![[Gronziel Picture]](Grzondziel_01.JPG)
Grzondziel, Rev. Rafal Jan
(1912-1998)
Franciscan priest, from 1971 priest of the Warsaw diocese, major, chaplain in the Independent Brigade of the Carpathian Rifles, chaplain of the 3rd Division of the Carpathian Rifles
Born on October 19, 1912 in Panewniki, near Katowice; son of Walenty, a miner, and Anastazja nee Badur.
He completed 6 grades of the local school in Panewniki. During 1924-1928 he attended the middle-school in Katowice, and in the school year 1928/1929 went to the Classical government run high-school in Mikolow, where he completed the fifth form. In 1929 he joined the Franciscan Order in the Province of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary in Poland. He spent his novitiate in Wielun. On June 24, 1931 he received his maturation diploma on the basis of exams given by the order's [educational] commission. During 1931-1933 he completed philosophical studies at the Higher Seminary of the Franciscan Fathers in Osieczna near Leszno; while during 1933-1936 he completed theological studies at the Higher Seminary of the Franciscan Fathers in Wronki. He was ordained on January 21, 1936 in Katowice by Bishop Stanislaw Adamski. At this time he took the monastic name of Ignacy. After ordination he worked at St. Anthony College in Kobylin.Then he was chaplain for the novitiate of the Ursuline Sisters in Pokrzywno near Poznan. In the years 1938-1939 he was enrolled in Polish Studies at the Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznan.
In September of 1939 he and the Ursuline Sisters evacuated to the East. In Zbaraz he became the chaplain for a military hospital. On September 17, 1939 he was taken prisoner by the Soviets, and managed to escape. He reached Silesia where he worked at the monastery in Chorzow-Klimzowiec. On April 10, 1940 threatened with arrest he left Silesia. He reached Greece through Austria and Hungary. He became chaplain at the diplomatic unit of the Polish Republic and the Vicar General for Poles in Greece. At the beginning of June 1940 he went to Syria; on July 10th he reported to the recruitment station of the Polish Armed Forces in Beirut. He was inducted into the Polish Army on July 9, 1940 and made chaplain of the Independent Brigade of the Carpathian Rifles. He was in charge of all the chaplains in the brigade. From September 17, 1940 he was the chaplain of the Main Camp of the brigade; from June 1, 1941 the chaplain of the hospital in Jerusalem; from October 20, 1942 the chaplain of the 1st armored Regiment; from July 9, 1943 chaplin of the 3rd Division of the Carpathian Rifles; from January 15, 1945 he chaplain of the 9th battalion of the Carpathian Rifles in the 3rd Division. As a division chaplain he took part in the Italian campaign, taking part in the battles for Monte Cassino, Ankona, and Bologna. During the fighting at Bologna he was in the spearhead of the unit selected to enter the city where he spoke in Italian to the inhabitants. On the city's tallest tower he hung the white and red banner. After the fighting he said a thanksgiving mass on one of he city's squares, after which he and the leading commanders of the 2nd Corps were granted honorary citizenship of the city.
For his heroism in the battles of the 2nd Polish Corps he received the Virtuti Military Order, V Class, number 12309, granted by the Virtuti Military Order Commission in London.
In 1945 he became chaplain of the Polish Boy Scouts. In 1946 he took over the position of chaplain for the Allied garrison in Rome. In April of that year he advanced to the position of Senior Chaplain. In August 1946 he was demobilized and came to Great Britain, where he worked in the pastoral service for Polonia. During 1946-1948 he took psychology and social studies at Oxford University. In January 1949 he went to the United States where he was a lecturer in political science and a student at the university in Cleveland, Ohio. On September 30, 1950 he received a Masters of Arts degree at that university. During 1950-1952 he lectured at the University of Illinois. In 1952 he left for Canada, and studied canon law at the university in Ottawa.
In May 1953 he settled down on Lake Wadsworth near Barry's Bay in the province of Ontario. There he created a Catholic Youth Center for Polish Boy Scouts, of which he was the director. Because in the nineteenth century the area was settled by Kashubians who emigrated from Poland, the area came to be called Kashubia. That same year he built a chapel dedicated to Our Lady of the Angels. In 1954 he built a ski-lift, alongside which operated the "Kashuby Ski Club." In 1955 he had electrical power mains and telephone lines brought to Kashuby. In 1956 he built a field altar called the "Cathedral under the Pines." On June 1, 1961 a post office was established at Kashuby, and he became the first postmaster. Thanks to his efforts, the name Kashuby was made the official name of the place on the map of Canada.
In 1964 he was recalled from the Canadian Kashubia by the Father General of the order, Fr. Augustyn Sepinski. In 1965 he arrived in Poland, and, among other places, stayed in Kashubia. He visited the towns and villages with tape recorder and camera learning the customs of the inhabitants of this area. That year he went to Rome where he was an UNESCO delegate. In 1967 he decided to leave the Franciscan Order, asking Cardinal Stefan Wyszynski, Primate of Poland, to accept him for the Warsaw diocese. By order of Cardinal Wyszynski he was released on January 8, 1968 and after 3 years automatically transferred to the Warsaw Archdiocese. On June 16, 1968 he took over as pastor in the Holy Cross Parish in Woodstock, Canada. In that parish he conducted widely ranging pastoral and social work, also building a church. On May 23, 1982, he retired and returned to Canadian Kashubia, living in a small house near the Chapel of Our Lady of the Angels. In 1997 he established a Sanctuary of God's Mercy in Vilnius, in kashuby. On April 20, 1995, the anniversary of the freeing of Bologna he organized a concelebrated Holy mass where participants included Bologna Archbishop Giacomo Biffi and Field Bishop of the Polish Armed Forces Swawoj Leszek Glodz.
