Jan Beyzym

January Beyzym ( born May 15, 1850 in Beyzymy Wielkie, Volhynia, † October 2, 1912 in Fianarantsoa in Madagascar ) was a Polish Jesuit priest and missionary.

Life

After high school he the son of Polish nobleman entered the novitiate on 10 December 1872 with the Jesuits in Stara Wies. On 26 July 1881 he was ordained a priest in Krakow. Until 1889 he worked as an educator and teacher at schools run by the Jesuit order in Tarnopol and Chyrow. During this time he matured into the adult from religious conviction resolve to dedicate themselves to the pastoral care of lepers in Madagascar. The 48 -year-old religious clerics took this year to his pastoral care and nursing activities in situated near Antananarivo leprosarium, where about 150 contracted leprosy people lived in complete isolation in inhuman conditions without medical care. Beyzym was the first missionary to Madagascar, who cared for the outcast from society sick. Here he was not deterred by the risk of infection. The, also known as Hansen 's disease, leprosy at that time was untreatable. However Beyzym discovered that the mortality rate of the patients could be reduced by significant sustained improvement in the diet. He reported his Order of the situation in the leper colony and organized fundraisers. By making possible better food supply, the number of deaths fell sharply. In the aftermath Beyzym campaigned for the establishment of a hospital for lepers in Marana near Fianarantsoa one. The construction work began on this in 1903; 1911 was the hospital funded by donations from Poland, Germany and Austria are inaugurated.

Father Jan Beyzym was born on 18 August 2002 beatified by John Paul II as an Apostle of the lepers in Madagascar.