
Again he had some wise words in the matter of temptation;` In temptation you should not be
afraid or troubles, but armed with courage,take up a strong attitude, including externally,. And
get down to some kind of work.You must not stop thinking about the struggle but you must also
resort to prayer.You should recite slowly and calmly the psalm . `one who lives in the shade of
the Almighty`, or other prayers, `, `Lord Jesus, I will sleep and repose on your heart,`
Here we catch an echo in fact of Hermann Cohen`s `French` spirituality which Raphael
Kalinowski seems to have shared to a great extent . Hermann Cohen in a sermon said;`I slept
on the heart of my loving friend . It was no ordinary sleep but one filled with an immense sense
of peace which the young man (Christ) induced in me after the storm`.
Later in another context St. Raphael would say;
`Our primary duty in Carmel is to converse with God in all our actions…desire to love God
without limit; as the intensity of that desire increases more and more in your heart, it will
overflow into all the activity of your life on earth`.
To achieve this he advises;
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`We ought to try above all to discard anything that slows down our progress, and set ourselves to
act in everything as God wills, without keeping count of the difficulties, exterior or interior that
we might encounter, gathering together all our energies and putting our trust in the infinite mercy
of God`.
In regard to his apostolic interests, like St. Teresa, he encourages prayer for the Church because
the Church is our home.
`Then out of this immense totality (He had reviewed beauty of creation) comprising all humanity,
a great number of persons is gathered who together make up ,under the leadership of the Pope,
the holy church. She is our second home.`
St. Raphael is regarded as a patron and promoter of unity in the Church. In this he was inspired
by his fellow countryman and Vilnian St.Josaphat, who was martyred in the cause of Church
unity in 1623. His feast day is marked on November 12, that of Kalinowski on November 18.
This is what is highlighted in the Opening Prayer of the mass for his feast : `Lord God you
made your priest Saint Raphael strong in adversity and filled with a great love in promoting
church unity…`
Passing under review so many different Christian groups he says:` Let us pray for them, and for
all those who do not belong to the church, that one day they may be able to enter it`.
St. Raphael Kalinowski and the Carmelite Secular Order 1
The Carmelite Secular Order came into being in the 14th century in Western Europe but did
not have any permanent institutions or legal norms at that time. The Carmelite Third or Secular
Order may be defined as a group of lay people who are dedicated to the Carmelite spirit or
charism of St. Teresa and who in an organized way, recite the Prayer of the Church and take
part in the Eucharist on a regular basis. They usually meet monthly in a given location. All lay
people belonging to the Carmelite Secular Order, formerly known as the Third Order,
1 I am indebted to unpublished notes by Szezepan T. Praskiewicz for much of the information in
this Appendix 3.
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elong to the Carmelite family , and to a lesser extent people who wear the scapular as
members of a Brown Scapular Confraternity of Our Lady of Mt. Carmel .
So also members of other Carmelite Confraternities, such as that of St. Joseph, the Infant
Jesus or contemporary mission groups, Secular Carmelite Institutes, the Carmelite Missionaries ,
two groups of which were founded by Blessed Francis Palau. Others such as the `Elianum`, the
Institute of Notre Dame de Vie, or various Teresian groups also belong to the Carmelite family.
Increasing interest in the Carmelite Secular Order has resulted firstly from a rapidly growing
devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary based on the Brown Scapular of Our Lady of Mt.
Carmel, and embracing a great number of contemporary Christians. For example the original
Carmelite Rule of Life , known as the Rule of St. Albert has been lived out for centuries
by the Carmelite family , including lay associates, throughout Europe . Many people in
addition , shared also in the Carmelite spirit, through a devout wearing of the Brown
Scapular as a sign of dedication to Our Lady. This fact also ensured a welcome for
Carmelites when they returned to a specific area, after decades of suppression in various
countries throughout Europe. When an English Catholic layman, Thomas Walmesley , wrote to
the public in 1863 asking them to support Hermann Cohen`s work in restoring the Carmelite
Friars to England, he had this to say; `I appeal to all who have any devotion to Our Blessed
Lady , but especially to those who wear her scapular, to assist her sons.`1
It is true of course also that the Carmelite Order would have been known through the presence of
the sisters in England in the preceding centuries , but inevitably their hidden contemplative
life would have placed limits on how well the Order was known.
