Jan Tyranowski
One
Venerable Jan Tyranowski – the Spiritual Mentor of St. John Paul II
Jan was born in 1900 and grew up in the suburbs of Kraków, Poland. His father wanted him to be an accountant, for which Jan obtained a degree and began working professionally as such. By 1930 the stress of the position led to serious and chronic stomach problems that were so debilitating that Jan left accounting and began to work in the family business as a tailor.
See, Jan was extremely introverted. He loved being hidden and alone. It worked well for him to create or mend suits in the solitude of the back room of the family tailor shop. Then came the moment that changed his life. In 1935 Jan heard a sermon in which the priest said, “It is not difficult to be a saint.”
Tyranowski took this as the truth! Jan committed to three things. First, to meditate on the Word of God each day in the Rosary and spend time with Jesus in solitude and silence, concluding every meditation with a concrete resolution. Second, to receive Jesus as often as he could in the Eucharist and in frequent confession. Third, to study and learn the Catholic Faith, especially the works of Teresa of Avila and John of the Cross. Then he created a strategy to reach his goal based on these three things.
If you want to reach your destination, you will need a map or a plan. Do you have a plan to reach transforming union with Jesus. If not, it’s likely you will get off track.
Two
His Mission
During World War II the parish to which Jan belonged, St Stanislaw Kostka in Dębniki, a suburb of Kraków, was run by the Salesians, a religious community founded by St. John Bosco and dedicated to forming young people. On May 23, 1941, the Gestapo rounded up the Salesian priests of the parish and shipped them to the Dachau concentration camp where eleven died.
Before they were taken away, the Salesians entrusted their work of forming the young people to Jan Tyranowski, this introverted layman, and he took responsibility.
Jan invited and gathered the young people into small groups called the Living Rosary Movement started by Bl. Pauline Jaricot, more than one hundred years earlier in Lyon, France. Then in weekly, hour-long meetings in his apartment, Tyranowski explained the fundamentals of the spiritual life to the young people and he also gave personal spiritual direction to each leader.
Three
The Fruit of His Mission
A young man named Karol Wojtyla met Jan Tyranowski in February of 1940. The two met just a few months after Poland was overrun by the Nazis and not long before young Karol Woytyla’s father would die, leaving him with no family in this world. God’s providential hand is always guiding everything.
Tyranowski picked Karol Woytyla to lead one of the Living Rosary groups. In this way, he was formed personally by Tyranowski in the fundamentals of prayer and the spiritual life and how to develop a life of virtue. He introduced Karol to the works of St. Louis De Montfort, St. John of the Cross, and St. Teresa of Avila and helped him understand their works.
Tyranowski became the spiritual director of Karol Wojtyla and helped him discern his vocation to the priesthood. Karol later recounted that without the guidance of Jan, there was a strong chance he would not have become a priest because he was at that time determined to be a playwright. And it was this Karol Woytla who became Pope St. John Paul II.
John Paul went on to bring the Gospel to 129 countries and did more to reinvigorate the Catholic faith than anyone maybe since St. Paul.
One introverted layman personally invested in one young person, mentored him, and the whole world was changed.
Four
We each need a strategy to reach the goal. If Jan can commit himself to the goal of transforming union with Jesus, then so can you. But we need a plan. The surest means to this goal are:
Daily mental prayer and a practical resolution, like we are doing now in the Rosary.
A rule of life that organizes our whole life toward the goal.
To receive Jesus frequently in the Eucharist and Reconciliation.
We all need a spiritual director or mentor. It is easier to travel in a foreign country with a person who has lived in that country for a while. We all need a spiritual director or mentor who has lived in the land of the spiritual life for long enough to be very well acquainted with the spiritual landscape. John of the Cross, Teresa of Avila, and Francis De Sales believed this was not optional. Proverbs 28:26 reminds us that, “He who trusts his own mind is a fool.”
St. Francis De Sales writes, “Do you want to advance confidently along the path of perfection and the love of God? Then seek someone who can direct you. This is the most important advice I can give you…Since it is so important…to find a good guide for this journey that you are undertaking, pray perseveringly that God will give you one after His own heart. Doubt not that God will give him to you, even if he has to send an angel from heaven.”
Five
A picture is worth a thousand words. This painting shows the formula that Jan Tyranowski employed. It is three steps.
Commit to the Rosary – Our Lady asked her children to pray it every day.
Commit to a small group of family and friends with whom you can share life and share your faith – pray the Rosary and have good conversation
Meet one on one with a few of them.
What the world needs is saints. But saints don’t start out that way. They are ordinary people like Jan Tyranowski who have the desire to grow closer to Jesus and commit themselves to the practices that lead to the goal.
One of the biggest problems we face is that there are too few spiritual directors or mentors to meet the demand. If you want a spiritual mentor, then step out of the boat and let us train you to be one. Because once you commit to be equipped to help others, we will make sure you have a mentor of your own.
Just go to Schooloffaith.com, and click on, “Be a Mentor”.
The world is renewed by saints. We need people like Tyranowski to step forward. How about you?