He died on December 22, 1998 and was buried at the old cemetery of pioneers adjoining the church in Vilnius, Ontario.
He was also awarded the Cross of Valor. The Order of Poland's Rebirth. The Gold Cross of Merit with swords, the Military Medal, the Monte Cassino Cross, the British Star of Africa and the Italian Ordine della Corona d'Italia, Croce del Valore (twice).
He was an author whose works included the book U zrodel mocy [At the sources of power] and a prayer book for soldiers Panie, pozostan z nami [Lord, stay with us] (both published in Jerusalem).
Sources: AF personnel files; IPiMS, resolution of advancement A.XII 86/30/29; Jozef Boryszkowski, Grzondziel Rafal Jan, manuscript, author's archives; Grzondziel Rafal Jan U zrodel mocy [At the sources of power], Printed by the Franciscan Fathers, Jerusalem 1944; Jan Rafal Grzondziel, Libertas w herbie Bolonii i Polonii[Liberty in the crests of Bologna and Polonia] (in:) Wyzwolenie Bolognii [Liberation of Bologna], p. 92-96; Rafal Jan Grzondziel, Bologna - per benemereza (in:) Wyzwolenie Bolognii [Liberation of Bologna], p. 97-102; Humenski, Duszpasterstwo wojskowe, s. 270; Kapala, Slascy kapelani [Silesian chaplains] per index; Leksykon parafii [Lexicon of parishes] per index; Literatura polska na obczyznie [Polish literature outside the borders] edited by Tymon Terlecki , London 1965, vol. 2; Lukomski, Polak, Suchcitz, Kawalerowie Virtuti Militari, [Cavaliers of the Virtuti Militari Order] p. 417; Stanislawa i Bozena Miechowicz, Przyjaciele Kanadyjskich Kaszubow [Friends of the Canadian Kashubians], "Pomerania" no. 7-8, 2000, p. 26-27; Piotr Nawrot, Zmarl Naczelny Kapelan SPK w Kanadzie ks. Rafal Jan Grzondziel, [Death of Rafal Jan Grzondziel, Head Chaplain of SPK in Canada] the "Biuletyn Stowarzyszenia Polskich Kombatantow w Kanadzie" [Bulletin of the Society of Polish Combatants in Canada], no. 2, April 1999, p. 4-5; Odzienkowski, Sluzba duszpasterska [Pastoral service] per index; Fr. Marcel Pasiecznik, Kaszuby w Kanadzie [Kashuby in Canada] "Miesiecznik Franciszkanski" [Franciscan Monthly], R:57, 1963/64, p. 488-491; Jadwiga Plewko, Duszpasterswo Polonii w procesie jej integracji ze spoleczenstwem kanadyjskim, (1875-1988), [Pastoral service to Polonia in the process of its integration with Canadian society (1875-1988)] RW KUL, Lublin 1995, p. 151, 158; Podlewski, Wierni Bogu i Ojczyznie [Faithful to God and Country] per index; Leon Roppel, Wsrod Polakow w Ontario [Among Poles in Ontario] SP, no. 12, January 14, 1967 , p. 3; Stanislaw Stolarczyk, Gdy Wspominam Kaszuby... [When I think about Kashuby...] Wladyslaw Reymont Foundation, Toronto 2000; Stanislaw Stolarczyk, Gdzie stopy nasze. Reportaze z Kanady [Where are our footprints. Reports from Canada] Arax, Bialystok 1991, p. 28-31. 34, 40, 170; Studzinski Wspomnienia [Reminiscences] per index; Anzlem Janusz Szteinke, Polscy bracia mniejsi w sluzble ziemi swietej 1942 1995 [Polish minor brothers in service to the Holy land 1942-1995] Poznan 1999, p. 78-79; Wkraczamy do Bolonii [We enter Bologna] (in:) Wyzwolenie Bolonii [Liberation of Bologna] p. 75; Marek Swiecicki, Za siedmioma rzekami byla Bolonia. Ostatnia bitwa Drugiego Corpusu we Wloszech [Seven rivers to Bologna. The last battle of the 2nd Corps in Italy], Rome 1945, p. 120; Trzecia Dywizja Strzelcow Karpackich [3rd Division of the Carpathian Rifles] per index; Waszkiewicz, Duszpasterstwo [Pastoral service] per index; Wawer, 3; 3 Dywizja Strzelcow Karpackich [3rd Division of Carpathian Rifles] p. 45; Wesolowski, Order Virtuti Militari, p. 557, 714; Wykaz osob odznaczonych [List of decorated individuals] p. 206; Jan Zdarski, Z Orlem i Krzyzem [With the Eagle and Cross] PAX, Warsaw 1991, p. 107; information from Fr. Erazm Pluta of Panewniki, Fr. Edwin Mucha of Woodstock, Fr. Hugolin Pieprzyk of Grodzisk Wielkopolski, Fr. Adam Studzinski of Krakow.
From: Boguslaw Szwedo, Zawsze w Pierwszej Lini. Kaplani Odznaczeni Orderem Virtuti Militari 1914-1921,1939-1945 [Always in the Front Rank. Priests decorated with the Virtuti Militari Order 1914-1921,1939-1945] RYTM, Warsaw, 2004
Translation by: Peter Obst (2009) for Poles in America Foundation Inc.