Congregation of the Resurrection Founders’ Day 2026

James 1:12–18
Mark 8:14–21

If we retain this way of reading Sacred Scripture—where, as we read the inspired text, we remain aware that it is also reading us, or the historical event we commemorate—then today’s Mass readings appear strikingly well suited to this day. In the Letter of St James we hear: “Of his own will he brought us forth by the word of truth, that we should be a kind of firstfruits of his creatures.” In the Gospel of St Mark, we witness Jesus rebuking the disciples, repeating with astonishment like a refrain: “Do you still not understand?” He reproaches them for their dullness of mind, their lack of understanding, and their inability to interpret properly his words and miracles.

These readings seem almost tailor-made for the day on which we remember and celebrate the 190th anniversary of the founding—on 17 February 1836—of the so-called Jański House in Paris, at 11 Notre-Dame-des-Champs. That modest dwelling became, in a sense, the firstfruits of a new “creation” in the Church, which today bears the name: the Congregation of the Resurrection of Our Lord Jesus Christ (the Resurrectionists).

Let us therefore see how the Word of God appointed for this day sheds light on those Resurrectionist firstfruits—what contemporary scholarly literature aptly calls the founding generation.

Every perfect gift comes from above, from the Father of lights: the work of God

The Letter of St James, from which the first reading is taken, has a universal character—addressed to all Christians—and a practical one, resembling a “guide for beginners.” This is evident in today’s passage, where the author speaks concisely about perseverance in temptation. He explains that the source of temptation is not the loving God, but our own disordered desire—perhaps, in Johannine terms, in its threefold form: the desire of the eyes, the desire of the flesh, and the pride of life—which “gives birth to sin and brings forth death.”

The urgent exhortation “Do not be deceived” appeals to the freedom of the “beloved brothers.” If they persevere in temptation, they will receive blessedness and happiness. God, after all, “tempts no one,” but instead offers “every good gift and every perfect gift.” Writing for his contemporaries, the author reminds them that by God’s own will they were brought forth “by the word of truth” as new people, who are “a kind of firstfruits of his creatures.” And firstfruits, by their very nature, belong to God.

Applying this reflection to the firstfruits of our Congregation, we may say that blessed indeed were those men of the founding generation—all emigrants: Peter Semenenko, Jerome Kajsiewicz, Edward Duński, and Józef Maliński—who responded positively to the call to co-found a new community in the Church. They allowed themselves to be drawn by the mysterious magnetic force of the Founder, the Elder Brother Bogdan Jański; they embraced his vision, discerned the signs of the times, and—under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit—redirected the course of their lives to become the beginning and seed of something new.

It should be noted that the Founder himself was also an emigrant, like his co-founders, living outside both his homeland and his former professional path. Józef Maliński, a painter, soon left the House due to illness, while Edward Duński departed the Congregation in 1849 and joined the Towiańczyk movement. The loss of half of the original group does not present an encouraging picture—an illustration of the Polish proverb: “the first plums are worm-eaten.” Thus, from the Parisian firstfruits only two men remained—Semenenko and Kajsiewicz—who for many years functioned as founders and are today rightly remembered as co-founders.

Despite these early setbacks, community life in the House followed a monastic rhythm: frequent confession, daily Mass, and regular devotional practices. Only days after formally establishing the community, all four members took a vow of lifelong fraternal communion. This striking experiment in communal life soon attracted other Poles living in exile. The first House became a center of spiritual renewal for the Polish émigré community in Paris. People came and went; interest was so great that additional Houses were founded, though most of them proved short-lived.

Your grace, Lord, sustains me: trust in God

The responsorial psalm provides a spiritual response to the first reading; it is both commentary and meditation on the Word just proclaimed. The liturgy assigns excerpts from Psalm 94, in which those who are firstfruits, when anxieties multiply in their hearts, recall a God who educates and instructs, who ultimately overcomes the evil encountered along the path of growth. He does not abandon his people but sustains and consoles them.

If this psalm—also the Word of God—were to interpret the early history of the Resurrectionist firstfruits, it would reveal an extraordinarily difficult path. Material security depended solely on their own labor (mainly educational) and on the generosity of aristocratic benefactors. To make matters worse, the Founder—the principal architect of the entire project—died prematurely in Rome on 2 July 1840. On the “captain’s bridge” remained only his two most faithful disciples: Peter Semenenko and Jerome Kajsiewicz.

From a theological perspective, it becomes evident that God, in calling the first followers of the Founder, had to equip them with a special grace. Without it, they would not have had sufficient love, patience, intelligence, strength, resolve, fidelity, and perseverance to endure the hardships of the beginning—those foundational stages upon which every religious community depends. Today we call this grace the charism of the first generation, or the charism of the founding generation, more precisely, the charism of the co-founders.

