Blessed Jan Beyzym - October 2
Memorial
2 October
Profile
Son of a Polish freedom fighter. Jesuit priest. Teacher at Jesuit boarding schools in Tarnopol and Chyrów. In 1898 he became a missionary to lepers near Tananariwa, Madagascar. In 1902 he began construction of a leper hospital at Marana, Madagascar; he never gave up, but it took nine years to finish.
Born
15 May 1850 in Beyzymy Wielkie, Poland (now in Ukraine)
Died
2 October 1912 in Marana, Fianarantsoa, Madagascar of natural causes
relics entombed at the Jesuit basilica in Krakow, Poland in 1993
Venerated
21 December 1992 by Pope John Paul II
Beatified
18 August 2002 by Pope John Paul II at Krakow, Poland

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October 2nd: Blessed Jan Beyzym, SJ.
Born: May 15, 1850
Died: Oct 2, 1912
Beatified : Dec 21, 1992
Jan Beyzym, known in Madagascar as the Servant of Lepers, was a true pioneer in caring for lepers during the time when leprosy was incurable and those afflicted with leprosy were banished from society. He was born in the family estate in Poland’s Volinia region and was the eldest of five children. He received his early education at home but when the family lost its estates in the 1863 uprising and were forced to separate, Jan’s mother took the children to live with her sister in the Podole region while Jan’s father crossed into Austrian held Galicia in order to flee from the Cossacks who were pursuing him.
Jan decided to become a diocesan priest after completing his secondary studies but while visiting his father whom he had not seen for eight years, his father suggested that he consider the Jesuits instead. So on December 19, 1872, father and son traveled to the Jesuit novitiate at Stara …More