View source for Adam Stefan Sapieha

{{Short description|Polish Roman Catholic archbishop (1867–1951)}}
{{Infobox Christian leader
| type = Cardinal
| honorific-prefix = [[His Eminence]] [[Prince]]
| name = Adam Stefan Sapieha
| honorific-suffix = 
| title = [[Cardinal (Catholic Church)|Cardinal]], [[Archbishop of Kraków]]
| image = Adam Stefan Sapieha (1867-1951).jpg
| imagesize = 
| alt = 
| caption = 
| church = [[Catholic Church]]
| archdiocese = [[Archdiocese of Kraków|Kraków]]
| elected = 
| appointed = 24 November 1911
| quashed = 
| term_end = 23 July 1951
| predecessor = [[Jan Puzyna de Kosielsko]]
| opposed = 
| successor = [[Eugeniusz Baziak]] (apostolic administrator)
| other_post = Cardinal-Priest of [[Santa Francesca Romana|Santa Maria Nuova]]
<!---------- Orders ---------->| ordination = 1 October 1893
| ordained_by = [[Jan Maurycy Pawel Puzyna de Kosielsko]]
| consecration = 17 December 1911
| consecrated_by = [[Pope Pius X|Pius X]]
| cardinal = 18 February 1946
| created_cardinal_by = [[Pope Pius XII|Pius XII]]
| rank = [[Cardinal-Priest]]
<!---------- Personal details ---------->| birth_name = Prince Adam Stefan Stanisław Bonfatiusz Józef Sapieha
| birth_date = {{birth date|df=y|1867|5|14}}
| birth_place = [[Krasiczyn]], [[Kingdom of Galicia and Lodomeria]], [[Austrian Empire]] (now in Poland)
| death_date = {{death date and age|df=y|1951|7|23|1867|5|14}}
| death_place = [[Kraków]], [[Communist Poland|Poland]]
| buried = [[Wawel Cathedral]]
| nationality = Polish
| religion = [[Roman Catholic]]
| residence = 
| parents = Adam Stanisław Sapieha-Kodenski<br />Jadwiga Klementyna Sanguszko-Lubartowicza
| spouse = 
| children = 
| occupation = 
| profession = 
| alma_mater = 
| motto = ''Crux mihi foederis arcus''
| signature = Adam Stefan Sapieha signature.svg
| coat_of_arms = Card Sapieha COA.png
<!---------- Sainthood ---------->| feast_day = 
| venerated = 
| saint_title = 
| beatified_date = 
| beatified_place = 
| beatified_by = 
| canonized_date = 
| canonized_place = 
| canonized_by = 
| attributes = 
| patronage = 
| shrine = 
| suppressed_date = <!---------- Other ---------->
| other = 
}}
{{Infobox noble|type
| name = Adam Stefan Sapieha
| CoA = [[Lis coat of arms]] [[File:Herb Sapiehów.PNG|150px]]
| more = no
| noble family = [[Sapieha]]
| house-type = Szlachta
}}
{{Infobox cardinalstyles
| cardinal name = Prince Adam Stefan [[Cardinal (Catholic Church)|Cardinal]] Sapieha
| image = Card Sapieha COA.png
| dipstyle = [[His Eminence]]
| offstyle = Your Eminence
| relstyle = (autofilled)
| See = Kraków
|image_size=200px}}

'''Prince Adam Stefan Stanisław Bonifacy Józef Sapieha''' ({{IPA|pl|ˈadam ˈstɛfan saˈpjɛxa}}; 14 May 1867 – 23 July 1951) was a [[Catholic Church in Poland|Polish Catholic]] [[prelate]] who served as [[Archbishop of Kraków]] from 1911 to 1951. A member of the Polish nobility, between 1922 and 1923 he was a senator of the [[Second Polish Republic]]. In 1946, [[Pope Pius XII]] made him a [[Cardinal (Catholic Church)|cardinal]].

==Early life==
Sapieha was born in 1867 in the castle of [[Krasiczyn]], then part of the [[Austrian Empire]]. [[Sapieha|His family]], originally from the [[Grand Duchy of Lithuania]], were members of the Polish [[nobility]]. He was the youngest of the seven children of [[Prince]] [[Adam Stanisław Sapieha|Adam Stanisław Sapieha-Kodenski]] and Princess Jadwiga Klementyna [[House of Sanguszko|Sanguszko-Lubartowicza]], daughter of [[Prince]] [[Władysław Hieronim Sanguszko]]. His elder brother, Prince [[Władysław Leon Sapieha]], is the great-grandfather of [[Mathilde of Belgium|Queen Mathilde of the Belgians]].

