KÓZMÍNSKI, HONORAT, BL.

Baptized Florence Wenceslaus John Kózmínski (or Kózmínskiego), also known as Honorat a Biala, architect, Capuchin, founder; b. Oct. 16, 1829, Biala Podlaska, Poland; d. Dec. 16, 1916, Nowe Miasto, Poland. Kózmínski was the second of four children of an affluent architect and his pious spouse. Following in his father's footsteps, he studied architecture at the Warsaw School of Fine Arts. Kózmínski's faith failed at his father's death in 1845, but was reinvigorated during his internment (1846–47) on a false charge of treason against the Russian occupation and subsequent illness. He became a Capuchin December of 1848, received the name Honorat, and was ordained Dec. 8, 1852. Thereafter he preached and served as spiritual director in Warsaw. Under the Russian occupation, he founded more than 20 associations and congregations, including the Circles of the Living Rosary and the Sister Servants of Mary Immaculate (1878). Most of these groups were reorganized by the Polish hierarchy in 1908. Among the surviving organizations is the Franciscan Sisters of Saint Felix of Cantalice (felicians), founded by Mother Angela truszkowska under the spiritual direction of Blessed Honorat, who witnessed the dedication of the initial Felician sisters on Nov. 21, 1855. Although Honorat was placed under house arrest at Zakroczym monastery during the Russian period of suppression, he continued to provide spiritual direction. From 1892 to 1895, Kózmínski ministered at Nowe Miasto until he was appointed commissary for the Polish Capuchins. He died following a painful illness. Pope John Paul II beatified Honorat Oct. 16, 1988.

Bibliography: Dziedzictwo bl. Honorata Kózmínskiego, ed. h. i. szumil and g. bartoszewskiego (Sandomierz 1998). c.-c. billot, Honorat Kozminski (Blois, France 1982). w. kluz, Ziarnko gorczycy: o Honorat Kózmínski OFMCap (Warsaw 1987). f. da riese pio x, Onorato Kózmínski da Biala Podlaska: un polacco che visse sempre in piedi (Rome 1976). m. szymula, Duchowóšc zakonna: duchowóšc zakonna wedlug nauczania bl. Honorata Kózmínskiego (2d. ed. Warsaw 1999). m. a. werner, O. Honorat Kózmínski, kapucyn (Poznan 1972). Acta Apostolicae Sedis (1988) 1173.

[k. i. rabenstein]