A Frenchman – Father Leon Maria Bégin – Who Was a Polish Priest in France

Abstract

Father Leon Maria Bégin (1878-1961), born in Liffol-le-Grand, Lorraine near Nancy, attended secondary school in Bar-le-Duc. He joined the Redemptorists in 1897, and on 8th of August 1899 he took monastic vows. He studied philosophy and theology in the Redemptorists Seminary in Belgium (1898-1903). When Polish Redemptorists were looking for a philosophy professor in France, the authorities of the Lyon province of the order suggested him as a candidate. He came to Mos´ciska, Poland, which at that time belonged to the Austrian Galicia, in 1904. He taught philosophy, and for a certain time also canon law, until 1927. Next he was transferred to Warsaw, where he was completely absorbed by apostolate of mercy for the poor and homeless as well as for girls from the street, in order to provide them with a certain living standard and with jobs. His extraordinary apostolate of mercy was supported by the nunciature and the French Embassy in Warsaw. Starting with the end of World War I he particularly devoted himself to pastorate for young Polish women who wanted to serve God in female orders. Many of them, especially the poor ones, did not have the dowry the law provided for. He usually sent such girls to the Oblates of Lord Jesus' Heart. In France and Belgium he did not leave them without any help but he often visited them, preached sermons, organized conferences and meetings and heard confessions. After the war had broken out in 1939 the Rector of the Redemptorists home in Warsaw advised him to go to France for his own safety. In September 1940 he became a philosophy professor in the Redemptorists Seminary in Sousceyrac, in the Central Massif. The nunciature Prelate in Vichy, Alfredo Pacini, gave Father Bégin the job of special pastoral care of Polish refugees-emigrants: members of the state administration, officers, members of aristocratic families, men of science and culture who were placed in hotels or „refuges” by the French authorities or by the Polish Red Cross. In 1947 Father L. Bégin returned to Poland.