Saint of the day August 2: Blessed Augustus Czartoryski. Catholic Saints

Every August 2, the Church in Poland commemorates Blessed Augustus Czartoryski, a Salesian priest. Augustus renounced royalty – he had the status of prince – to embrace the priesthood of Christ, following in the footsteps of two great saints: Don Bosco and Saint Raphael Kalinowski.

Born to the principality

Augusto was born when his parents were in exile, in Paris (France), on August 2, 1858. His father was the Polish prince Ladislao Czartoryski and his mother the Spanish duchess María Amparo Muñoz y Borbón.

At that time, Poland was a fragmented country, divided among the great European powers of the time, since 1795. Augustus’s family dreamed of the rebirth of their homeland and hoped that he would help this cause.

However, God would show the future blessed a different path. Augustus soon realized that he was not cut out for life at court, nor for the comforts of the aristocracy. At the age of 20 he wrote a letter to his father in which he expressed his dissatisfaction with worldly life and that he coveted “the treasures of heaven and not those of earth.”

Such determination was not an outburst or anything similar. It could be considered the result of a vocational discernment made by the young Augustus, which had undoubtedly been influenced for good by his teacher, Rafael Kalinowski – canonized by Pope Saint John Paul II in 1991. Kalinowski had been Augustus’ tutor for a period of three years.

Next to Don Bosco

Things didn’t stop there. Augusto, at the age of 25, would go through a decisive experience: the meeting with Don Bosco in Paris. The founder of the Salesians would celebrate a Mass and Augustus would be called to serve at the altar. During the Eucharist, he was impressed by Don Bosco’s reverence displayed as he celebrated. And that day Augustus took the saint as his model: he discovered himself more than ever called to be a Salesian.

However, Don Bosco always had a prudent attitude towards him. It was not easy for him to have to accept a “prince” into the congregation. Even Pope Leo XIII would be consulted on the matter; so the Supreme Pontiff intervened directly. Finally, the nobleman’s request was accepted by the Pope, who gave him his authorization for Augustus to belong to the Salesians “until death.”

After completing the years of preparation, during which the death of Don Bosco occurred, Prince Czartoryski made his vows in the Pious Order of Saint Francis de Sales, officially becoming a Salesian. Later, on April 2, 1892, he would be ordained a priest.

Ripe fruit of the Church

Due to illness, Augustus’ priestly life lasted barely a year. He could only serve, during that time, in the Italian municipality of Alassio.

Cardinal Cagliero would summarize the last period of the young priest’s life like this: “He was no longer of this world! His union with God, the perfect conformity with the divine will in the aggravated illness, the desire to conform to Jesus Christ in sufferings and afflictions, made him heroic in patience, calm in spirit, and invincible, more than in the pain, in the love of God.”

Augusto died peacefully on April 8, 1893. His body was left resting on an armchair that had once belonged to Don Bosco.

Legacy and inspiration for today’s youth

Blessed Augustus had left friends and parishioners a simple but beautiful memory. On the cards delivered after the first Mass he celebrated was written a fragment of Psalm 83 that describes very well who he was: “For me, one day in your courts is worth more than a thousand outside. Blessed is he who lives in your house: he always sings your praises.”

His remains were transported to Poland and buried in the parish crypt of Sieniawa, next to his ancestors. Precisely, in the parish of that city Augusto had made his First Communion.

Augusto Czartoryski was beatified by Pope Saint John Paul II on April 25, 2004.