Bernard Kryszkiewicz

In the autumn of 1933, after a preparatory retreat, Zygmunt received the Passionist habit in Przasnysz and took the religious name Bernard of the Mother of Fair Love (in Polish: Bernard od Matki Pięknej Miłości). He began his novitiate at the convent of Sadowie (near Ostrów Wielkopolski) and pronounced his first vows on November 11, 1934.

In 1936, he was sent to Rome to continue his theological studies at the General House of the Congregation, located near the Basilica of Saints John and Paul on the Caelian Hill. It was during this Roman period that he began to suffer from violent and persistent headaches, which he offered to God with patience. He pronounced his perpetual vows on November 11, 1937, and was ordained a priest on July 3, 1938.

Due to the deterioration of his health, his superiors sent him back to Poland at the end of 1938 to rest. In the spring of 1939, he was appointed assistant director of seminarians in Przasnysz. When the Second World War broke out in September 1939, the Przasnysz convent was evacuated. Father Bernard then took refuge at the convent of Rawa Mazowiecka, the only house of the congregation that remained open in Poland under German occupation.

In Rawa Mazowiecka, he dedicated himself intensely to clandestine teaching, preaching, and the spiritual direction of the seminarians. He was particularly sought after as a confessor. It was during this time that he wrote two major spiritual works: Dialogues with the Crucified (Dialogi z Ukrzyżowanym), meditations on the Passion that he placed near the church crucifix to comfort the faithful afflicted by the war, and Pedagogicum, a collection of 44 notes and pedagogical directives intended for the human and spiritual formation of young people and seminarians.

In January 1945, during the Soviet bombings of Rawa Mazowiecka, Father Bernard demonstrated heroic charity: he cleared the ruins with his bare hands to save those buried and administered the anointing of the sick to the dying in the streets. After the destruction of the local hospital, he took the initiative to transform the Passionist monastery into a makeshift hospital to accommodate the wounded and the sick, working there himself as a nurse, chaplain, and cook.

In March 1945, after the liberation of the region, Father Bernard was sent to Przasnysz as superior (prior) to restore the convent and church damaged by the fighting, and to re-establish community life there. He spared no effort to help the local population, struck by famine and epidemics.

In June 1945, during a brief visit to his family in Mława, doctors diagnosed that he had contracted typhus while caring for the sick. His health deteriorated rapidly. He died on July 7, 1945, at the hospital in Przasnysz, at only 30 years of age, surrounded by a reputation for holiness.

He was initially buried in the crypt of the Passionist church in Przasnysz. On March 29, 1989, his mortal remains were exhumed and transferred to a sarcophagus located in the porch of the Church of Saint James and Saint Anne in Przasnysz, where many faithful come to pray to him.

The cause for the beatification of Father Bernard Kryszkiewicz was initiated in 1972 at the request of Cardinal Stefan Wyszyński, Primate of Poland, who was deeply moved by reading his biography. The diocesan process was officially opened on June 11, 1983, in the Diocese of Płock and concluded on April 15, 1991. The validity of the process was recognized by the Congregation for the Causes of Saints on September 24, 1993, and the Positio was submitted in Rome in 2010. On May 22, 2021, Pope Francis authorized the promulgation of the decree recognizing the heroic nature of his virtues, thereby officially conferring upon him the title of Venerable.

The spirituality of the Venerable Bernard of the Mother of Beautiful Love is deeply rooted in the Passionist charism: the contemplation of the Passion of Christ as the supreme expression of God's merciful love. He lived his priesthood under the sign of self-offering, writing in particular: "I want to live for souls, especially for the poorest, the most miserable. The desire to bring effective help to those who need it most literally devours me."

He also defined himself as follows: "I have become a priest to whom broken hearts must come."

His legacy is perpetuated through his writings, in particular his Pedagogicum, which still inspires Christian educators today with its dialogical and benevolent vision of education, as well as his Dialogues with the Crucified, a testimony of his intimate union with the suffering Christ.