Founding History

The Congregation of the Resurrection traces its origins to February 17, 1836 when a small group of men took up residence on rue Notre Dame de Champs, 11 in Paris where they began to live a common life. Their leader and "elder brother" was Bogdan Janski. Janski had come to Paris from Poland on a government scholarship to study law and economics. He quickly became convinced of the need for social reform but he also fell away from his faith and into a life of licentious debauchery.

In 1830 rebellion broke out in Poland against the Russian tsarist regime but was quickly crushed and Janski found himself inundated by a flood of Polish emigrés among whom were Peter Semenenko and Jerome Kajsiewicz who were destined to become his closest disciples and collaborators.

Encouraged by the examples of Fr. John Lacordaire, Fr. Felicité Lammenais and the Polish poet Adam Mickiewicz, Janski struggled to regain his faith which he finally did, making his confession and receiving communion in January 1835. In the course of his spiritual journey Janski had become convinced that social reform had to be accompanied by a religious and spiritual reform. He began to seek out others among the emigré population who would share his vision. Semenenko, described by one Polish aristocrat as "that stinking Semenenko who talked like a mad dog," and Kajsiewicz, a veteran of the insurrection who had, like Janski, immersed himself in the hedonistic life of Paris, were the first to respond, undergoing a conversion which amazed their compatriots.

When Semenenko and Kajsiewicz expressed their desire to become priests, Janski, convinced of the need for priests to be part of the reform process, acted quickly. By 1837 they were in Rome studying for the priesthood. Janski joined the little house in Rome in 1840, seriously ill with tuberculosis and there, on 2 July, 1840, he died. Semenenko and Kajsiewicz and two others, Joseph Hube and Edward Dunski, remained faithful to Janski’s "Testament" and were ordained, the first two in December 1841 and the latter two in January 1842.

The small group still had no formal name nor a Rule. Semenenko, now the acknowledged leader was chosen to compose a Rule. On 26 March, 1842, Holy Saturday, the Rule was approved and Semenenko was elected superior for five years. They decided to profess vows the following day and the feast itself suggested a fitting name, the Congregation of the Resurrection. Early the next Easter morning they professed their vows in the catacombs of St. Sebastian.

Although they now had a name and a Rule, they still lacked a clearly defined apostolate. In 1857 a mission statement was finally approved. The goal of the community would be the renewal or resurrection of society along Christian lines. The parish was chosen as the best instrument to achieve this, acting as a leaven of the society of which it would be a part. To provide Catholic leaders, clerical and lay, necessary to revitalize the parish and society education was essential. So the Chapter of 1857 determined that the care of parishes and Christian education would be the apostolic ends of the Congregation.

Janski’s vision, to resurrect society under the banner of the Risen Christ, was at last being realized and continues to animate the Congregation to this day.