By Larry Peterson
The influence of St. John of the Cross, the great
poet and mystic of the 16th century, reached across the centuries
and inspired a simple tailor in Nazi occupied Poland to aspire to sainthood. In
turn, this simple man became the catalyst for another man who was not even
considering becoming a priest. Yet, this aspiring actor would one day become
Pope. The man’s name was Jan Tyranowski. The man who would one day be pope was
Karol Wojtyla.
Born in Krakow in
1900, Jan Tyranowski was the son of a tailor. His dad had bigger plans for his
boy and Jan became an accountant. Jan was a bit of a loner and enjoyed being by
himself allowing his abundantly curious mind to fill his spare time.
He loved science,
studying foreign languages, gardening and even the new science of psychology.
He especially loved photography. Even though he kept his mind filled with the
wonders around him he knew something was missing. There was an emptiness, an
unexplained void, which he could not fill.
Jan took ill in 1930
with a chronic stomach ailment which rendered him constantly sick. So he left
accounting and took up tailoring with his father. Amazingly, with his stress
levels reduced in his new job, Jan became a much happier man. His faith also
began to increase and he became more and more active in his parish.
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| Jan Tyranowski--Courtesy Salesianity Blogs |
Then came Jan’s
“enlighteneing”. It happened at a Sunday Mass sometime in 1935. He was
at Mass and the Salesian priest saying the Mass made a statement during his
homily that changed Jan’s life forever. The priest simply said, “It is not
difficult to be a saint.”
To Jan this was
unprecedented. He thought sainthood was only for priests and religious. There
was no room in the saintly world for lay people---or was there? The priest went
on to say that lay people could also live saintly lives by going to frequent
Mass, saying their prayers and doing good works.
Jan Tyranowski
listened and realized the spirituality he thought he was not permitted to have was
available to him too. All he would have to do would was embrace the work needed
to attain it. When he he left the church that Sunday, he was a changed man.
He began growing in
spirituality praying and meditating every morning for up to four hours and then
devoting other parts of his day to prayer and reflection. Jan asked a parish
priest for advice on some quality reading material and the priest gave him a
prayer manual he had used in the seminary. Jan poured through the manual and
expanded his reading eventually coming across the works of St. John of the
Cross. The writings of this saint became his constant companion for the rest of
his life.
By 1940 more than
half the priestly population of Krakow had been deported. One of the parish
priests asked Jan if he would become more involved with the youth ministry in
the parish. Jan became the youth leader at St. Stanislaus Parish which also
happened to be the university parish attended by a young man by the name of
Karol Wojtyla. Karol aspired to be an actor.
Jan had an innate
ability to inspire spirituality in others. His apostolate to the young quickly
grew and among those who were part of it were the future pope. At first, Karol
was turned off by Jan Tyranowki’s seemingly overbearing and strict manner of
dealing with prayer and meditation. But when Jan formed a “Living Rosary”, Karol
began to soften.
Karol Wojtyla’s dad
died in 1941. The young man had no immediate family and before long he became an
eager recipient of Jan’s guidance. When Jan introduced the works of St. John of
the Cross to young Karol it changed his life. The 16th century
mystic became one of the future pope’s lifelong inspirations. Jan Tyranowski
more or less became a father-figure to Karol. They became great friends and
often walked together talking about the things of God.
Karol Wojytla was
ordained a priest on November 1, 1946. Jan Tyranowski died on March 15, 1947.
He had lived to see his favorite student attain the priesthood. Father Wojytla
would become Pope John Paul II on October 16, 1978. He would be canonized a
saint on April 27, 2014 by Pope Francis. Pope St. John Paul II credited Jan
Tyranowski with his recognizing his vocation and rejecting an acting career.
St. John Paul II wrote of Tyranowski:
“He was one of those
unknown saints, hidden amid the others like a marvelous light at the bottom of
life, at a depth where night usually reigns. He disclosed to me the riches of
his inner life, of his mystical life. In his words, in his spirituality and in
the example of a life given to God alone, he represented a new world that I did
not yet know. I saw the beauty of a soul opened up by grace.”
The Salesians of Don
Bosco have put forward Jan for beatification and he has been declared a Servant
of God. We ask Jan Tyranowski to pray
for us all.
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