Blessed Jan Beyzym

Jan Beyzym, SJ (15 May 1850 – 2 October 1912) was a Polish Catholic priest and a professed member of the Jesuits. He served as an educator in Jesuit boarding schools for a while after his ordination though later left Poland to work alongside lepers in Madagascar where he remained until his death. His beatification cause started in 1985 and in 1992, he was titled as Venerable, upon the confirmation of his life of heroic virtue. Pope John Paul II beatified him while in Poland on 18 August 2002. Jan Beyzym was born in Stari Beizymy, Russian Empire (now Ukraine) on 15 May 1850 as the eldest of five children to Jan Beyzym and Olga. His father served as a freedom fighter and in 1863 was sentenced to death in absentia for his activities. He moved alongside his mother and siblings to Kiev and studied there from 1864 until 1871. He completed his education in Kiev before deciding to continue his religious life; he thought about being a diocesan priest, but his late father persuaded him to learn about the Jesuits and pursue a path with them - he decided to join them after a long internal struggle. Beyzym joined the Jesuits for his novitiate period on 10 December 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. Beyzym received his ordination as a priest on 26 July 1881 in Kraków from Bishop Albin Dunajewski. He served as a teacher after his ordination until 1898 at Jesuit boarding schools in Tarnopol and Chyrów where he taught the French and Russian languages. His students knew him for his sense of humour. In 1898, he left his native land to join the Jesuit missions to lepers near Tananariwa in Madagascar with the permission of his superiors. Father Beyzym left Poland on October 17, 1898 and arrived on the following 30 December at Red Island before being posted to Ambahivoraka near Antananarivo.