Secondly, interest springs from a former religious culture itself and the desire people
traditionally have had to identify with the spirit or charism of a particular Order: to that extent
the faithful wished to be closely connected with religious Orders which were - in their opinion
- the most certain way to salvation. People often wished to wear a symbol of the particular
Order such as a medal or scapular, and to follow the Orders' spiritual practices, as well as
1 Letter of Thomas Walmesly in Carmelite Archives in Kensington , London.
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to be buried in the habit of the Order . The latter was quite common in countries like Ireland up
to the recent past.
There was a widespread revival of this wish to find support and guidance for a life of prayer on
the part of many people towards the end of the nineteenth century. This development led to a
growth in the Carmelite Secular Order.
St. Raphael Kalinowski, was a restorer of Carmelite life in Poland for Friars and nuns as we
saw. He was also instrumental in renewing the Third or Secular Order of Carmel.He was
sensitive to the needs of the faithful and he devoted himself fully to them , spending a lot of
time celebrating the Sacrament of Penance and opening to them the treasures of Carmelite
spirituality . He could be said to have brought Carmelite spirituality closer to lay people in
many different ways - publishing various leaflets, books, giving talks, promoting the Brown
Scapular, writing letters to people in a number of surrounding countries, such as Russia, Hungary
and Romania.
The Secular Carmelite Order and the Confraternity of the Brown Scapular.
In 1902 Kalinowski established, a scapular Confraternity in Sulina, Romania, through his
friend Teresa Moruzi, a member of the Secular Order , and he tried to obtain for it
canonical recognition from the General of the Order by sending him the necessary application
forms . He encouraged Jesuits working in a place called Jassy 1 to propagate devotion to the
Scapular and also wrote to the Austrian Consul`s daughter Fanny Jelinek 2 in Sulina
asking her to spread the scapular devotion.
Catholic priests in Romania reported what a positive influence the scapular was in Christian
life. There were instances of conversions from Orthodox Christianity to Catholicism due to
the scapular. Raphael even made plans to establish the Secular Order of Carmel in
connection with a Carmelite house in the capital Bucharest.
1 The second most populous city in Romania, also known as Lassey and Lasi.It is an important
cultural center.
2 Her father Franz Jelinek was Consul in Sulina at this time. It not clear how Kalinowski knew
them, perhaps through the Moruzi family.
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He also eagerly propagated devotion to the scapular in Poland itself and tried to encourage
priests in the surrounding territories to join the scapular Confraternity. He wrote to a certain
Irena Balatowska : `Do try hard to establish Holy Scapular Confraternity in your parish and
become a promoter of devotion to the Blessed Virgin.
In his letters he insisted on how people should pray in relation to wearing the scapular, so
that wearing it didn’t tend to become routine or border on the superstitious. He translated
various spiritual books such as a guide for daily meditations on the Virgin Mary with
the intention of publishing them.
In his ministry in the various Churches he served , he transformed them into sanctuaries of the
Virgin Mary of the Scapular ; in Czerna itself which became a great pilgrimage center, and
in that of St. Joseph in Wadowice , a house he himself had founded. During his stay in Czerna ,
group pilgrimages from the Prussian sector of Silesia came to seek spiritual direction from
him. Here they would buy Polish religious books available in the Priory.
Though the Carmelite Secular Order and the Scapular Confraternity are distinct they are
interrelated. Part of the ceremonial for induction into the secular Order ( as indeed for the other
two Orders) is the conferring of the scapular. From the point of view of the Church`s formal
worship a scapular, in connection with whatever Order, is called a sacramental, just like holy
water or a religious medal. It is called a `sacramental` because though it is related to the church`s
sacraments, it is not part of the seven.A sacramental can prepare and lead up to a fruitful
participation in the life of the sacraments, and it can help people prolong this fruitfulness by
having a blessed object on one`s person or in the home. The value of the sacramental does nor
reside in the object itself but in the rite for blessing the object carried out by an approved
minister of the church. The rite for the blessing and enrolment in the a particular scapular
devotion was approved by a Decree from the Congregation for Divine Worship on 27 Jaunary
1989 and signed by Cardinal Martinez. Formal membership of a Confraternity of the Brown
Scapular is not required in order for a person to be enrolled. In the enrolment ceremony the cloth
scapular is always used but subsequently a medal can be substituted for this , especially in
warmer countries and according to individual preferences.
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Kalinowski`s specific work for Carmelite Secular Order.
