Blessed Jerzy Ciesielski

Jerzy Ciesielski (12 February 1929 – 9 October 1970) was a Polish Roman Catholic from Kraków and a member from the Focolare Movement. Ciesielski was married and was also a close personal friend of Karol Józef Wojtyła – the future Pope John Paul II. Ciesielski worked as a professor and was a civic engineer himself and died in an accidental shipwreck in the Nile River. Ciesielski's beatification cause started under John Paul II in 1992 and the confirmation of his heroic virtue allowed for Pope Francis to name him as Venerable on 17 December 2013. Jerzy Ciesielski was born on 12 February 1929 in Kraków to Philip Ciesielski and Maria Tatarczany; his older brother was Roman (1924–2004) who became a professor of civil engineering. Ciesielski was a civil engineer and worked as a professor at the Tadeusz Kościuszko University of Technology as well as at the University of Khartoum. Ciesielski loved handball as well as canoeing and camping and rowing and was known for being an avid sportsman. He was a close personal friend of Karol Józef Wojtyła – the future Pope John Paul II – and the two were close for decades until Ciesielski's death. The two first met while he was a student and the then Father Wojtyła invited him to join his youth groups out in the country alongside other students and this was how he met his future wife who would later recall: "Father Karol came with us on trips to concerts, to the theatre and the cinema ... we talked during excursions, around the fire and at organized meetings which took place in our homes". He married Danuta Plebańczyk on 29 June 1957 in a marriage that Bishop Wojtyla officiated at. The couple went on to have three children: In 1968 he first came into contact with the Focolare Movement and he became quite impressed with their mode of evangelical life that he and Doctor Giuseppe Santanché (part of the Italian branch) went to Cardinal Wojtyła for his blessings and also in the hopes of allowing for a Polish-based branch.