Tasked with sustaining the fragile community and keeping it oriented toward growth and hope, the co-founders faced an overwhelming number of challenges. Faithful to the Founder’s vision, they had to establish the spiritual, ascetical, structural, juridical, apostolic, and material foundations of the Congregation. In effect, they had to bring this embryonic community to maturity—without formal structures, without proper legislation, without official religious profession, and even without a name.

After the rapid rise and collapse of the Parisian Houses, through which more than sixty emigrants passed; after sending several brothers to Rome for theological studies; and two years after the Founder’s death, the first seven Resurrectionists—Peter Semenenko, Jerome Kajsiewicz, Edward Duński, Józef Hube, Karol Kaczanowski, Hipolit Terlecki, and Władysław Godlewski—professed their first religious vows on Easter Sunday, 27 March 1842, in the Catacombs of St Sebastian in Rome. This moment may rightly be called a second birth and a second set of firstfruits. Fr Peter Semenenko became the superior of this tiny community and the principal author of the First Rule, rooted in Jański’s ideas and vision. It should be remembered that the Holy See formally approved the Congregation only in 1888.

Thus, the burden of completing the work initiated by Jański rested squarely on the shoulders of the co-founders—especially Semenenko and Kajsiewicz. Through their perseverance, the community received its name, its rule, and ecclesial recognition. When Fr Paweł Smolikowski began writing the Congregation’s history in 1890, he noted the profound inner unity of the “great trinity” of founders:

“History bears witness that as regards the idea and spirit of the Congregation, it comes first from Jański—though only in general outlines and unwritten—and only later formulated by Fr Semenenko. As for the work itself, the perseverance in a single, shared vision, Fr Kajsiewicz must also be counted among the founders.”

The same truth was expressed more poetically by literary historian Stanisław Tarnowski:

“In that great work [of Jański], which they undertook together, Kajsiewicz rowed, Semenenko sat at the helm, watched the sky and the stars, and often pointed out the way.”

Both men were deeply conscious of their responsibility for the future shape of the Congregation, especially its unity and solidity. Semenenko wrote to Kajsiewicz in 1865:

“If we do not form the first generation well, the Congregation is lost… We must use these last years of our lives to leave behind an entire generation that is one, of one spirit and one soul.”

Do you not remember? Do you not understand? Memory of the beginnings

In the Gospel, we encounter Jesus with the disciples in a boat, crossing to the other side, while the memory—and even the scent—of the miraculously multiplied bread still lingers. Seven loaves had fed “about four thousand people.” Only now, in the middle of the Sea of Tiberias, do the disciples realize that they have with them only one loaf. After Jesus warns them about the leaven of the Pharisees and of Herod, he begins a searching interrogation. It is a strange examination—and an even stranger assessment. Though the disciples answer correctly and demonstrate good memory, they hear only reproach:

“Do you still not perceive or understand? Are your hearts hardened? Having eyes, do you not see? Having ears, do you not hear? And do you not remember?”

Why does Jesus rebuke those closest to him—the firstfruits of the Church—so sharply? To understand this, we may turn to Vita Consecrata, which compares consecrated life to a tree: “It has many branches, is rooted in the Gospel, and bears fruit in every age of the Church” (VC 5). A tree, however, consists not only of roots and branches, but also of a trunk, with bark, growth rings, and at its center, the oldest and most hidden part—the core.

Within this metaphor, the firstfruits correspond to that hidden core: deeply embedded, unseen, yet essential. Consecrated life draws its vitality from the Gospel and produces diverse fruits in the Church, just as a tree draws strength from the soil and spreads outward in branches and blossoms. John Paul II described it as a “tree with many branches,” symbolizing the diversity of vocations that flourish from the same Gospel root.

This image can also be applied to a single Congregation. The trunk holds history; the major branches are provinces; the smaller ones are religious houses; leaves and blossoms are works and witness. In the core lie the firstfruits. In our case, the following 190 growth rings represent time and expansion. Although early growth was slow and uneven—between 1842 and 1857 only fourteen of the twenty-five professed members persevered—the Congregation survived internal crises, two world wars, and today is present on several continents. It is a blessing that the generation immediately following the founders preserved the memory of the beginnings, upon which the entire structure rests.

A singular contribution to this work of memory was made by the Venerable Servant of God Fr Paweł Smolikowski CR (1849–1926), whose centenary of death we commemorate this September. An educator, theologian, philosopher, and historian, he authored 237 works in multiple languages, including the four-volume History of the Congregation of the Resurrection (Kraków, 1892–1896).

Kazimierz Wójtowicz CR