Bishop Julian Wojtkowski, Poland’s oldest bishop, died at age 99 in Olsztyn, his archdiocese announced.
Bishop Julian Wojtkowski Dies
Bishop Julian Wojtkowski, a senior auxiliary bishop of the Archdiocese of Warmia, died on Wednesday, February 4, at the Warmian Priests’ Convict in Olsztyn. The clergyman was 99 years old. He was a priest for 76 years and a bishop for 57 years. “The date of the funeral ceremonies will be announced at a later time,” wrote the Archdiocese of Warmia.
Life of Bishop Wojtkowski
Bishop Julian Wojtkowski was born on January 31, 1927, in Poznań. He completed elementary school there. However, he was not able to stay, as after the outbreak of World War II, the clergyman was arrested along with his parents and siblings and interned in the German resettlement camp Lager Glowna – Posen Ost in Poznań. The family was then taken to Ostrowiec Świętokrzyski. “He obtained his ‘small matriculation’ in secret teaching in the Kielce region in 1944, and a year later he received his maturity certificate from a mathematical-physical lyceum in Lublin,” informed the Archdiocese of Warmia.
Education and Ordination
In 1945, Wojtkowski began studies at the Lublin Theological Seminary for the Warmian diocese, where he spent five years. In 1950, he received priestly ordination and a master’s degree in theology. Three years later, the clergyman obtained a doctorate, and from 1952 to 2005, he taught at the Warmian Theological Seminary, the Warmian Theological Institute, and the Faculty of Theology of the University of Warmia and Mazury in Olsztyn.
Episcopal Consecration
Wojtkowski received episcopal consecration on August 22, 1969, in the private chapel of Cardinal Stefan Wyszyński in Warsaw. “The consecrators were Primate of Poland Stefan Wyszyński, and the Warmian bishops Józef Drzazga and Jan Obłąk. As his episcopal motto, he chose the words: Veni Domine Jesu (Come, Lord Jesus),” informed the Archdiocese of Warmia.
