October 2
John Beyzym, priest (1850–1912)
Jesuit missionary priest
Polish Jesuit and missionary in Madagascar, Juan Beyzym chose to live among people sick with leprosy who society kept abandoned.
Biography
After years as an educator, he asked to go to the missions at the age of forty-eight. Day and night he shared the lives of the sick, tending to their wounds, providing food and giving them dignity and hope. With donations collected mainly from his compatriots, he built a hospital in Marana for one hundred and fifty patients, entrusted to the protection of the Virgin of Częstochowa. Exhausted by a service beyond his strength, he died among those whom he had made his family.
Practical advice
Approach a sick or socially rejected person today without reluctance or haste.
Example of
Missionary zealSpirit of servicePriestly life