BL John Beyzym

Blessed JOHN BEYZYM, Priest (1850 - 1912)
October. 12

Đọc Tiếng Việt

Fr Jan (John) Beyzym is best known for his dedication to serving abandoned lepers in Madagascar. Born in what is now the Ukraine on May 15, 1850, he was the eldest of 5 children. On completing his secondary studies in Kiev, Jan thought of becoming a diocesan priest. His father suggested the Jesuits and even went all the way with him to see him off at the novitiate of Stara Wieś on December 11, 1872.

After first studies at Stava Wieś, Jan did regency in Ternopol (Ukraine) as prefect of resident students and teacher of music, then went to Kraków for theology and was ordained July 26, 1881. He taught French and Russian in Ternopol until 1887, when he was posted to Chirov to teach and to be in charge of the large school infirmary. The students loved him for his kindly solicitude and the captivating stories he could tell.

From his years as a young regent Fr Beyzym had been seized with a desire to work for lepers. In 1897, at the age of 48, he wrote about this to Fr General, and the next year he was assigned to Madagascar, where a few French Jesuits were working at two hospices for lepers. On arriving at the large of the two hospices, near the capital Tananarive, he found some 150 lepers living totally abandoned in a desert area, with insufficient food and no medical care. The first thing he did was to start living among them. He put his earlier infirmary experience to use cleaning and bandaging wounds. He repaired huts and provided food and clothing and water for bathing. He was called "father and mother of the lepers."

He quickly realized that a proper hospital was needed and got the approval of civil authorities, but lacked funds. He placed the whole project into the hands of Our Lady of Częstochowa and began writing to Polish missionary organizations and magazines, describing the misery of the disease and the plight of its victims. The response was surprising, bringing in enough donations to make the hospital possible.

In 1901 Jan chose to build in Marana, site of the smaller of the two hospices, near Fianarantsoa in the south, where there was water and arable land. He himself designed the hospital and supervised the building project, which began in 1903. Before long patients that could traverse the long mountainous roads from Tananarive arrived in Marana to rejoin Fr Beyzym, who welcomed them all warmly. After many setbacks the hospital, named after Our Lady of Częstochowa, finally opened on August 15, 1911.

Weakened by labors and austerities, he fell victim to a fever caused by an infection contracted from the lepers and died before long, on October 2, 1912. He and his helpers had laid solid foundations for continued work among the lepers of Madagascar.

Jan Beyzym was beautified by Pope John Paul II in Kraków on August 18, 2002.

"The life of our Polish confrère offers us a model of faith which brings about the Kingdom of love by serving our fellow humans who suffer from social ostracism no less than from physical maladies." (P-H. Kolvenbach, AR XXII [2002], 872.

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