On October 11, 2009 Bishop of Rome, Benedict XVI, proclaimed five new Roman Catholic saints among which was Archbishop Zygmunt Szczęsny Feliński of Poland. Among his virtues was the defense of the Polish subjects of Russian occupied Poland in the lead up to the January Insurrection of 1863 (Powstanie Styczniowe), which was brutally put down by Russian troops. Abp. Feliński was Archbishop of Warsaw at the time and protested in vain to the Czar. When his protests fell on deaf ears he resigned from the appointed City Council and soon was exiled from Russian-ruled Poland to what is now Ukraine where he remained for over twenty years. After being granted a czarist amnesty he was required to remove himself to Austrian-ruled Poland where he spent the remainder of his life mainly in a small community tutoring children.

In the photo to the left, taken a few weeks before his departure for the United States, Seminarian Franczisek Hodur (front center) is seen with three of his closest friends. Second from left is Gerard Feliński, nephew and ward of Archbishop Feliński. Abp. Feliński died in 1895 and it is quite possible that Seminarian Hodur had met him while a student in the Kraków seminary, attached to the Jagellonian University. According to Vincentian sources it is reported that conditions in that seminary, managed by the Vincentians, were quite harsh.