BL. JAN BEYZYM, PRIEST - 2 OCTOBER

 

ALL SAINTS CELEBRATED IN OCTOBER

Saints celebrated on the 2nd of October

Prayer to the Angels and the Saints

Heavenly Father, in praising Your Angels and Saints we praise Your glory, for by honouring them we honour You, their Creator. Their splendour shows us Your greatness, which infinitely surpasses that of all creation.

In Your loving providence, You saw fit to send Your Angels to watch over us. Grant that we may always be under their protection and one day enjoy their company in heaven.

Heavenly Father, You are glorified in Your Saints, for their glory is the crowning of Your gifts. You provide an example for us by their lives on earth, You give us their friendship by our communion with them, You grant us strength and protection through their prayer for the Church, and You spur us on to victory over evil and the prize of eternal glory by this great company of witnesses.

Grant that we who aspire to take part in their joy may be filled with the Spirit that blessed their lives, so that, after sharing their faith on earth, we may also experience their peace in heaven. Amen.

BL. JAN BEYZYM, PRIEST 

(Also October 12) Jan Beyzym was born in Stari Beizymy, Russian Empire (now Ukraine) on May 15, 1850 as the eldest of five children to Jan Beyzym and Olga.  

Bl. Jan studied in Kiev there from 1864 until 1871. Afterwards he joined the Jesuits for his novitiate period on December 10, 1872 at Stara Wies and this concluded in 1874. During his novitiate there was a cholera epidemic and he received the permission of his superior to go out into the streets to tend to the ailing victims. 

Bl. Jan was ordained a priest on July 26, 1881. He then  served as a teacher at Jesuit boarding schools, teaching French and Russian. In 1898 he joined the Jesuit missions to lepers near Tananariwa in Madagascar with the permission of his superiors.

On December 30, Bl. Jan arrived at Red Island before being posted to Ambahivoraka near Antananarivo. He fainted several times while tending to the lepers due to the horrible odours. In October 1902 he began to see the construction of a leper hospital at Marana and it was finished and inaugurated on August 16, 1911. 

He became a noted figure for his activism and collaboration with the lepers and became known for his intense devotion to both the Eucharist and the Mother of God while being known also as a lover of all nature.

Bl. Jan died on October 2, 1912; his health had declined and he suffered both arteriosclerosis and sores which confined him to bed. His remains were exhumed and relocated back to Poland on December 8, 1993 to be interred at a Jesuit church. (Information from Wikipedia)