Raphael Kalinowski was the founder of Carmelite Third or Secular Order in Czerna and
Wadowice and even before that , immediately after ordination, he was also appointed by
the provincial as Director of the existing Secular Order , set up and led by Princess
Marcelina at the Discalced Carmelite Convent in Lobozowa, Kracow. Secular Order meetings
took place in Carmelite chapel on the first Friday of each month. Raphael took part in those
meetings, directing and preaching conferences and hearing confessions. 1
Secular Carmelite members certainly were very devoted to Kalinowski as their Director.
They went to him for the Sacrament of Reconciliation , he carried out the usual ceremonies for
them , gave them inspiring talks and received what are now called their Promises. Like a good
Father he tried to give them spiritual consolation such as arranging a meeting with Fr. Gotti,
General of the Order . John Baptist Bouchaud OCD described in a biography of Kalinowski
how he encouraged the members in Krakow to engage in charitable activities such as helping
poor people, etc.
The Secular Order as we saw had been in existence in Poland before Kalinowski's time but it
was he who gave it a new impetus and established new communities. In this place I will briefly
analyse historical facts related to our Secular Order in Poland and its relationship with St.
Rafael. 1864 is thought to be the year Princess Marcelina established the Secular Order
on her return from Paris, at the Carmelite Convent in Wesola , situated at 24
Copernicus St, Krakow.
On December 8 th ,1873, the Third or Secular order was established in Poznan at the Discalced
Carmelite Convent by a Belgian Discalced Carmelite Andrew of St. Romuald (Karol
1 When he sought advice from Fr. Jerome Gotti , General of the Order, during his visitation in Poland, on how
to run the Secular Order community, he received this reply: ` As far as teaching the community members is
concerned, I would advise you to make it as simple as possible. If The Secular Order has its own chapel, it would be
different , but since you gather in the nuns' chapel, I would like the teachings to be edifying but simple. Don’t
introduce any changes in the community's usual agenda. In my opinion it would be too much to expose the
Blessed Sacrament . Instead , you could put out the relic of the Virgin Mary after giving your teaching , then
decide on a virtue for the month, recite the rosary and litany of the Blessed Virgin Mary. Then bless the
group with the relic and allow them to venerate it.`
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Gatzweiler), an esteemed confessor, who on that day received the first person into the
Secular Order . This was a certain Fr. Wladyslaw Meszczynski, secretary to the Cardinal and a
Papal Chamberlain of Pope Pius 1X . When the Discalced Carmelite nuns left Poznan in 1875
and moved to Krakow, they took also with them the books of the Secular Order. In years
1875 - 1910, forty six people were admitted to this community. Many people from
aristocratic families and members of the clergy belonged to it, among them clergy from Poznan,
eg Bishop Chrysostom Janiszewski, and many from the ranks of the ordinary clergy.
Furthermore there was the aristocratic leader herself whom we have met before - Princess
Marcelina Radziwill Czartoryska who took the name ` Maria of the Heart of Jesus (1817 -
1894) . She was not alone however , there was also numerous others from noble families , eg,
Countess Stefania Bninska ,probably the wife of the Count who shared Kalinowski`s exile and
Petronela Dybowska, perhaps related to the scientist Dybowski .
Marcelina encouraged other people from noble families to join the Secular Carmel in
Krakow. But she paid no attention to their titles but only to their good qualities. She received
Anna Szpakowska who was one of the poor people in the area, whose only qualification
was love of the sick , and it was she who brought great renown to the Carmelite Secular
Order in Krakow.
Marcelina Czartoryska organised regular meetings in Carmelite sisters` chapel in Lobozow. And
she was responsible for admitting new members. Talks to the community were conducted by
priests who had joined the community .Marcelina did a tremendous amount of good for
Carmel in Poland especially for the nuns or members of the First Order as they are called . She
helped in the renewal of the Carmelite family in Czerna also. She even went to Rome
about this matter and sought the support of the superiors of the Order. Mother Xavier wrote
about her: `Only God knows how much she did for the renewal in Czerna.`
Furthermore we know that Princess Marcelina hosted the dinner after Kalinowski' s
ordination in Czerna. Her house was open to everyone but she lived modestly herself and
helped the sick in St. Luke`s Hospital. She contributed to the Conference of St. Vincent de Paul
to assist their work , as also that of the Sisters of Mercy in Kazimierz in Krakow who visited
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the poor in their homes. She herself was a self-effacing person. She was in charge of the Secular
Order in Krakow for almost twenty years until her death. When she died on June 5, 1894
Raphael Kalinowski simply referred to her as `a great benefactor`.
