Józef Gawlina
Józef Feliks Gawlina was a Divisional general in the Polish Armed Forces. He was an ordained priest, Doctor of Theology and from 1933, Catholic bishop in the Military Ordinariate of Poland. After the Second World War, cardinal Hlond gave him the brief to provide pastoral care to the Polish diaspora. In the words of Pope John Paul II, Gawlina was a "bishop - Nomad". He was raised to the rank of Archbishop in 1957. Following his death, the Secretary General of the Second Vatican Council described him as a "real pastor".
Biography
Early life and episcopal career
Gawlina was born in Strzybnik to Franciszek and Joanna Gawlina. He first received secondary education at a humanities-oriented gymnasium in Raciborz, transferring to a different gymnasium in Rybnik. After obtaining his matura, he enrolled at the University of Wrocław, where he studied theology. His studies were interrupted twice during World War 1; he was first drafted as a medic into the, with whom he was deployed to France in 1915, and later in 1917 was re-enlisted as part of the Sinai and Palestine campaign, during which he was captured in Damascus. After his release in 1919, he returned to Wrocław, obtaining a doctorate in 1921. He was ordained a priest on 19 March 1921 in Wrocław by Adolf Bertram.Gawlina first served as a parish priest in Dębniki and Tychy. On 7 July 1924, he was appointed by August Hlond to serve as secretary-general for the Catholic League in the Apostolic Administration of Upper Silesia. In 1927, he was moved to Warsaw to found the Catholic News Agency, which served to counteract anti-Polish and anti-Catholic sentiment in the German press; it began operating from there on 1 April 1927. While directing the KAP, Gawlina underwent further education in journalism, and received a magister degree in moral theology from the University of Warsaw on 28 June 1928. Returning to the now-Diocese of Katowice in 1929, he was appointed as director of the Diocese's Catholic League, a canon in its cathedral chapter, and as the curator for the Polish province of the Sisters of Mary.
On 14 February 1933, Gawlina was appointed as bishop of the Military Ordinariate of Poland and titular bishop of Mariamme by Pope Pius XI; he was consecrated on 19 March 1933 in the by August Hlond.