Polish Seminary Started in Detroit, 1885

Yesterday was the Feast of SS. Cyril & Methodius, and today in 1903 marks the death of Father Joseph Dabrowski , who in 1885 founded SS. Cyril & Methodius Seminary to train Polish priests for work in America. For Poles, the nineteenth century is known as the “century of sadness.” Poland was divided between the Prussians, the Russians, and the Austrians. Father Dabrowski grew up in the Russian partition, and studied at the University of Lublin. He was forced to flee Poland for his participation in the 1863 uprising. He finished his priestly formation in Rome, where he was ordained in 1869. In 1870, he came to the United States, and he worked as a pastor for ten years in Wisconsin’s Polish community. He then moved to Detroit, where he founded a seminary for Polish aspirants to the priesthood. SS. Cyril & Methodius Seminary opened in 1885, and after the turn of the century it moved to its present location in Orchard Lake. The idea of a separate seminary for an ethnic group was unusual among American theologates at the time, but it had deep roots in the European tradition. In a country where Irish dominance was so pronounced, Poles and other ethnic groups feared forced “Hibernicization,” being forced to adapt to Irish ways. For Poles who had been forced to adopt the language of their conquerors, and whose city names were changed (Oswiecim became Auschwitz under the Germans, for example), this was a real fear. As we’ll see next week, some Poles, dissatisfied with Irish leadership, actually started a schism. But SS. Cyril & Methodius continues to be one of the great success stories of American Polonia. Father Dabrowski served as Rector until he died from a stroke in 1903.