Kraków Street to be named after Bishop Albin Małysiak

KJ, 16 November 2016
A Kraków street is to be named after Bishop Albin Małysiak who died in July 2012. He was Auxiliary Bishop of Kraków Archdiocese and a Righteous Among the Nations.

Bishop Małysiak was born in 1917 in Kocoń, not far from Żywiec. At the age of 19, he entered the St.Vincent de Paul Missionary Order in Kraków. In 1941, in Kraków, he took holy orders from Bishop  Stanisław Rospond.

During the occupation, BishopMałysiak served as chaplain to the Helcel Centre for the infirm and elderly. In 1943, together with Sister Bronisława Wilemska, Director of the Centre, he decided to extend help to five Jews. Katarzyna Styczeń, Helena Kachel, Henryk Juański, Zbigniew Koszanowski, as well as another unknown male, were admitted into the Centre as residents. The priest provided them with baptismal certificates and also provided with other essential documents.

In 1993, the Bishop and the sister were honoured with the title of Righteous Among the Nations. In October 2007, for saving Jews, President Lech Kaczyński awarded Bishop Małysiak with the Commander’s Cross of the Order of Polonia Restituta.

Following the War, Rev.Małysiak was a secondary school religious instruction teacher and assistant curate of the Holy Family parish in Kraków. In 1950, he received a Masters Degree in theology from Jagiellonian University and, in 1952, a Doctorate of Theology. Among other tasks, he worked at the Siemaszki Education Centre in Kraków and, from 1954, lectured at the Missionary Priests Theological Institute in Kraków.

In 1959, he became parish priest of the Kraków Missionary Priests parish where, in a small town, he developed a university chaplaincy. From 1970 to 1993, he was Auxiliary Bishop of the Archdiocese of Kraków. He sat on many commissions of the Polish Episcopate, among others, he chaired the Sub-Committee on Closed Orders and looked to engaging the media in the actrivities of the new evangelisation. Even in retirement, he was active in the organisation of patriotic celebrations in Kraków. In 2005, the Kraków City Council awarded him Honorary Citizenship of the city.

He passed away on 16th July 2011 at the age of 94 and was buried at the Salwatorski Cemetery.

More about Bishop Małysiak’s story of help can be found here.