Rev. Joseph Leon Betlinski was born on October 23, 1893, to John
and Theodora (nee Bachorska) Betlejewski in the small roadside village of
Skierki in the Mazury region of northern Poland. When he sailed from Bremen,
Germany, on the 17,000-ton passenger liner SS Prinz Friedrich Wilhelm on
April 12, 1912, the ship's manifest listed his last name as Betlinski and his
mother, then a widow, the same way. Unlike him, most of the other members
of the clan -- who derived the name from Bethlehem -- stuck to Betlejewski,
compared to Joseph Betlinski, when they registered for the draft during the
First World War. Over the years, the numerical difference has remained
about the same. In 1990, Poland had 976 Betlejewski, 371 Betlinski, 16
Betlejemski, and 36 Betlewski names.
For some unknown reasons, Betlinski, as the name was spelled in
Who's Who in Polish America in 1943, was not ordained to the priesthood by
Archbishop Samuel A. Stritch in Milwaukee until June 10, 1933. The records
of the Archdiocese of Milwaukee show that he attended Holy Trinity in
Chicago from 1920 to 1924; St. Bonaventure's Seminary, Sturtevant,
Wisconsin, 1924-25; SS. Cyril & Methodius Seminary, Orchard Lake, Michigan,
where he graduated in 1932. On September 12 of the same year, he entered
St. Francis Seminary in Wisconsin to complete his theological studies.
To backtrack a little bit, when he got off the German steamship in New
York, he was supposed to take a train to Wheeling, West Virginia. Edward
Banas, C. R., who spelled the name Betlejemski in Dictionary of American
Resurrectionists, 1865 1965, discovered that he was a Resurrectionist
Brother and attended St. Stanislaus College (later Weber High School) in
Chicago from 1915 to 1919. Evidently he wanted to join the Resurrection
Order, but since the Resurrectionists did not want to accept him as a priest,
but only a brother, he did not join them. Then, according to the Betlinski
collection at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, he served in the Army
during World War I. As the records of the Archdiocese of Milwaukee point
out, he dropped out of St. Bonaventure's Seminary, eight miles from Racine,
Wisconsin, where he had studied for the priesthood in the Franciscan order,
and two years later entered the Polish Seminary in Michigan, contrary to the
information in Bolek's Who's Who. In the 1930 census of Orchard Lake, he
was listed as a student at St. Mary's High School, and his last name was
spelled Betlewski.
After he was ordained, Father Betlinski served as assistant pastor of
the following churches: St. Vincent's, Milwaukee, for three months; St.
Hyacinth's, Milwaukee, October 1933 to September 1937; St. Casimir's,
Milwaukee, 1937-1939; SS. Cyril & Methodius, Milwaukee, September 20,
1939-February 16,1944; St. Stanislaus, Racine, 1944-1948; St. Adalbert's,
Milwaukee, June 5-September 1948; and St. Hedwig's, Milwaukee, 1948-1952.
For the next four years he served as Chaplain of St. Joseph's Home for the
Aged in West Allis, Wisconsin.
On November 15, 1956, Archbishop Albert G. Meyer appointed him
pastor of St. Michael's parish in Beaver Dam, a typical small industrial city in
Dodge County, Wisconsin. The Polish parish, organized in 1875, suffered a
great deal in the 1930s because of strikes in the hosiery mill in 1934 and a
foundry in 1935. The population of the city fell from 11,026 in 1930 to
3,440 in 2000. Despite this, St. Michael's parish lost few families in Father Betlinski's time. Approximately seven percent of Beaver Dam is now of Polish
ancestry.
When Father Betlinski retired in Beaver Dam on January 13, 1965, he
returned to Milwaukee and dabbled in Polish affairs until he died at St.
Francis Hospital on March 21, 1984. He was the oldest priest of the
Milwaukee Archdiocese. His body laid in state at St. John Kanty Church and,
after funeral services, was buried in St. Adalbert's Cemetery.
It was impossible to check the details of his Polish activities from
1933 to 1943. In 1944, when the Polish American Congress was formed at
Buffalo, Father Betlinski was one of the delegates from Milwaukee. From
then on he was active in the Wisconsin division of the Polish American
Congress and served one year as president in 1958. Professor Donald
Pienkos, who was also the state president in 1994, has written a short
history of the state division .
I am indebted to the Chancery of the Archdiocese of Milwaukee Archives for lightening
my research load.
Edward Pinkowski (2006)
Betlinski, Rev. Jozef Leon
Clergyman. Born October 23, 1890 in Skierki, Mazowsze, Poland. Son of John
and Teodora Betlinski. Obtained elementary education in Poland. Attended
Holy Trinity High School in Chicago; studied philosophy and theology at the SS.
Cyril and Methodius' High School, Orchard Lake, Mich., from which he
graduated in 1924; ordained at the Orchard Lake Seminary in 1933. Served
as assistant pastor at St. Vincent's Parish, Milwaukee, for three months; in
a similar capacity at St. Casimir's Church, Milwaukee, from October, 1937,
to October, 1939; since that time has been affiliated with the SS. Cyril and
Methodius' Parish in Milwaukee, Member of the Polish Roman-Catholic Union of
America. Youth Moderator for the Fifth District since 1933 Polish Army
Veterans' Association in America (chaplain since 1941), Polish Book Club of
Milwaukee (President since 1940). Co-founder of the Polish-American Council
on Milwaukee's North Side; charter member of the Polish Book Club in
Milwaukee and of the Polish-American Information Service in Milwaukee, Co
founder and director of the American Slav Council of Milwaukee County;
director of the Central Pulaski Council of Polish Organizations in Milwaukee;
founder and chaplain of the Polish-American Youth Council in Milwaukee,
Organized a youth club for the Polish Roman Catholic Union in Milwaukee and
seven scout troops, Frequent contributor no the Polish press in Milwaukee.
Chaplain of Council No. 6, Milwaukee, Wis., since 1937.
Address: 1547 West Windlake Ave., Milwaukee, Wis.
From: "Who's Who in Polish America" by Rev. Francis Bolek, Editor-in-Chief; Harbinger House, New York, 1943