The most rapid development in the story of the Secular Order took place only after the
renewal of the Priory in Czerna .There followed on this the renewal of the Carmelite
friars in other parts of Poland especially at the instigation of the General of the Order
Fr.Jerome Maria Gotti, probably during his visitation in 1885.
Kalinowski was the real restorer of the Carmel in Czerna. He became at that point spiritual
director of the Secular Order in there . The Register for the Secular Order in Czerna was begun
in 1891. The first Register had begun with the group which, as we saw, was set up in Krakow at
the convent of the Discalced Carmelite nuns in Lobozowska. The community was made up of
members who came from neighboring towns (Krzeszowice, Nowa Gora, Paczoltowice) and
later also from the Kingdom of Poland and Silesia. The first name on the Register in Czerna
was Teresa Moruzi, Kalinowski`s friend. The first one to make her commitment to the Secular
Order in Czerna was Antonina Podolecka from Krzeszowice – which she did on December 9 th ,
1894, taking the name `Teresa of Jesus.`
In 1892 the number of the Secular Order members in Czerna amounted to fifteen people.
Duchess Teresa Moruzi (from Sulina in Romania), Rafael Kalinowski's directee whom we
have met previously, and whose husband Dyrnitr was related to the Serbian Queen, was
admitted that year. Though she lived in Romania she officially belonged to the Krakow
community.
By 1911 as many as 972 people joined the Third or Secular
number of people making Promises
was much lower.
Order, but unfortunately the
When Kalinowski moved to Wadowice in 1893, he set up the Third or Secular Carmelite
Order community there. He personally received the first candidates.
On January 25 th , 1903 during a conference in Wadowice Raphael quoted St. Teresa of Jesus
from the first Polish edition of her `Life`, Written by herself.` He spoke about a good death,
about the need for purification and of getting rid of one`s faults . He also recommended the
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custom of choosing a monthly patron saint and writing down the name as well as practising the
virtue associated with the saint. During a conference on February 22 nd , 1903 he spoke about
faith, about good works and about prayer as a necessary means for tackling wrong
tendencies. One month later on March 29 th he gave a talk on `The church is our home `. This
was on the occasion of 25 th anniversary of Pope Leo XIII`s pontificate. 1
Kalinowski would describe the essence of membership of the Carmelite Secular Order in three
words: ` Work, prayer and suffering.` Elaborating on this he meant that one should draw
blessings from work, one should pray in a peaceful way, and willingly suffer .To benefit from
these we must preserve a pure heart and only Jesus Christ can purify our hearts and keep them
clean form sin. In addition it is the duty of a Secular Order member to practising virtue,
beginning by striving against the opposite imperfections .This is the `agree contra` of
traditional asceticism. He would also insist on faith in Christ's Eucharistic presence , on
loyalty to the Church and to Holy Father as a basis a dedicated life .
Discalced Carmelites from Lobozow wrote about St. Rafael's work for the Third or Secular
Carmel: `Fr. Raphael never spoke at length but what he said was full of sense and
communicated in a dignified way, and (according to what their comments) he urged
people to concentrate on their inner lives. `
Raphael Kalinowski did not stint his penitents of his time and but dedicated many hours
to them , inculcating in them a genuine spiritual life . The experience of making a general
confession to him was often the beginning of a new growth stage in their lives. For example He
treated the Duchess Teresa Moruzi, who suffered from scruples, kindly but firmly. He didn’t
allow people to trawl over past confessions but encouraged obedience and trust to
regular confessor .
Works of Mercy.
Not only Kalinowski look after peoples` spiritual needs but he also saw to their moral and
material ones as well. In Wadowice he organised financial resources for the young women
1 Op. Cit . St.Raphael Kalinowski . Szezepan T Praskiewitz,ICS, 111 Selections from the Saint`s
works.
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who worked in local night clubs and who were often driven to prostitution by poverty and need.
In some cases he made arrangements for some of them to be cared fby the Institute of the
Mercy Sisters who had a house for that purpose in a place called Lagiewniki, near Krakow.
This is the site of the famous and imposing new Basilica of Divine Mercy, promoted by Pope
John Paul who canonized St Faustina , a member of this congregation, some years later .
On his initiative too a Conference the St. Vincent de Paul society was set up and wealthy
women from the town engaged in much charitable activity from here.
Princess Marcelina Radziwill Czartoryska, who figures so largely in Kalinowski`s life , lived
in Wola Justowska not far from Krakow, and she was the leader of the Secular Order group
there until her death. She assisted Kalinowski and his colleagues in the Discalced Carmelites.
