Franciszek Hodur

Who was Franciszek Hodur?

Bishop Franciszek Hodur was the founder and the first, and longtime, Prime Bishop of the Polish National Catholic Church.

Hodur was born on Easter Sunday, April 1, 1866, to Jan and Maria Hodur in the village of Zarki, 35 miles from Kraków, Poland. He enrolled as a seminarian in Kraków and studied at Jagiellonian University. He left Europe in December 1892 for the United States of America, where he hoped to serve Polish immigrants. Hodur made his way to the Diocese of Scranton, Pennsylvania, and was sent to the seminary at St. Vincent's Benedictine Archabbey in Latrobe. On August 19, 1893, he was ordained a priest in the Roman Catholic Church by Bishop William O'Hara.