On September 14, 2019, two friars completed their novitiate year and professed temporary vows. They were Friars Siergiej ANOKHIN of the General Custody of the Sacred Convent of St. Francis in Italy (Assisi) and Friar Michał WALASZCZYK of the Province of the Immaculate Mother of God in Poland (Warsaw). The event took place at St. Anne’s Church in Smardzewice, Poland.
The Mass was presided over by the Minister Provincial of Warsaw, Friar Wiesław PYZIO. Friar Dariusz HARASIMOWICZ, the Custos of Russia, gave the homily. Those in attendance included friars from the Russian Custody and others from the friaries of the Warsaw Province, the families of the newly professed and the faithful.
On the same day, the feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross, ten friars (eight from the Warsaw Province and two from the Gdańsk Province) began their canonical novitiate year. The event took place in the novitiate chapel in Smardzewice. Friar Wiesław PYZIO presided over the ceremony during which the new novices were vested in the Conventual Franciscan habit for the first time. This year marks the 45th anniversary of the novitiate in Smardzewice.
Friar Piotr ŻURKIEWICZ, Provincial Secretary
