New people in an old world: Jan Leopold Tyranowski

Jan Leopold Tyranowski had only one aspiration: to pray meditating the Word of God and the facts of Jesus' life. Born in Krakow on 9th February 1901 his father was a tailor, Jan was guided in his studies by his parents. They would have wanted him to become an accountant, but he, though successful at school and with the ability to aspire to a respectable career, preferred to work alongside his father in his tailor's shop. There he could enjoy the tranquillity he required to meditate, especially on the Rosary. Holy Mass and daily Holy Communion brought him ever closer to God, to make him a kind of lay monk, retired in his tireless and cloistered "ora et labora". Jan's existence could have continued in this way forever, in the silence of a simple life, totally dedicated to God. However, at a certain point, an intuition took hold inside him: to dedicate himself to apostolate work among young people. Precisely he, who said, "he didn't know how to speak" had to steel himself and gathered around him, in his home, an initial group of 15 young people. In a short time his home in via delle Rose, became the reference point for hundreds of young people, at a time in which Krakow had remained almost priestless as a result of the Nazi invasion. Jan's work, providentially took on a role of extraordinary importance. In Jan's home the Rosary was prayed and in particular what was called the "Living Rosary", for which each one was called to live, meditate and testify a particular mystery to his peers. Jan also often met the young people personally, assuming the spiritual guidance of many. Many vocations flourished in his home, including one that is worth remembering, that of the young Karol Wojtyla. That exceptional testimony spoke of Jan in the following way: "It is difficult to forget the conversations with him. One of these is impressed in my memory: that time this simple man who complained with his confessor of not being able to speak, spoke until late into the night of who God is and what life with God is. He did not read the words of others, he spoke his own. It was almost July and the day was fading slowly… He was the apostle of the greatness of God, of the beauty of God, of the transcendency of God". Jan Tyranowski died at the young age of 47, due to complications from an arm infection. It was 15th March 1947 and a few months had passed since 1st November, the day in which the "lay monk" had experienced the joy of seeing the consecration of Karol, the future Pope John Paul II. Jan Tyranowski has been declared servant of God and his cause of beatification is underway.