==Education and early vocation==
After graduating from [[Gymnasium (school)|gymnasium]] in [[Lwów]] in 1886, he enrolled in the Law Department at the [[University of Vienna]], starting simultaneously law studies at [[Institut Catholique de Paris|Institut Catholique]] in [[Lille]]. In 1887 on the basis of his certificate from the [[University of Vienna]] Sapieha continued studies at the [[Jagiellonian University]] in [[Kraków]]. After two years he passed the examination and returned to [[Vienna]] for further studies, where he remained until 1890, obtaining the certificate of completion.

In the same year he began theological studies at the [[University of Innsbruck]], and in 1892 signed up for the third year of the [[Roman Catholic Seminary in Lviv|Major Roman Catholic Theological Seminary in Lviv]]. He was then educated at the [[Pontifical Gregorian University]] in Rome, where he was also [[Priesthood (Catholic Church)|ordained as priest]] of [[Lviv]] (Lwów, Lemberg) on 1 October 1893 by Bishop [[Jan Puzyna de Kosielsko]] (later [[Bishop of Kraków]] and Cardinal). Father Sapieha was despatched first to [[Jazłowiec (college)]] to act as chaplain to the school and to the attached convent in [[Yazlovets]] in the [[Archdiocese of Lwów]],<ref>Wolny, J. (2001). "Młodość i pierwsze lata działalności Adama Stefana Sapiehy" in Bogacz, R. (ed.) ''Książę Niezłomny. Kardynał Adam Stefan Sapieha'', Kraków. p. 84. (in Polish).</ref> before, in October 1895, he started further studies in Rome. There he obtained a doctorate of civil and canon law at the [[Pontifical Ecclesiastical Academy]]. At the same time he studied diplomacy at the [[Pontifical Academy of Ecclesiastical Nobles]].

After returning to the home country in 1897, he was designated vice-rector of the diocesan seminary in Lviv and eventually became its [[Rector (academia)|rector]]. He resigned because he was discouraged by the imposed rules of education of young priests. After a half-year trip across the [[United States|United States of America]], he was designated a vicar of the St. Nicholas congregation in Lviv in October 1902. In 1905 Sapieha was appointed a [[papal chamberlain]], and sent to Rome where he was a consultant on matters concerning the Roman Catholic Church in Poland, in the [[History of Poland|annexed territories]], the realization of an idea by Lviv [[Armenian Catholic]] Archbishop [[Józef Teodorowicz]] (who was the Sapieha's long-term friend)<ref>Wielki Zapomniany, ks.Tadeusz Isakowicz-Zaleski. [http://lwow.home.pl/ormianie/teodorowicz.html ks. abp Józef Teodorowicz (1864–1938)].</ref> to have a representative of the Roman Catholic Church in Poland at the [[Roman Curia]].

==Bishop==
Sapieha was appointed [[Bishop of Kraków]] on 24 November 1911 and was consecrated by [[Pope Pius X]] in the [[Sistine Chapel]] on 7 December of the same year. In 1915, he established a relief committee for victims of World War I.

After World War I, Sapieha became a vocal opponent of the new [[concordat]] negotiated between the [[Holy See]] and the newly resurrected Polish state. He argued that the Polish Church should be completely independent of the state and that its primate should be the [[Archbishop of Warsaw]]. This attitude led to a conflict with Archbishop [[Achille Ratti]], [[Pope Benedict XV]]'s nuncio who later became pope, during the first post-war congress of Polish bishops in [[Gniezno]] held 26–30 August 1919. Sapieha thought that the Poles themselves should decide their affairs without outside influence and asked Ratti to leave the conference room. After Ratti became [[Pope Pius XI]] in 1922, he did not make Sapieha a cardinal even though his two predecessors as bishop of Krakow had been honored with that title, and not even after Krakow became an archdiocese.<ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=B8sj8LntVV0C&pg=PA50 |page=50 |access-date=9 March 2021 |title=Rome's Most Faithful Daughter: The Catholic Church and Independent Poland, 1914-1939 |first=Neal |last=Pease |date=2009 |publisher=Ohio University Press |isbn=9780821443620}}</ref>

In 1922, Sapieha was elected senator from the [[Christian Union of National Unity]] party. He ordered a memorial service and issued a proclamation on the assassination of [[Gabriel Narutowicz]]. It was the only speech he delivered as a senator because papal mandate at the time prohibited clergy from holding public office. He resigned on 9 March 1923.

