Welcome to the Polish American Journal

February • Luty

1979. Birth of Julie Ann Augustyniak (Norfolk, Virg.), American soccer player who played for the Atlanta Beat of the Women’s United Soccer Association.

1411. Signing of the First Peace of Thorn (Toruń) concludes the Polish-Lithuanian-Teutonic War.

1733. Death of August II the Strong.

1674. Coronation of Jan Sobieski, king and military leader who defeated the Turks in Vienna in 1683, and thus honored for centuries as the “Defender of Christendom.”

CANDLEMAS. At Candlemas, honoring the Presentation of Our Lord in the Temple, Poles observe Święto Matki Boskiej Gromnicznej. Candles blessed in church are taken home a symbol of the Blessed Mother. Called gromnice (Thunder Candles), these are lit and placed in a window during a thunderstorm to protect the home from lightning. The candles are also lit in times of trouble, or when someone is approaching death.

Legend says the Blessed Mother warded off wolves by using a candle as a torch. In the art gallery of the Orchard Lake Schools in Michigan, there is a painting of this event.

Candlemas is also the day all the candles needed by a parish for the rest of the year are blessed. Officially, this day marks the end of the Christmas season.

Traditionally, the weather on Candlemas (which is also Groundhog Day) predicts how soon winter will end. Most proverbs suggest a warm day means winter is not yet at its end.

Gdy słonce świeci jasno na Gromnicę, to przyjdą większe mrozy, śnieżyce.

If sun shines on Candlemas (February 2), more frost and snow will this way pass.

1899. Death of painter Juliusz Kossak (b. 1824).

1974. Birth of Konrad Galka (Kraków), former butterfly swimmer, who competed in two consecutive Summer Olympics for Poland, starting in 1992.

1505. Birth of the father of Polish literature, Mikolaj Rej.

1746. Birth of Polish and American patriot, freedom fighter and military engineer Thaddeus Kościuszko.

1909. Birth of Grazyna Bacewicz, Polish composer and violinist. She is only the second Polish female composer to have achieved national and international recognition, the first being Maria Szymanowska in the early 19th century.

ST. DOROTHY

Świętej Dorocie

uschnie koszula na płocie.

St. Dorothy’s shirt will dry on the fence.

(Days are windier and warmer starting St. Dorothy’s Day).

1633. Coronation of Władysław IV Vasa.

1962. Death of Władysław Dziewulski, Polish astronomer and mathematician. He spent his life performing astronomical research and published over 200 papers. Dziewulskihas a crater on the moon named after him as well as the planetarium in Torun, Poland.

1810. Birth of Marcin Odlanicki Poczobutt, Polish–Lithuanian Jesuit astronomer and mathematician. He was professor of Vilnius University for over 50 years, serving as its rector from 1780 to 1799. The Poczobutt crater on the Moon is named after him.

1296. Assassination of Przemysł II.

1807. At Iława (Eylau), Poland, Napoleon’s Marshal Pierre Agureau attacked Russian forces led by Alexsandr Suvorov, in a heavy snowstorm. Napoleon’s forces ran low on supplies and ate their horses.

1940. Birth of Bohdan Paczynski (d. 2007), Polish-born American astrophysicist who pioneered a novel method for carrying out astronomical observations of distant objects that produce little or no light of their own.

1961. Birth of John Kruk, colorful and often-quoted major league baseball player.

1925. Poland make an accord with the Vatican and the archdiocese of Vilnius was revived as one of five Polish dioceses.

1903. Founding of the Polish National Alliance of Brooklyn, USA.

1866. Birth in Detroit of John Temke, first American priest of Polish descent.

1945. Yalta Conference. Soviets receive Poland’s Eastern lands.

1867. Death of George Sokoloski, first Polish American graduate of West Point Academy and Civil War veteran.

1416. A delegation of Lithuanians and Poles read their grievances against the Teutonic Knights at the Church Council at Constance.