It was she who went with him to Przemysl and helped in setting the new foundation of
Carmelite sisters when they moved from Krakow .
Kalinowski`s piety and devotion were noted by all and his influence over the friars, nuns,
members of the Carmelite Family and on local priests was profound.
In 1898 a new Third or Secular Order community was set up at the church of the Assumption
Virgin Mary in Chorzow. More than ten years later Silesian communities of the Secular
Carmel developed extremely quickly and their number reached a dozen or so, bringing together
about a thousand members . They used come on pilgrimage to Czerna and renewed their
faith at the shrine of the Virgin Mary and at the grave of St. Raphael. They also liked to
collect water from the stream running by .
Later on the Secular Order was guided by Carmelite friars who had been friends and pupils of
Raphael Kalinowski .The two most prominent of these were John Baptist Bouchaud and the
martyr Blessed Alphonsus Maria (Joseph Mazurek.) He was murdered by the Nazis in
1944 .John Baptist wrote a biography of Princess Marcelina among other numerous
publications. The heroic life of Alphonsus Mazurek and that of others must owe something to
the inspiring example of Raphael Kalinowski.
In the post-Vatican 11 Church which emphasized the call to holiness of the laity, Raphael
Kalinowski`s work for Secular Order Carmelites ought to be emphasized. This is even more
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important when we review the statistics of the Carmelite Family, only three and a half thousand
friars , up to13,000 nuns but over 27,000 members of the Secular Order worldwide.
Summary .
The literature often emphasises St. Raphael' s work for the communities in Czerna and
Wadowice, and for the Discalced Carmelite nuns in Cracow, Przemysl, and Lwow , but his
pastoral and structural effort towards the laity and especially the Secular Carmel is seldom
mentioned. The members of the Secular Order share in the ideal of the Order, its charism, grace
and fruitfulness. They participate really and fully in the Carmelite spirit , though their way of
life is very far removed from that of the friars and nuns. They are called to respond fully to the
call to holiness issued by Vatican 11. This call then is an invaluable gift for today`s world.
Carmelite spirituality has inspired the laity to take Promises as members of the Carmelite
family, but at the same time of they continue to live in the world according to their state
of life. Fidelity to their rule of life can give them the strength to work for the good of their
families, to do their work more efficiently and to influence their environment and
workplace in a positive way . The Carmelite spirit can also promote a patient and resigned
approach to the inevitable onset of retirement and old age.
Raphael Kalinowski initiated this Carmelite Secular Order commitment , not only by his
teaching but also by the witness of his life . In his homily during the canonization Mass, Pope
John Paul 11 made this observation: ` He was a highly valued confessor and spiritual leader. He
taught people how to love God, Christ, the Virgin Mary, the Church and one`s neighbor.
He spent many hours immersed in this hidden apostolic activity.`
As a pioneer of the lay apostolate Kalinowski instructed Secular Carmelites in the ways of the
`New Evangelisation` by the witness of his own life .
A Pastoral Letter from the Polish bishops before Kalinowski`s canonization in 1991 puts it well :
`The Church in making him a Saint, affirms that his mission to people has not yet finished
but is in fact growing even stronger.` The same was said by Therese of Lisieux by herself and
about her .
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Numerous pilgrimages to Czerna bear this out ,as people go there asking his intercession .A
Retreat House with a full annual program is in place there as well as regular days of recollection.
Young people from the Archdiocese of Katowice find a restful oasis there. There is a daily
liturgy in St. Raphael's chapel. Many people discover their vocation here as they pray at
Raphael's grave. The sanctuary at Czerna is regularly visited by people from Siberia as might be
expected.
Various groups and members of different organisations including Senators, Members of
Parliament visit on January 22 nd which is the anniversary of the January Uprising of 1863
in which the young Joseph Kalinowski took part. Not surprisingly he is seen as a `patron of
difficult times, one who unites Europe `, in the words of Pope John Paul II. He is the first
saint of the 3rd Republic of Poland, inaugurated by the revolutions of 1989 with the Solidarity
candidate, ex-shipyard worker from Gdansk , Lech Walesa, becoming its first President.
Kalinowski is a patron of many and varied groups: soldiers, prisoners, convicts, emigrants,
Sibiracs, railwaymen, tutors, superiors, friars and priests.
He played a significant part in the renewal of the church in Poland. And lastly of course he is
the patron and founder of the Polish Secular Order of Carmel and of all those who look to the
Carmelites to fulfil their pastoral needs.
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