Augusto Czartoryski was born on 2 August 1858 in Paris, France, the firstborn son to Prince Ladislaus of Poland and Princess Maria Amparo, daughter of the Duke and Queen of Spain. The noble Czartoryski Family had been living in exile in France for almost 30 years, in the Lambert Palace. Here, with the hope of restoring unity in Poland, they continued to direct activities between their fellow Polish countrymen and the European chancellery.

Plans for a future Prince

It was already planned that Augusto would be a future "reference point" for this restoration and would carry on the "Czartoryski" name. God's designs, however, were to unfold differently.
When Augusto was 6, his mother died of tuberculosis; the disease was also transmitted to him, and for the rest of his life hewould be plagued by ill health. Although he had to make "forced pilgrimages" with his father to Italy, Switzerland, Egypt and Spain in search of a cure, he never regained his health.

As he grew up, Augusto felt that he was not meant for the life of nobility, and one day, when he was 20 years old, he wrote to his father: "I confess to you that I am tired [of all the parties]; they are superficial entertainments that cause me anguish and I feel myself "forced' to make acquaintances with others at these banquets".

Augusto already received spiritual direction from his tutor, Joseph Kalinsowski, who would later become a Carmelite, and who, before leaving for Carmel in 1877, wrote to Prince Ladislaus to suggest that it would be wise,