ST. VALENTINE

Valentine’s Day (Dzień Świętego Walentego or Walentynki)

1919. Polish-Soviet War begins.

1918. Warsaw demonstrators protest the transfer of Polish territory to the Ukraine.

1880. Polish National Alliance is formed in Philadelphia.

1903. Death of Fr. Józef Dabrowski, founder of the Orchard Lake Schools. (b. 1842).

1704. Warsaw Confederation formed.

1919. Greater Poland Uprising ends.

1952. Death of Felix Witkowski, last Polish American veteran of the Confederacy.

1772. First Partition of Poland between Prussia, Russia and Austria.

1919. Germany signed an armistice giving up territory in 1813. Czar Alexander entered Warsaw at the head of his Army.

1386. Marriage of Polish Queen Jadwiga d’Anjou to Władysław Jagiello of Lithuania.

1914. Birth of Julius Kuczynski, better known by his stage name, Pee Wee King. He is best known for his multi-million selling song, “Tennessee Waltz,” popularized by Patti Page in 1950. King helped to modernize country western music by introducing electric instruments, drums and horns.

1473. Birth of Mikolaj Kopernik, Polish astronomer known by his Latin name Nicholas Copernicus, in the city of Torun, Poland. Copernicus is the Father of Modern Astronomy, known as the man who “moved the earth and stopped the sun.”

1921. Signing of the Franco-Polish Military Alliance.

1846. Kraków Uprising begins, an attempt, led by Edward Dembowski, to incite a Polish fight for national independence. The revolt was quickly suppressed by the Austrian army, and Kraków and its surrounding area were annexed to the Kingdom of Galicia and Lodomeria, a province of the Austrian Empire, with its capital at Lwów.

1977. Birth of Bartosz Kizierowski, freestyle swimmer from Poland, who competed in three consecutive Summer Olympics, starting in 1996.

1919. Adoption of Poland’s Small Constitution.

1922. Vilnius, Lithuania, agreed to separate from Poland.

1941. Nazis order that Polish Jews are barred from using public transportation.

1530. Zygmunt II August crowned King of Poland.

1574. Coronation of Henry Valois, King of France from 1574 until his death as well as King of Poland and Grand Duke of Lithuania from 1573 to 1575.

1883. Death of Rudolph Piotrowski in Saintes, France, one of the co-founders of the Polish Society of California in 1863 (now the Polish Club of San Francisco).

1820. Birth of Apollo Nalecz-Korzeniowski, dramatist, poet and father of Joseph Conrad.

1814. Birth of folklorist and ethnographer Oskar Kolberg.

1810. Recorded birth of Fryderyk Chopin, Polish composer, pianist, in Zelazowa Wola, Poland (d. 1849).

1884. Birth of biochemist Casimir Funk, father of the vitamin. († 1967)

1891. Death in Detroit of Fr. Leopold Moczygemba, patriarch of American Polonia, who led Silesian immigrants to the first Polish settlement in the United States, Panna Maria, Texas.

1986. Birth of NHL hockey player Wojciech “Wojtek” Wolski in Zabrze, Poland.

1926. Poland, an original member of the League of Nations, demands a permanent seat on the League Council. It was given a semi-permanent seat.

1832. Poland’s Constitution abolished by Czar Nicholas I.

1861. In the Warsaw Massacre, Russian troops fire on a crowd protesting Russian rule over Poland. Five marchers were killed.

1971. First edition of the Polish language Nowy Dziennik in Jersey City.

1996. Death of Ohio State 1950 Heisman Trophy winner Vic Janowicz.

1944. Huta Pieniacka Massacre, a massacre of the Polish inhabitants of the village Huta Pieniacka, located in modern-day Ukraine. Estimates of the number of victims range from 500 to 1,200. Polish and Ukrainian historians disagree over the responsibility for the crime.

1750. Birth of Ignacy Potocki, Polish minister and nobleman.