Background
Joseph Dabrowski was born on January 19, 1842 in Zoltauce, Russian Poland (now Poland).
Joseph Dabrowski was born on January 19, 1842 in Zoltauce, Russian Poland (now Poland).
After graduation from the gymnasium of Lublin he matriculated at the University of Warsaw, where he specialized in mathematics and the natural sciences. When the Polish uprising of 1863 broke out, Dabrowski promptly joined a regiment of teachers and students and fought under Mieroslawski. Among the many engagements in which he took part was that of Krzywosac from which he barely escaped with his life. After the collapse of the insurrection he returned to Warsaw, but, since the Russian spies were searching for those who bore arms in the revolt, he left Poland rather hurriedly for Dresden. Afterward he went to Lucerne and then to Berne, where he studied mathematics and technology. Subsequently going to Rome, he entered the Polish College conducted by the Fathers of the Congregation of the Resurrection.
On the completion of his theological studies, Joseph was ordained a priest on August 1, 1869.
Landing in America on December 31, 1869, he resided for a short time at St. Francis Seminary, near Milwaukee. In 1870 he took charge of the Polish congregation at Polonia, Portage County, Wisconsin. Perceiving the need of schools and teachers for the children of the Polish immigrants he persuaded the Felician Sisters of Cracow to come to America. Five of these arrived in Polonia in the autumn of 1874. He had built a home for them here and he aided them in establishing a Motherhouse and an orphanage in Detroit, Michigan. Ill health obliging him to leave Polonia in 1883, he then became chaplain to the Felician Sisters in Detroit. Since the number of immigrants had increased, American bishops frequently wrote to Cardinal Ledochowski, Prefect of the Propaganda, to send them Polish priests. Being unable to do this, he proposed the founding of a Polish seminary in America. Father Leopold Moczygemba, sent here to gather funds, collected about eight thousand dollars, but felt that owing to his advanced age he could not complete the undertaking. He therefore turned it over to Dabrowski, who purchased a tract of land on Forest and St. Aubin Avenues in Detroit. A building was begun in 1884, but owing to lack of funds it was not completed until 1887. Dabrowksi himself labored as a carpenter on the building, assisted by some of the first students, who worked as carpenters and bricklayers for their board and lodging. The school opened on December 15, 1887 with only six students, but at the close of the term had twenty-six.
In 1891 Dabrowski established a weekly paper, Niedsiela, published by the Seminary. In January 1903, when he was preparing to build an extension, he was obliged to dismiss twenty-nine students for insubordination. This unfortunate incident preyed on his mind and affected his health, already enfeebled by years of privation, worry, and intensive work. Suffering a heart attack on February 9, he died as the result of another six days later. A kindly and self-sacrificing priest, he was deeply mourned by the Poles in America.
