I am late today in writing my saints blog, but I had a good excuse. I went with three friends who I group with in Cursillo the Knights of Columbus Museum specifically to see the Mother Teresa exhibit they have there. It was simply amazing. We spend about 3 hours there. We watched the movie about her life with never before seen footage from her funeral. We all left there crying. I was so glad I was able to get there.
There were not too many saints that have today as their feast day. We do have the Guardian Angels, but I really want to write about someone who walked among us as did Mother Teresa.
Jan Beyzym was born in Wielkie, Poland (now in Ukraine) on May 5, 1850 to a freedom fighter. He was a Jesuit priest and a teacher at Jesuit boarding schools in Tarnopol and Chyrów. In 1898 he became a missionary to lepers near Tananariwa, Madagascar. Father Beyzym was the first priest to live among the victims of Hansen's disease in the entire history of the mission of Madagascar.
In 1902 he began construction of a leper hospital at Marana, Madagascar. It took him 9 years to complete it. The hospital is there there and is dedicated to Our Lady of Czestochowa. He died on October 2, 1912 in Madagascar of natural causes. His relics are entombed at the Jesuit basilica in Krakow, Poland in 1993. His name means God is Gracious or Gift of God. he was beatified on August 18, 2002 by Pope John Paul II in Krakow, Poland and is awaiting canonization. There is more information about his life on the Vatican's website.
Looking back on Mother Teresa's life and Blessed Jan's, I see similarities. Both were missionaries and left their homelands to work with the poor, dying, and lepers.
"What you do for the least of my creatures, that you do unto me. We must be like the merchants of this earth: we must always aim at a greater."
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