Deepertruth: Stand In The Gap With Us And Saint Albert Chmielowski

Stand In The Gap With Us And Saint Albert Chmielowski 6/14/2024.  Born in Igolomia near Kraków as the eldest of four children in a wealthy family, he was christened Adam. During the 1864 revolt against Czar Alexander III, Adam’s wounds forced the amputation of his left leg.

He was orphaned at age 8 when his father died and, 10 years later, by the death of his mother.  Chmielowski participated in a battle on 1 October 1863 in which a Russian grenade killed his horse and damaged his leg to the extent that it had to be amputated.

The injured Chmielowski had been carried to a woodman's cabin where Finnish soldiers allied with Russia found him. The captain recognized him since there were persistent rumours that Chmielowski evaded all gunfire and was invulnerable, but told him his leg had to be removed, to which Chmielowski is believed to have said: "Give me a cigar - that will help me pass the time". The operation went ahead, successfully though without anesthesia. He offered his intense suffering to God as he endured the excruciating pain.

In 1874 he became a well-known and popular artist in Kraków and worked as a painter until 1875.

His great talent for painting led to studies in Warsaw, Munich, and Paris. Adam returned to Kraków and became a Secular Franciscan. In 1888, when he founded the Brothers of the Third Order of Saint Francis, Servants to the Poor, he took the name Albert.

While working on an image of Christ, he had perceived a religious vocation and on 24 September 1880 he entered the novitiate of the Jesuits