page_title: Józef Bilczewski
section_title: Life
hierarchical_section_title: Józef Bilczewski / Life
caption_attribution_description: English: Monument of st. Józef Bilczewski in Latin Cathedral in Lviv. Українська: Статуя Юзефа Більчевського у Латинському катедральному соборі у Львові. Скульптор Петро Війтович Photo made by Stako, May, 6, 2005
context_page_description: Józef Bilczewski was a Polish Roman Catholic prelate who served as the Archbishop of Lviv from 1900 until his death. He served as a theological and dogmatics professor in the Lviv college after himself having earned two doctorates in the course of his own studies. He earned a reputation as a learned and cultured man; these qualities led to Emperor Franz Joseph I nominating him for the Lviv archdiocese as its head. Pope Leo XIII named him as its archbishop and he set to work prioritizing a range of different pastoral initiatives aimed at revitalizing the faith within people and also prioritizing ecumenical cooperation with other denominations.
  Bilczewski aided his people throughout the onslaught of World War I organizing relief and food for those displaced and those who became refugees; he likewise aided beggars and the homeless in his archdiocese.
context_section_description: Józef Bilczewski was born in Wilamowice on 26 April 1860 as the eldest of nine children to the peasants Franciszek Biba and Anna Kuczmierczyk.
  From 1868 until 1872 he attended school in his hometown while he studied later at Wadowice from 1872 until 1880 when he received a diploma. In 1880 he graduated from a local school in Wadowice and commenced his studies for the priesthood in Kraków.
  He received his doctorate from the Jagiellonian and he received his ordination to the priesthood in 1884 from Cardinal Albin Dunajewski. Not long after he received his doctorate in theological studies in Vienna (studied there from 1885–86) in 1886 and started his studies on dogmatics and archeological studies in Rome (at the Gregorian from 1886–87) and in Paris (one semester in 1888). From 1888 to 1890 he worked as a vicar and catechist at Kęty and in 1891 worked as a catechetical assistant in Kraków at the church of Saints Peter and Paul. In 1890 he passed his habilitation at the Jagiellonian and in 1891 he became a professor of dogmatics at the Lviv college. His career progressed at a fast pace as in 1893 he became a common professor and from 1896 to 1897 served as the Dean of the Theological Department. In 1900 he was elected as the rector of that college but gave up the post not long after once Emperor Franz Joseph I selected him on 30 October 1900 to lead the Archdiocese of Lviv as its archbishop; Pope Leo XIII formalized the appointment on 17 December 1900. Bilczewski received his episcopal consecration the next month in the Lviv Cathedral.
  He supported organic work and started an extensive task on the construction of new churches in the area. He initiated the construction of more than 330 churches in his archdiocese including the monumental Saint Elizabeth Church. He also promoted the cultus of Blessed James of Strepar while in 1907 he allowed the Pallottines to settle in his archdiocese. The archbishop also encouraged devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus and urged priests to implement Eucharistic Adoration in their parishes. He also organized courses for the priests wanting to be prepared for social work among the poor and financed several Catholic societies. His support for the students made him a popular figure even to other denominations. In 1904 he organized the first Mariological Congress in Poland.
  During World War I he was one of the people to create committees of relief for the workers of Galicia that the war had affected and had caused food shortages. During the Polish-Ukrainian War in 1918 and the Siege of Lviv he was responsible for the organization of food being sent for the besieged area. Bilczewski did his best alongside Andrzej Sheptytsky to help mediate and smooth tensions though this did not quite achieve positive results and the two worked with the apostolic nuncio Achille Ratti - future pope - in this regard. He also made several 'ad limina' visits to Rome to visit Leo XIII and Pope Pius X as well as Pope Benedict XV. His help for the poor and the homeless was awarded and the homeless themselves titled him as the "patron of louts" in 1917. From 1918 to 1921 his archdiocese lost 120 priests.
  During the pogrom against the Jews in Lviv where women and children were abused, men beaten, homes ransacked and property stolen, this was Bilczewski's response.  "Equally devoid of human sympathy...(he) refused to clearly condemn the larceny and murder (of Jews). ""If the Jewish people have incurred guilt in some way, the court of divinity and humanity will render a just verdict.""
  He died on 20 March 1923 due to a pernicious anemia which had first struck him not long before on 18 January; Pope Pius XI hailed him as one of the greatest bishops in the world and since 2001 his heart has been put in an urn and moved to the Lviv Cathedral. Since 20 March 1928 a monument to him has been in the cathedral.
caption: Statue in the Latin Cathedral in Lviv.
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