Blessed Bronislaw Markiewicz 
«When there are not enough Saints in a nation, night falls in the minds of men, and people do not see the way they must go,» stated Blessed Bronislaw Markiewicz. Saint Paul tells us, For this is the will of God, your sanctification (I Th. 4:3). «Since Baptism is a true entry into the holiness of God through incorporation into Christ and the indwelling of His Spirit, it would be a contradiction to settle for a life of mediocrity, marked by a minimalist ethic and a shallow religiosity. ... As the Council itself explained, this ideal of perfection must not be misunderstood as if it involved some kind of extraordinary existence, possible only for a few 'uncommon heroes' of holiness. The ways of holiness are many, according to the vocation of each individual» (John Paul II, Novo millennio ineunte, January 6, 2001, no. 31). Bronislaw Markiewicz was born on July 13, 1842, in eastern Poland, at the time annexed to the Russian empire, into a modest household that would eventually include eleven children. At the age of 18, he lost his faith. «I wanted to adapt to my teachers' views,» he would write... «Along with faith in God, I lost the peace in my soul and my sense of interior harmony. I was overcome by sadness.» In his despair, Bronislaw turned to the great Polish authors. Touched by one of them, he fell to his knees and exclaimed, «My God, if You exist, make me know You! ... May I see the Truth, and spend my life in thanksgiving! To gain this, I am willing to suffer any mortification.» The response from Heaven was not long in coming: «God has heard my prayer!» he wrote. «In the blink of an eye, my soul was bathed in light. I believed everything that the Holy Church teaches. I immediately made a general confession.» But this conversion brought with it a difficult struggle on the moral level: «I fell again, and even several times, but You, Lord Jesus, You did not abandon me!»
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