August Czartoryski

Despite his father's plans to destine him for a diplomatic career, August felt a deep calling toward religious life. The decisive event occurred in 1883 in Paris, during the visit of Saint John Bosco. Deeply impressed, August decided to enter the Society of Saint Francis de Sales. His entry met with opposition from his father and reluctance from Don Bosco due to his precarious health. August then sought the arbitration of Pope Leo XIII, who ruled in his favor. In June 1887, he renounced his rights of succession and entered the novitiate of Turin-Valsalice. On November 24, 1887, he received the cassock from the hands of Don Bosco. After the founder's death, he pronounced his vows on October 2, 1888. Despite the progression of tuberculosis, he continued his theological studies, supported by the Venerable Andrea Beltrami. On April 2, 1892, he was ordained a priest in San Remo by Bishop Tommaso Reggio. He spent the only year of his priestly ministry in Alassio, where he passed away on April 8, 1893.

After his death, the remains of Father August Czartoryski were transported to Poland and buried in the parish crypt of the church in Sieniawa, where he had made his first communion in 1871. In 1968, his mortal remains were transferred to the Salesian church in Przemyśl, Poland, where they are the object of fervent veneration. The cause for beatification was officially introduced on March 23, 1941, under the pontificate of Pius XII. On December 1, 1978, Pope John Paul II promulgated the decree recognizing the heroic nature of his virtues, thereby declaring him Venerable.

In view of his beatification, a miracle of unexplained healing was submitted for examination by the Congregation for the Causes of Saints. After the favorable opinion of medical experts and theologians, the decree recognizing this miracle was promulgated by Pope John Paul II on December 20, 2003. August Czartoryski was solemnly beatified by Pope John Paul II on April 25, 2004, in Saint Peter's Square in Rome. During the celebration, the Polish Pope expressed his personal joy at raising this prince of his homeland to the altars, recalling the close ties he had maintained with the Czartoryski family when he was Archbishop of Krakow.

The spirituality of August Czartoryski rests on a rigorous discernment of the divine will, filial obedience, and a total stripping away of material wealth for the benefit of the poorest. His radical choice to abandon the privileges of the high nobility to become a humble Salesian religious exerted a profound influence in Poland, sparking numerous vocations within the Salesian Family, notably that of Cardinal August Hlond, future Primate of Poland. He remains today a model of evangelical detachment and fidelity to one's vocation for youth and those afflicted by illness.