Venerable Albert Chmielowski

Albert Chmielowski (20 August 1845 – 25 December 1916) - born Adam Hilary Bernard Chmielowski - was a Polish Franciscan tertiary, painter, and disabled veteran of the Uprising of 1863. He was founder of both the Albertine Brothers and Albertine Sisters who are servants of the homeless and destitute. Chmielowski was born in Igołomia, on the outskirts of Kraków Congress Poland, into a szlachta family, the eldest of four to Wojciech Chmielowski, (1811–1853) and Józefa Borzysławska (1821-1859). His siblings were Stanisław Teodor (b. 1848), Jadwiga Modesta Szaniawska (b. 1850) and Marian Antoni (1852-1903). Due to the lack of a priest in turbulent times, Albert was baptised by a lay on 26 August 1845. A formal baptism followed on 17 June 1847. He was orphaned at age 8 when his father died and, 10 years later, by the death of his mother. Guardianship and care of the family fell to their paternal aunt, Petronela. After home schooling Chmielowski went on to study agroforestry at the Puławy Polytechnic Institute with a view to managing his late parents' estate. He became involved in independence politics and joined the January Uprising. Chmielowski participated in a battle on 1 October 1863 in which a Russian grenade killed his horse and damaged his leg to the extent that it had to be amputated. The injured Chmielowski had been carried to a woodman's cabin where Finnish soldiers allied with Russia found him. The captain recognized him since there were persistent rumours that Chmielowski evaded all gunfire and was invulnerable, but told him his leg had to be removed, to which Chmielowski is believed to have said: "Give me a cigar - that will help me pass the time". The operation went ahead, successfully though without anesthesia. He offered his intense suffering to God as he endured the excruciating pain.