View source for Tadeusz Brzozowski

{{for|the Polish painter|Tadeusz Brzozowski (painter)}}
{{Use British English|date=April 2020}}
{{Infobox Christian leader
| type = priest
| honorific-prefix = [[The Very Reverend]] <br>
| name = Tadeusz Brzozowski
| honorific-suffix = [[Society of Jesus|SJ]]
| title = twentieth [[Superior General of the Society of Jesus]]
| image = T.Brzozowski.jpg
| image_size = 220px
| alt = 
| caption = Very Rev. Tadeusz Brzozowski
| elected = <!-- or | appointed = -->
| term_start = 1805, Papal confirmation 1814<ref>{{cite book|title=Pre-suppression Jesuit Activity in the British Isles and Ireland|
author=	Thomas M. McCoog, SJ|publisher=	Brill|date= 2019|page=93|isbn= 978-9-0043-9529-9}}</ref>
| quashed = 
| term_end = 5 February 1820
| predecessor = vacat
| successor = [[Luigi Fortis]]
| opposed = 
| other_post = <!---------- Orders ---------->
| ordination = 1775
| ordained_by = 
| consecration = 
| consecrated_by = 
| cardinal = 
| rank = <!---------- Personal details ---------->
| created_cardinal_by = 
| birth_name = Tadeusz Brzozowski
| birth_date = {{Birth date|1749|10|21|df=y}}
| birth_place = [[Koenigsberg in Preussen|Koenigsberg]], [[Kingdom of Prussia]]
| death_date = {{Death date and age|1820|02|05|1749|10|21|df=y}}
| death_place = [[Polotsk]], [[Russian Empire]]
| buried = Polotsk, Belarus
| nationality = [[Polish people|Polish]]
| religion = [[Catholic Church|Roman Catholic]]
| residence = 
| parents = 
| spouse = <!-- or | partner = -->
| children = 
| occupation = 
| profession = <!-- or | previous_post = -->
| alma_mater = [[Slutsk]], [[Nieswiez]], [[Vilnius University]]
| signature = 
| coat_of_arms = [[Korab coat of arms|Korab]]
| motto = 
| resting_place_coordinates = 
| education = 
| signature_alt = 
| coat_of_arms_alt = <!---------- Sainthood ---------->
| feast_day = 
| venerated = 
| saint_title = 
| beatified_date = 
| beatified_place = 
| beatified_by = 
| canonized_date = 
| canonized_place = 
| canonized_by = 
| attributes = 
| patronage = 
| shrine = 
| suppressed_date = <!---------- Other ---------->
| other = 
| module = 
| honorific_prefix = The Very Reverend
}}
{{Jesuit}}
'''Tadeusz Brzozowski''', SJ (October 21, 1749{{snd}}February 5, 1820) was a Polish scholar, teacher, administrator and a [[Jesuit]] priest. Having secured its continuity during the [[Suppression of the Society of Jesus|suppression of the Society]] until its restoration, he was elected twentieth [[Superior General of the Society of Jesus]] and was its first world-wide general.<ref>{{cite book|title=	Jesuit Survival and Restoration: A Global History, 1773-1900. Studies in the History of Christian Traditions|editor1=Robert Aleksander Maryks |editor2=Jonathan Wright|edition=revised reprint|publisher=Brill|date= 2014|page=393|isbn=978-9-0042-8387-9}}</ref>

==Background==
Brzozowski was born in [[Königsberg]], [[Kingdom of Prussia]], on October 21, 1749, into a [[Polish people|Polish]] family. He entered the [[Society of Jesus]] in 1765, and studied Rhetoric, Greek, French and classical literature in [[Slutsk]] (Belarus) (1767–70), followed by Philosophy and Mathematics in [[Nesvizh|Nieśwież]] (1770–73). After the Suppression of the Order in the rest of the world on 21 July 1773 (owing to [[Catherine the Great]], patron of "her" Jesuits, it did not apply in the Russian Empire), he continued his theological studies in [[Vilnius]], where he was ordained priest in 1775. In effect he was no longer formally a member of the Society.<ref>{{cite book | title = [[Polski Słownik Biograficzny]] | volume = 3 | publisher = [[Polska Akademia Umiejętności]] – Skład Główny w Księgarniach Gebethner i Wolff | place = [[Kraków]] | date = 1937 | series = Brożek Jan – Chwalczewski Franciszek | chapter = Brzozowski Tadeusz | author = Bednarski, Stanisław | page = 68|language=pl}} Reprint: [[Zakład Narodowy im. Ossolińskich]], Kraków 1989, {{ISBN|83-04-03291-0}}</ref> However, as the [[Partitions of Poland|partitions of Poland-Lithuania]] progressed over the next 20 years, paradoxically the range of the Jesuits expanded temporarily along with the borders of the Russian 
Empire.

