In 1842 Poland, Bronislaw Markiewicz was the sixth of eleven children of the town mayor. He was raised in a pious home and by the age of 21 he followed a call to the priesthood, entered the seminary, and was ordained four years later. While performing his pastoral duties, he continued his studies at the university with a focus on youth education. At the age of 43, he left Poland for Italy and joined the Salesians, taking his vows before St. John Bosco. Five years later, his superiors permitted him to return to Poland, where he threw himself into the spiritual formation of youth, especially the poor and orphans. He died from tuberculosis at the age of 69.
CHALLENGE
In his late teens, Blessed Bronislaw Markiewicz almost lost his faith completely because of the anti-religious influences he faced at school. Right now, almost 80% of people who leave the Catholic faith do so by the age of 23. FOCUS is a campus missionary organization that works to reverse this trend. Can you help them in their mission? Go to www.focus.org today and see what you can do.
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