06/17/2026
Blessed Memorial of St. Albert Chmielowski!
Adam Hilary Bernard Chmielowski was born on August 20, 1844. He was one of four children to an aristocratic family in Igołomia, near Krakow, southern Poland. His parents died when he young so he was raised by extended family. Adam studied agriculture at a university and became active in politics. He lost a leg at the age of 18 while taking part in the Polish nationalist Uprising of 1863. The government had a severe response to the revolt and Chmielowski went into exile in Belgium. There he studied engineering and later painting in Paris and Munich.
Chmielowski returned to Krakow in 1874, became a prolific artist, and began to paint portraits of the impoverished. He felt compelled to help those in need, serving in the homeless shelters of the city. He painted religious artwork, including his best-known being a portrait of Jesus in Agony. Chmielowski abandoned his career for a life of poverty and service. On August 25, 1887, Chmielowski joined the Third Order of St. Francis, given the gray habit of the Order, and took the name of Brother Albert. One year later, he professed religious vows and founded the Brothers of the Third Order of Saint Francis, Servants of the Poor, also called the Albertines. He ministered to the poor of Krakow for nearly thirty years until he died on Christmas Day 1916. (Source: Catholic News Agency)
St. Albert Chmielowski, pray for us!
Happy feast day of St. Albert Chmielowski!
“And here is Brother Albert: a figure who has left a profound mark on the history of Krakow and the Polish people, as well as on the history of salvation. ‘One must give one's soul’: this seems to have been the guiding principle of Adam Chmielowski's life, from his youth. As a seventeen-year-old agricultural school student, he took part in the insurrectionary struggle for his homeland's freedom from foreign rule – and in the process suffered the loss of a leg. He sought the meaning of his vocation through artistic activity, leaving behind works that still impress today with their unique expressive power. As he devoted himself more and more intensely to painting, Christ made him feel the call to another vocation and invited him to seek ever further: ;Learn from me . . . for I am gentle and humble of heart . . . Learn.’” - JPII, 11/13/89
St. Albert Chmielowski, pray for us!
St. John Paul II, pray for us!
Canonization homily: https://www.vatican.va/content/john-paul-ii/it/homilies/1989/documents/hf_jp-ii_hom_19891112_due-canonizzazioni.html
Image: Saint Albert Chmielowski, colorized (wiki commons: public domain)
