Jan Tyranowski

Who was Jan Tyranowski?

Jan Tyranowski was a Catholic layman, student of Discalced Carmelite spirituality, and central figure in the spiritual formation of the young Karol Wojtyla, who became Pope John Paul II. He was the youth leader and student mentor of Karol Wojtyla's university parish, St. Stanislaus Kostka, in the 1940s.

[Jan] was in his forties, trained as an accountant, but... supported himself and his mother by working as a tailor. More significantly he was a man with an extraordinary prayer life. He devoted four hours every morning to meditation as well as other prayer periods through the day. Karol began attending weekly meetings which Tyranowski entitled the Living Rosary. At these gatherings he introduced his new band of disciples to a brand of religion that was deeply mystical, and he encouraged them to apply it to every area of their lives. He called them to a strict discipline and recommended that they keep a diary with a view to bringing God directly into every moment of their day.

Karol, initially, found the man almost unbearably intense, but gradually came to see something of profound import in Tyranowski. Later in life Wojtyla stated that "What he tried to teach us was new.