The story of Jan Tyranowksi- How a humble tailor changed the course of history

Chris Antenucci
Jul 30, 2017 · 4 min read

It truly amazes me how God uses even the greatest evils in the world to bring about a greater good. One example of this is the story of Jan Tyranowski, Pope John Paul 2’s mentor, who I recently read about. In the following paragraphs I’d like to give a brief recounting of it, and explain what I learned from it. I can relate to his story in many ways, and it’s very inspiring to me.

His story shows us the power of prayer, and the power of even one man humbling himself, carrying His cross in life, and following Jesus. Such a person’s decision to dedicate his life to God can have a ripple effect through time in ways he could never imagine. Each one of us can have this power, if we open our hearts to God and allow Him to fill us with His grace.

In today’s world, Jan Tyranowski would be considered a nobody. He didn’t have any big accomplishments in his life, and he wasn’t well known. His father wanted him to be an accountant, so that’s what he decided to be. But he had to eventually quit that job due to a chronic stomach ailment, probably from being under too much stress. He took a job as a tailor in his dad’s shop. He was highly intelligent, but had no choice but to do something less demanding. He also took a vow of chastity, and never got married. He probably couldn’t have gotten married even if he wanted to, because he had to take care of his mom every night after he got home from work, since she was sick.

In 1939, the Nazis invaded Poland, and most of the local priests were taken away to concentration camps, where they would later die. Before they were taken, they gave Jan the responsibility of managing the parish youth group and being in charge of the faith formation of the youth. He was reluctant to do this, being an introvert, but he knew that God gives us faith and abilities not to keep to ourselves, but to share with others. So he accepted this job. He cared about people and wanted to bring as many souls to God as possible, so he mentored the youth of his parish, even inviting them to his apartment for one on one spiritual guidance for hours at a time.

As it turns out, one of these young men was Karol Wojtyla, who would go on to become Pope John Paul 2. Jan taught him how to pray, dedicated much time to his spiritual formation, and gave him many spiritual books to read that influenced him greatly. Later in life, Pope John Paul 2 said if it weren’t for Jan, he wouldn’t have become a priest.

This blows my mind. It causes one to think about how God has all the pieces of the puzzle of this life in place, we just can’t see how they all fit together. We’ll never know why God allowed the Nazis to kill so many innocent people, but the amazing thing is that because they invaded Poland and took away those priests, Jan was forced to meet John Paul 2, who would later go on to help defeat communism. If Jan never decided to make it his goal to be a saint, and if the Nazis never invaded Poland, Karol Wojtyla never would’ve become a priest and eventually pope, and who knows how that would have affected the influence of communism in Europe.

When Jan was spending four hours a day in prayer in church, he was just trying to do God’s will and become closer to Him. He wasn’t thinking he would change the world in some huge way, and he certainly couldn’t have imagined that his decision to lead a humble life of prayer could’ve had monumental consequences for entire countries, but it did.

Think about this: What if the Berlin Wall never fell? What if millions more people died under an oppressive Communist regime? What if millions more had to live in poverty and misery?

The lesson of Jan’s story is that we’re all connected on this planet, and every one of our actions has consequences that will affect others in ways we can’t foresee. Everything we do, even the little things, matter, because God can and does use us to carry out His will, which includes helping the people who need it most.

Jesus died on the Cross to save and redeem us. But that wasn’t enough for Him. He wanted us to participate in this redemption, because we’re part of His body, and a body only functions properly when all of its members are carrying out their specific functions in unison. By our obedience to Him, as exhibited through our good works, and by our suffering, we become co-redeemers of the world. Our world is still in a fallen state, and thus needs to be continually redeemed and transformed. That’s why Jesus made it clear that His goal was to establish the Kingdom of God on Earth. Jan Tyranowski lived a life that was worthy of that mission. If we follow his example, we too can become a part of this great and holy mission, and be filled with faith, hope, and love, both in this life and in the next.

Welcome to a place where words matter. On Medium, smart voices and original ideas take center stage - with no ads in sight. Watch
Follow all the topics you care about, and we’ll deliver the best stories for you to your homepage and inbox. Explore
Get unlimited access to the best stories on Medium — and support writers while you’re at it. Just $5/month. Upgrade