Sapieha was appointed Metropolitan Archbishop in 1925 when the Diocese of Kraków was elevated to the rank of Archdiocese. He received a [[honorary degree|degree honoris causa]] from the [[Jagiellonian University]] in 1926. In September 1930, after opposition leaders were arrested and placed in confinement at [[Brest Fortress]], Archbishops Sapieha and Teodorowicz strongly criticized the government. Despite this, and other occasional disagreements with the government, Sapieha was awarded the [[Order of the White Eagle (Poland)|Order of the White Eagle]] in 1936.

In 1937, Sapieha, who had opposed the [[Józef Piłsudski|Pilsudski]] regime (sanacja), made the controversial decision to move Piłsudski's body, within [[Wawel Cathedral|Wawel's Cathedral]], from [[St. Leonard's Crypt]] to the crypt under the Silver Bells.<ref>Historical Dictionary of Poland, 966-1945. Jerzy Jan Lerski, 1996.[https://books.google.com/books?id=S6aUBuWPqywC&pg=PA525 Google Print], p. 525.</ref><ref>Annual Register, edited by Edmund Burke. [https://books.google.com/books?id=ASoNAAAAIAAJ&q=sacred Google Print], p. 202.</ref>

In 1939 he asked [[Pope Pius XI]] to accept his resignation due to age and failing health, but the pope refused. After the death of Pius XI, he repeated his request to the new pope, [[Pius XII]] on 19 June 1939. In anticipation of the upcoming war and at [[Józef Beck]]'s instigation he withdrew his resignation.

===Activities during the Second World War===
During World War II, while Primate [[August Hlond]] was in France, Sapieha was the de facto head of the Polish church in jurisdictions directly annexed by the [[Third Reich]] (primate Hlond was represented by Walenty Dymek, auxiliary bishop of Poznań) and was one of the main leaders of the nation{{Citation needed|date=August 2010}}. One of the most important organisations to which he belonged was the National Council of Welfare, created on the model of [[Caritas (charity)|Caritas]]. From the war's start of the Nazi occupation, he was an independence activist, working with the [[Polish government-in-exile]].

Before the war, Sapieha referred to Jews as a "depraved race" and blamed them for both capitalist exploitation and Communism. He made no condemnation of the Holocaust while it was occurring either publicly or in private communications with the German authorities.<ref>{{cite thesis |degree=PhD |last1=Kornbluth |first1=Andrew |title=Poland on Trial: Postwar Courts, Sovietization, and the Holocaust, 1944-1956 |date=2016 |page=29 |url=https://escholarship.org/uc/item/0g29j0ds |publisher=UC Berkeley |language=en}} Kornbluth cites [[Dariusz Libionka]], „Polska hierarchia kościelna...”, pp. 27, 40-44.</ref>

In August 1944, Sapieha was forced to operate the Polish seminary in secret because the Germans began killing seminarians whenever they found them. He moved his students (including the future [[Pope John Paul II]], Karol Wojtyła) into the [[Bishop's Palace, Kraków|Bishop's Palace in Kraków]] to finish their training during the Nazi [[Occupation of Poland]].<ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=7ICFN4iJpgwC&pg=PA280 |title=Social Memory and History: Anthropological perspectives |first1=Jacob J. |last1=Climo |first2=Maria G.|last2=Cattell |year=2002 |publisher=Rowman Altamira |isbn=0759101787 |page=280}}</ref>

Sapieha's biographer, Jacek Czajkowski describes the circumstances of the archbishop being invited by Governor [[Hans Frank]] to [[Adolf Hitler|Hitler's]] birthday party in April 1942. He told the German official: "No! They are not going to change anything, but they will take a photograph of me and write that a Polish bishop arrived at Hitler's birthday party with best wishes. Tell him I will not come." Another such anecdote recalls when governor Hans Frank ordered the archbishop to hand him the keys to the [[Wawel Castle]]. Sapieha replied: "But don't forget to give them back to me when you will be leaving Wawel."

