Born: June 2, 1911, Strzemień ( province Żółkiew, Lwów voivodship, Poland)
Died: April 2, 2008, Cracow, Poland
Buried: Rakowicki Cemetery in Cracow – section LXIXPASC-2-3
Family: father – Adam, mother – Józefa nee Sicińska
Medals: Polish – Silver Cross of the War Order of Virtuti Militari, Cross of Valor, Commander’s Cross with the Star of the Order of Polonia Restituta, Gold Cross of Merit with Swords, Monte Cassino Cross, Army Medal; British – Defense Medal, Star 1939-45, War Medal 1939-45, Africa Star.
Fates before joining Anders Army: Father Adam (convent name; actually Franciszek) Studziński, after high school exams in 1928, joined the Dominican Order. He was ordained a priest on March 7, 1937 by Bishop Eugeniusz Baziak in Lviv.
The outbreak of the war found him in Cracow, from where, via Lviv and Czortków, he managed to get to Hungary, where he became a chaplain and engaged in the pastoral care of interned Polish soldiers. In June 1940, he came to Yugoslavia, where he began his pastoral work. Due to the threat of an attack by German troops through Greece and Turkey, he went to Palestine.
Military history in Polish 2 Corps: He stayed in Haifa, where on August 1, 1942, he entered the service of the Polish Army in the East in armored vehicles. On August 5, 1942, he became the chaplain of the 4th tank battalion, and on August 29 of that year he was already appointed head of the ministry of the 2nd Tank Brigade. He stayed with the Brigade in Iraq, Iran, Palestine and Egypt. On November 14, 1942, he returned to the 4th tank battalion, which in July 1943 was renamed the 4th Armored Regiment “Scorpion” of the Polish 2nd Corps. With him, Fr. Studziński made a campaign in Italy in 1944. During the Battle of Monte Cassino, when the first attack on the hill was launched, he was walking in front of the tanks with a cross in his hand. He removed wounded soldiers from under the tracks of tanks and gave them spiritual comfort. For participation in the Battle of Monte Cassino, he was awarded the Order of Virtuti Militari V class, given by the Committee in London.
Later he took part in the battles for Piedimonte, Ancona and Bologna. In April 1945, when Fr. Waculik died, he was appointed chaplain of the 2nd motorized commando battalion in the 2nd Armored Brigade. The brigade was later renamed the 2nd Warsaw Armored Division. Together with her, in 1946 he left for Great Britain. There he joined the Polish Resettlement Corps.
Post-War: After returning to Poland on October 28, 1947, he became the director of the Small Seminary of the Opole Diocese in Gliwice, and then found himself in the convention in Krakow. In Prądnik Czerwony, as the economic leader, he ran the farm until it was confiscated by the communists. He was also a prefect at the Cracow School of Economics. In 1950, on the advice of the former chaplain of the 1st Armored Division, he decided to flee abroad. The courier turned out to be a security service agent, the Dominican was arrested in Gdańsk and sentenced to 10 years in prison. The sentence was reduced to 1.5 years as a result of a revision hearing. After being released from prison, he stayed in Cracow and Poznań.
In 1952 he became the parish priest of St. Dominik in Służew in Warsaw. In the years 1958-1961 he was prior in Lublin, and from 1962 he stayed at the Dominican Monastery in Gdańsk. In October of that year, he became the parish priest in Korbielów and after a year he returned to Cracow. In 1970, he graduated from the Academy of Fine Arts in Cracow and obtained a master’s degree in Art Conservation of Works of Art. He dealt with this field of art until the very end, mainly in the Dominican Monastery in Cracow. There he discovered and restored the oldest part of the monastery. He had in his possession a collection of chasubles and other works of sacred art. He was the co-author of the plan to save the Leaning Tower of Pisa. He is the author of over a dozen paintings, which he painted and exhibited at the Polish Army Museum in Warsaw. He conducted pastoral activities among veterans, legionnaires, Home Army soldiers and scouts, for whom he was the chief chaplain for some time. Every year he organized Christmas meetings for veterans and scouts in the monastery’s crypt. He looked after the church of St. Idzi in Cracow, which he restored. He celebrated his Sunday Masses there for scouts, where he gave sermons and patriotic talks.
He was active in veterans’ circles, he co-organized pilgrimages of soldiers of the Polish Armed Forces in the West to Jasna Góra on the anniversary of the Battle of Monte Cassino and the legionnaires’ marches from Oleandry St. in Cracow. In 2006, he was promoted to the rank of Brigadier General. He is the author of the “Guide to Polish war cemeteries in Italy” (published in 1994) and “Memoirs of the chaplain of the 4th Armored Regiment “Scorpio” from Monte Cassino” (published in 2002). He was awarded the title of Honorary Citizen of the Capital City of Cracow.
He died on April 2, 2008 in a convent in Cracow and was buried in Aleja Zasłużonych in Rakowicki Cemetery in Cracow. The square in front of the church of St. Idzi in this city at Wawel has Fr. Adam Franciszek Studziński’s name.
author: Aneta Hoffmann, Warsaw, Poland
