{"id":103585,"date":"2026-09-16T13:44:40","date_gmt":"2026-09-16T11:44:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ofmconv.net\/femo-smardzewice-nuovi-novizi-e-prime-professioni\/"},"modified":"2026-09-16T13:47:51","modified_gmt":"2026-09-16T11:47:51","slug":"femo-smardzewice-nuovi-novizi-e-prime-professioni","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ofmconv.net\/en\/femo-smardzewice-nuovi-novizi-e-prime-professioni\/","title":{"rendered":"Smardzewice: New Novices and First Professions"},"content":{"rendered":"

On Saturday, September 12, 2026, an important event took place for the Conventual Franciscan fraternity at the St. Anne Friary and Shrine in Smardzewice, Poland: four young men received the habit and began their novitiate year, while four novices, having completed their year of formation, made their first religious profession.<\/strong><\/p>\n

At 9:30 a.m., the rite of vesting took place, presided over by Friar Marcin DR\u0104G, Vicar Provincial of the Province of St. Anthony and Bl. James of Strepar in Poland (Cracow). Also present was Friar Piotr \u017bURKIEWICZ, Minister Provincial of the Province of the Immaculate Mother of God in Poland (Warsaw).
\nFriars Micha\u0142 KOPIEC and Emil MALINOWSKI of the Province of Cracow, and Friars Aliaksandr KALIAHA and Adam JAROSZ of the Province of Warsaw, were vested in the Conventual Franciscan habit and thus began their canonical novitiate year at St. Anne Friary.
\nThe simple shape of the Franciscan habit evokes the sign of the cross. It recalls the choice to live according to the Gospel and to follow in the footsteps of Christ, according to the example of St. Francis of Assisi. For the new novices, this marked the beginning of a special time of learning about the Franciscan way of life, deepening their relationship with God, discerning their vocation, and growing in fraternity.
\nAt 11:00 a.m., Mass was celebrated at the St. Anne Shrine, during which four of the five novices who completed their canonical novitiate in Smardzewice this year made their first religious profession. They promised to live for one year in obedience, without anything of their own, and in chastity.
\nThose making their first profession were Friar Jak GNIADEK from the Province of Saints Cyril and Methodius in the Czech Republic, and Friars Maksim FESIK, Kacper D\u0104BKOWSKI, and Leszek BADIERE from the Province of Warsaw. The fifth novice, Friar Patryk PIEKARZ from the Province of Cracow, will make his first profession on September 20, 2026, in Kalwaria Pac\u0142awska, Poland.
\nFriar Piotr \u017bURKIEWICZ, Minister Provincial of the Province of Warsaw, presided over the Mass, while Friar Piotr PAWLIK, Minister Provincial of the Province of Saints Cyril and Methodius in the Czech Republic, gave the homily. Friar Marcin DR\u0104G, Vicar Provincial of the Province of Cracow, was also present.
\nMany friars from the three Provinces in Poland were present, as were friars from the Province of the Czech Republic and the Delegation in Belarus. Others in attendance included formators, priests from the home parishes of the young men, family members, friends, and benefactors of the novitiate. Their presence made it clear that while the beginning of the novitiate and religious profession mark personal milestones in the journey of one’s vocation, they are at the same time events that involve the entire fraternity.
\nThus, this event was particularly meaningful: while four young men began their year of novitiate, four others, in the same setting, completed their novitiate and took the next step in following Christ in the footsteps of St. Francis. It was a passing of the torch, lived out in prayer and fraternity, transcending the boundaries of individual Provinces and countries.
\nWe thank God for the gift of the vocation of these young friars and for all those who accompany them on their journey. We wish the new novices a fruitful time of discernment and growth, and we wish that the newly professed may continue faithfully and joyfully along the path they have begun, responding each day to Christ’s call and discovering ever more deeply the joy of living the Gospel, following the example of St. Francis of Assisi.<\/p>\n

Friar Piotr K\u0141YS
\nNovice Master<\/p>\nngg_shortcode_0_placeholder\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

On Saturday, September 12, 2026, an important event took place for the Conventual Franciscan fraternity at the St. Anne Friary and Shrine in Smardzewice, Poland: four young men received the habit and began their novitiate year, while four novices, having completed their year of formation, made their first religious profession. At 9:30 a.m., the rite […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":103581,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[132,115,148],"tags":[1121,472,704,1224],"class_list":["post-103585","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-federations","category-femo-en","category-news","tag-novices","tag-poland","tag-smardzewice-en","tag-temporary-profession"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ofmconv.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/103585","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ofmconv.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ofmconv.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ofmconv.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ofmconv.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=103585"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.ofmconv.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/103585\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":103589,"href":"https:\/\/www.ofmconv.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/103585\/revisions\/103589"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ofmconv.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/103581"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ofmconv.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=103585"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ofmconv.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=103585"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ofmconv.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=103585"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}