Background
Aleksander Kakowski was born on February 5, 1862, in Dębiny near Przasnysz, the son of Franciszek Kakowski and Paulina Ossowska.
archbishop bishop cardinal priest theologian
Aleksander Kakowski was born on February 5, 1862, in Dębiny near Przasnysz, the son of Franciszek Kakowski and Paulina Ossowska.
He was ordained a priest on May 30, 1886, in Warsaw, by Cardinal Wincenty Chościak-Popiel. The following year he became one of the professors at the Warsaw Theological Seminary. In 1910 he became Rector of the Saint St. Petersburg Roman Catholic Theological Academy and on July 22, 1913, he was ordained a bishop by Stanisław Zdzitowiecki.
On September 14, 1913, he became the archbishop of Warsaw in Saint John"s Cathedral, thus becoming the titular primate of the Kingdom of Poland.
Political career
= World War I and the Regency Council = Relations with Rome, death and legacy On November 28, 1919, he was the main consecrator of Achille Ratti, the papal nuncio to Poland who later became Pope Pius XI. On December 15 of the same year, Kakowski himself was made a cardinal. During his service as the Archbishop of Warsaw, Kakowski promoted the creation of a strong Catholic press
He was one of the authors of the success of Rycerz Niepokalanej, which was one of the most popular newspapers in pre-war Poland. He was also the main creator of the theological faculty at the Warsaw University and of the Catholic Action movement.
In 1930 he also became a "bailiff of honour and devotion" of the Order of Street John of Jerusalem.
His successor August Hlond was to reintroduce the title of Primate of Poland after the Second World War, but Kakowski continued to style himself Primate of the Kingdom of Poland until his death on December 30, 1938.
After the outbreak of the Great War he remained in Warsaw and in 1917 Kakowski was appointed to be a member of the Regency Council, a semi-independent and temporary highest authority of the Kingdom of Poland, recreated by the Central Powers as part of their Mitteleuropa plan. Kakowski was one of three members of that body, which served as a provisional head of state (hence the word "regency" in its name).
