34 Facts About Francis Dzierozynski

Francis Dzierozynski taught and studied in Polotsk and Mogilev until leading students in an escape from the French invasion of Russia in 1812.

Francis Dzierozynski returned to Polotsk, where he taught until the expulsion of the Jesuits from the Russian Empire in 1820.

Francis Dzierozynski was given broad authority over the Jesuits' Maryland Mission, and taught at Georgetown College while learning English.

Francis Dzierozynski was involved in significant disputes with the American bishops, especially Ambrose Marechal, with whom his quarrel over the ownership of valuable White Marsh Manor, endured for many years and involved such prominent figures as John Quincy Adams, Henry Clay, Roger Taney, Luigi Fortis, and Pope Pius VII.

Francis Dzierozynski again became leader of the newly elevated Maryland Province in 1839, but his old age and continuing conflicts with bishops and the Superior General resulted in an unsuccessful administration of the province.

Francis Dzierozynski's term came to an end in 1843, and he spent his final years at the novitiate in Frederick, Maryland, where he died.

Francis Dzierozynski enrolled at the Jesuit Collegium in Orsha, before entering the Society of Jesus in 1794, at the age of fifteen.

Francis Dzierozynski studied at the novitiate in Polotsk until 1809, but was ordained a priest there in 1806, after studying theology for only one year, due to an insufficient number of priests.

Francis Dzierozynski then returned to Polotsk, where he taught Jesuit seminarians and lay students in the Jesuit College.

Francis Dzierozynski led a covert escape from the French invasion of 1812, and later returned to the city, resuming his position as a professor of dogmatic theology, apologetics, and homiletics.

When Czar Alexander I expelled the Jesuits from the Russian Empire in 1820, Francis Dzierozynski left for Italy, where he began teaching in Bologna.

Francis Dzierozynski then went to Rome, where he received orders from the Jesuit Superior General, Luigi Fortis, to become a missionary and revive the Society of Jesus in the United States following its worldwide suppression.

Francis Dzierozynski's task was to restore the spirit of the Jesuits, improve administration, and expand the apostolate to new areas.

Francis Dzierozynski was met with a community of Jesuits who lived as planters and were highly suspicious of European Jesuits who sought to modify their lifestyle and pastoral approach.

The students came to like Francis Dzierozynski, and gave him the nickname of "Father Zero," as they could not pronounce his last name.

Francis Dzierozynski became a citizen of the United States in 1828, and believed in civic participation.

Francis Dzierozynski's jurisdiction extended over 95 Jesuits spread from Maryland to New England and as far west as the Mississippi and Missouri River Valleys.

Francis Dzierozynski took office at a time of severe mismanagement of the mission.

Francis Dzierozynski remained a professor at Georgetown, where he became vice president and treasurer.

Francis Dzierozynski reopened the novitiate at Georgetown in 1827, and personally fulfilled the office of master of novices, succeeding Charles Van Quickenborne.

Francis Dzierozynski conflicted with the Archbishop of Baltimore, Ambrose Marechal, over his authority to transfer Jesuit priests among Jesuit parishes in the diocese, a special privilege that had been the right of Jesuit superiors around the world prior to suppression.

Francis Dzierozynski played a role in the establishment of St John's College in Frederick, Maryland, in 1829.

Francis Dzierozynski was relieved of his office in November 1830, when Peter Kenney arrived as an apostolic visitor to investigate the possibility of elevating the Maryland mission to the full status of a province.

Fortis ordered Francis Dzierozynski to obey the papal brief, but the conflict continued to escalate.

Meanwhile, William Matthews obtained the support of the US Secretary of State, John Quincy Adams, on behalf of the Jesuits, and Francis Dzierozynski enlisted Adams' successor, Henry Clay, to warn Marechal against foreign interference.

Francis Dzierozynski rejected the claim of Marechal's successor, James Whitfield, that he and his successors were due the stipend.

Francis Dzierozynski was appointed consultor, and was charged by Kenney with appointing personnel within the province.

Francis Dzierozynski remained master of novices at Georgetown until 1831.

Francis Dzierozynski then resumed the position on December 16,1834, at the relocated novitiate in Frederick.

The Maryland Jesuits selected Francis Dzierozynski to be vice-provincial to manage the province in the interim period.

The Jesuits criticized Francis Dzierozynski as being too passive in governing the province.

Francis Dzierozynski was reluctant to open a new Jesuit college within his jurisdiction, but Fenwick's persistence combined with Roothaan's approval resulted in the opening of the College of the Holy Cross in Worcester, Massachusetts, in 1843.

Francis Dzierozynski returned to the role of master of novices, but after three years, his health further deteriorated and his disagreements with Roothaan mounted, resulting in the end of his tenure.

Francis Dzierozynski was described as the most prominent of the early Polish Jesuit missionaries to the United States.