Jesuit School in Chyrów

Jesuit school in Chyrów (full name: The Educational Academy of the Jesuit Fathers in Chyrów, Polish: Zakład Naukowo-Wychowawczy Ojców Jezuitów w Chyrowie) was primarily a secondary school (gimnazjum) with an extensive library, founded and run by the Jesuits between 1886–1939. It was located in Chyrów (now Khyriv, Ukraine) near Przemyśl in the Austrian Partition of the former Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth. The school opened despite obstacles form the Austrian authorities, and was to continue the tradition of the former Jesuit College in Tarnopol until the Soviet invasion of Poland (1939).[1] It was considered one of the most prestigious boys schools in Poland.

The main school building

History

The foundation of the school was initiated by two Jesuit priests: academic theologian, Father Marian Ignacy Dzierżykraj-Morawski (1845–1901), alumnus of the dissolved Jesuit Collège Saint Clément in Metz, France and Henryk Jackowski (1834–1905), Polish provincial of the Jesuits.[2][3] [4] In 1883 the Jesuits purchased the country estate of Franciszek Topolnicki at Bąkowice near Chyrów, about 33 kilometres (21 mi) from Przemyśl. The school, opened in 1886. It drew on the traditions of the erstwhile Jesuit College in Polotsk that closed in 1820, and the Jesuit College in Tarnopol, closed in 1886.[5][6]

The school in Chyrów and its extensive grounds have so far not been returned to the Jesuits. For a time it served as army barracks for the Soviet Armed Forces. In August 2013, the historic stately home and outbuildings was sold in a Ukrainian government auction for 2,231,000 hryvnias (then about $275,000) to a private investor "Chyrów-rent-inwest”.[7]

Library

As committed scholars, the Jesuits, devoted great effort and attention to the development of the academy's library. The nucleus of the collection was formed out of the collection moved from their college in Tarnopol. It was further expanded with the volumes the Jesuits managed to recover from many locations after the re-establishment of the Order in Europe, and by new purchases and donations. The collection included medieval manuscripts, incunabula, old music prints, collections of the 18th-century maps, rare scholarly and scientific works, academic and school manuals from Jesuit colleges (the oldest from the Jesuit College in Polotsk), from missions (e.g. Minsk) and from Jesuit houses before the suppression of the Society of Jesus.

The Chyrów library collection surpassed, by the number of volumes, their value and educational quality, all secondary schools libraries in the Austrian Partition of Poland and then those of all educational establishments in the Second Polish Republic after Poland had regained national independence in 1920. At the time of the Soviet invasion of Poland (1939) the Chyrów Library counted over 50,000 volumes and items of cultural heritage. In 1939 the Academy was liquidated by the Soviet authorities and its library with its collections entirely destroyed. On 24 March 2018 a fire broke out in the attics of the building. The cause was unknown.[8]

Alumni

Some notable students included:

Faculty

The school's faculty included:

  • The future blessed Father Jan Beyzym, SJ (1850–1912) who taught in Tarnopol and Chyrów for 17 years prior to leaving, at 48 in 1898, for Madagascar to begin the apostolate to the lepers.[17][18]
  • Father Kazimierz Konopka, SJ, an alumnus of the school who came back to teach in Chyrów from 1910, becoming (from December 29, 1915) chaplain of the Polish Legion. From 1918, he was a professor at Zhytomyr Seminary, and then later at Lutsk Seminary. From 1920 he taught religion in Cheƚm Lubelski secondary schools and served as a hospital chaplain. He later organized a lower-secondary school (gimnazjum) in Vilnius, serving as its principal. He was the author of many publications and recipient of awards from the Polish state. For a time he was a missionary in Southern Rhodesia where the Jesuits were active. On his return to Europe, he gave talks about missions, for instance during a 1934 exhibition and diocesan convention on missionary work organized by the Young Men's Marian Sodality, (Sodalicja Mariańska Młodzieńców) in Ruda Śląska.[19] Returning to Poland, Konopka directed the Jesuit Retreat House in Lwów from 1938 until the outbreak of WWII and the Soviet occupation of the city. Imprisoned by the Soviets, he was shot in Brygidki prison on June 26, 1941, one of the many killed in the NKVD massacres of prisoners.[20]

References
  1. http://www.tonzbieszczadzki.pl/zabytki_chyrow_konwikt.htm
  2. Viansson-Ponté, L. (1897). Les Jésuites à Metz : Collège Saint-Louis, 1622–1762, Collège Saint Clément, 1852–1872. p. 426.
  3. Tuszewski TJ, Józef (1932). O. Marjan Morawski (1845-1901). p. 64.
  4. Piech, Stanisław. (2000) "Księdza Mariana Ignacego Morawskiego Posługa Myślenia". Folia Historica Cracoviensia, Vol.7. http://czasopisma.upjp2.edu.pl/foliahistoricacracoviensia/article/viewFile/1406/1302 in Polish, p.1 accessed 12-18-2017
  5. Połock Academy (1812-1820): An Example of the Society of Jesus's Endurance, by Irena Kadulska in: Robert A. MARYKS and Jonathan WRIGHT (eds.), Jesuit Survival and Restoration: A Global History, 1773-1900, Leiden and Boston, MA: Brill, 2015, ISBN 9789004282384, pp. 83-98
  6. Topij Stempińska, Beata (2019). Uczniowie Jezuickich Instytucji Edukacyjnycj w Galicji w XIX Wieku - Portret Zbiorowy" (PDF) (in Polish). Kraków: Wydawnictwo Naukowe Akademii Ignatium w Krakowie. ISBN 978-83-7614-4146.
  7. "Kurier Galicyjski", nr 19 z dnia 15-28.10.2013 r.
  8. "Pożar słynnego kolegium w Chyrowie na Ukrainie: Fire breaks out in famous College in Ukraine". rmf24.pl. 2018-03-24. Retrieved 2018-10-25.
  9. http://www.ns.ordynariat.opoka.org.pl/306.pdf
  10. https://biographies.library.nd.edu/catalog/biography-1103
  11. http://www.jesuit.ie/news/jesuitica-auschwitz-the-best-noviciate/
  12. http://www.fides.org/en/news/10391-AFRICA_ZAMBIA_A_tribute_to_Cardinal_Adam_Koz_322_owiecki_first_Bishop_of_Lusaka_then_for_20_years_national_director_of_the_Pontifical_Mission_Societies_in_Zambia
  13. http://miastoiludzie.pl/2014/06/06/hrabia-marynarz-bratanek-swietych-z-lipnica-murowana-w-biografii/
  14. http://www.en.nmm.pl/visit-us/visit-us-current-exhibitions/maritime-school-in-tczew-1920-1930
  15. http://kulturaparyska.com/en/ludzie/pokaz/m/juliusz_mieroszewski
  16. http://www.naskale.oficerskie.info/pliki/2013-04-14.pdf
  17. https://www.vatican.va/news_services/liturgy/saints/ns_lit_doc_20020818_beyzym_en.html
  18. http://www.sjweb.info/saintsBio.cfm?SaintID=287
  19. http://ruda_parafianin.republika.pl/b/par/ksi/k02/156.htm
  20. https://biographies.library.nd.edu/catalog/biography-1103
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