==Cardinal==
In March 1945, he initiated the publication of [[Tygodnik Powszechny]]. He was created [[Cardinal (Catholicism)|Cardinal-Priest]], of the title of ''[[Santa Francesca Romana, Rome|Santa Maria Nuova]]'', on 18 February 1946. On 1 November 1946 he conferred priestly ordination on [[Pope John Paul II|Karol Wojtyła]] in the chapel of his episcopal residence. After the [[Kielce pogrom]] he demonstrated his [[anti-Semitism|anti-Semitic]] attitudes when he reportedly stated that the Jews had brought it upon themselves but then provided aid for the affected Jews. According to witness, he and the church complained there were too many Jews in the government.<ref name="Kent">{{cite book |title=The Lonely Cold War of Pope Pius XII: The Roman Catholic Church and the Division of Europe|author=Peter C. Kent |publisher=McGill-Queen's University Press |year=2002 |page=128}}<!-- ISSN/ISBN needed & year of publication needed --></ref><ref>[https://books.google.be/books/content?id=UWJ1Cz8TcRMC&hl=fr&pg=PA138&img=1&zoom=3&sig=ACfU3U3-EG_Cr3WseXKCNmLjlHERLpB9zA&w=1280 Jan Gross(18 déc. 2007) Fear: Anti-Semitism in Poland After Auschwitz] Random House Publishing Group, p. 138.</ref>

Sapieha knew Karol Wojtyła (later John Paul II) was destined to become a priest when a young Wojtyła delivered a welcoming speech during the archbishop's visit to his school.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Weigel, George, 1951- |title=Witness to hope : the biography of Pope John Paul II |date=1999 |publisher=Cliff Street Books |isbn=0-06-018793-X |edition=1st |location=New York |oclc=41070948}}</ref> Some people consider him a mentor of [[Pope John Paul II]].<ref>{{cite web |last1=Costello |first1=Brian |title="The Unbreakable Prince": Biography of Adam Stefan Cardinal Sapieha, the Teacher of Pope St. John Paul II |url=https://www.thescottsmithblog.com/2020/10/the-unbreakable-prince-biography-of.html |website=All Roads Lead to Rome |access-date=27 July 2021}}</ref> In 1949, he proposed that [[Stefan Wyszyński]], [[Archbishop of Gniezno|Metropolitan Archbishop of Gniezno]] and [[List of bishops and archbishops of Warsaw|Warsaw]] since 12 November 1948, should be termed Primate of Poland.{{citation needed|date=February 2017}}

The following year (1950), he wrote letters to the then Polish president, [[Boleslaw Bierut]], protesting against Bierut's repression of the church. Sapieha died on 23 July 1951, and his funeral on 28 July turned into a political demonstration. He was buried in [[Wawel Cathedral]], in the crypt under the confessional of [[Stanislaus of Szczepanów|St. Stanislas]].{{citation needed|date=February 2017}}

==Portrayal==

In the 2005 [[CBS]] [[miniseries]] ''[[Pope John Paul II (miniseries)|Pope John Paul II]]'', Archbishop Sapieha was portrayed by American actor [[James Cromwell]].

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==Bibliography==
*Stępień, Stanisław. "Kardynał Adam Stefan Sapieha Środowisko Rodzinne, Życie i Dzieło", Przymyśl, 1995 <!-- ISSN/ISBN needed -->

==External links==
* {{cite web | website =Catholic Hierarchy | url = http://catholic-hierarchy.org/bishop/bsapieha.html | title = Adam Stefan Cardinal Sapieha }}
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20080505004723/http://www.icm.com.pl/piotr.boron/prace.php?i=5 Piotr Boron – Works: Cardinal Stefan Sapieha]
* {{PM20|FID=pe/024948}}

{{s-start}}
{{s-rel|ca}}
{{s-bef | before=[[Jan Puzyna de Kosielsko]]}}
{{s-ttl | title=[[Bishop of Kraków]] | years=24 November 1911–1925}}
{{s-non | reason=Promoted to archdiocese}}
{{s-new | reason= }}
{{s-ttl | title=[[Archbishop of Kraków]] | years=1925–23 July 1951}}
{{s-aft | after=[[Eugeniusz Baziak]]<br>apostolic administrator, 1951–1962<br>[[Karol Jozef Wojtyla]]}}
{{s-end}}

{{Cardinals created by Pius XII}}
{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sapieha, Adam Stefan}}
[[Category:1867 births]]
[[Category:1951 deaths]]
[[Category:People from Przemyśl County]]
[[Category:Sapieha family|Adam Stefan]]
[[Category:20th-century Polish cardinals]]
[[Category:Members of the Diet of Galicia and Lodomeria]]
[[Category:Senators of the Second Polish Republic (1922–1927)]]
[[Category:Archbishops of Kraków]]
[[Category:Cardinals created by Pope Pius XII]]
[[Category:Jagiellonian University alumni]]
[[Category:University of Vienna alumni]]
[[Category:Pontifical Gregorian University alumni]]
[[Category:Burials at Wawel Cathedral]]
[[Category:Recipients of the Order of the White Eagle (Poland)]]