=== Return to the Society in Russia ===
In 1782 Brzozowski left for [[Polotsk]], [[Belarus]] in the [[Russian Empire]], in order to be able to rejoin the Society, which was allowed to continue there. A gifted linguist (fluent in Latin, French, German, Russian) he translated theological works into his native [[Polish language|Polish]], such as,  ''Dykcjonarz filozoficzny religii'' (a Philosophical Dictionary of Religion) by C. F. Nonnotte, Wilno 1782 and ''O naśladowaniu Najświętszej Maryi Panny'' (The Imitation of the Blessed Virgin Mary) by A. de Rouville, Połock 1800. He was also a successful and well known preacher. In 1797 he was named Secretary of the Society and worked closely with [[Gabriel Lenkiewicz]], [[Franciszek Kareu]] and [[Gabriel Gruber]], the successive Vicars General of the Society in Russia. On their behalf he corresponded with the many ex-jesuits abroad who wished to rejoin the Society. At the Regional Congregation of 1802 he was made Assistant of the newly elected Superior of the Jesuits of the Russian Province, Gabriel Gruber. He had an especial devotion to the Jesuit martyr, [[Andrew Bobola]] and in 1808 he exhumed his remains from [[Pinsk]] and brought them for reburial in Polotsk. He expanded missionary activity in [[Mozdok]], in the [[Caucasus]] (1806), [[Irkutsk]] (1810) and in [[Tomsk]] (1814). He also planned to send missionaries to [[China]]. In 1806-1810 he despatched eight Belarusian Jesuits to [[Boston]] to help foster the Society's revival there.

=== Superior General ===
Following the death of Gruber, in 1805, the Regional (Polish) Fourth Congregation met at Polotsk, again part of Lithuania and elected Tadeusz Brzozowski as Superior General of the Society which was still functioning in the territory of Russia. The newly elected General immediately sent a message to [[Pope Pius VII]] thanking him for having restored the Society in [[Sicily]]. By then a steady stream of young men was coming to Russia to join the Society. Between 1803 and 1805, 103 candidates entered the novitiate of Polotsk, 23 of them already ordained priests. The total number of Jesuits grew to 333, mostly engaged in educational activities, in 7 high schools in Russia, but also moving into pastoral work in [[Latvia]] and [[Lithuania]].

It became clear that the suppression of the Society would eventually be lifted. in 1812 the college in Polotsk was upgraded by [[Alexander I of Russia]] into a university academy, thus allowing affiliation of all the Jesuit schools and affording them protection from undue local political interference.

In October 1806, the "ex-Jesuits" of [[Maryland]] in [[United States|America]] were fully incorporated into the Society and Brzozowski allowed an [[United States|American]] [[novitiate]] to be opened with ten novices at [[Georgetown University|Georgetown]].<ref>{{cite book|title=The Jesuit Suppression in Global Context: Causes, Events, and Consequences|editor1= Burson, Jeffrey D. |editor2=Wright, Jonathan|publisher =Cambridge University Press|date= 2015|pages=205–238|isbn=978-1-1070-3058-9}}</ref> Later that year, [[Bishop]] [[Joseph-Octave Plessis]] of [[Québec]] wrote to exiled [[Pope Pius VII]] and to Brzozowski, begging for Jesuits to be sent from [[Great Britain]] both to [[City of Halifax|Halifax]] [[Nova Scotia]] and also to work among the [[Aboriginal peoples in Quebec|aboriginal people]] in [[Upper Canada]]. Brzozowski sent four men as requested, two from Russia and two from England, but the [[Napoleonic Wars]] in Europe and the dangers of travel made their mission impossible.

Internal tensions grew in the Society as non-Russian or Polish Jesuits, not being conversant with the political situation of the Russian empire, criticized Brzozowski for certain decisions he took which, in their estimation, were too liberal, such as allowing the [[Orthodox Church of Russia|Orthodox faith]] to be taught in Jesuit schools.

=== Restoration of the Society ===
Brzozowski worked tirelessly to obtain the general restoration of the Society, both personally and through his delegate in Rome, Father [[Luigi Fortis]] SJ. On his return from Napoleonic exile to Rome, Pope Pius VII lifted the suppression of the Society on August 7, 1814.<ref>{{cite book|title= Jesuits|author =	Malachi Martin|publisher = Simon and Schuster|date = 2013| page = 217|isbn = 978-1476-75188-7}}</ref> Forty-one years  after Clement XIV suppressed the Society, Pius VII celebrated mass in the [[Church of the Gesú]], and formally promulgated the [[Papal bull]] of restoration, ''Sollicitudo omnium ecclesiarum''. The newly reconstituted Society of Jesus deemed a general congregation unnecessary: Brzozowski retained his role and became formally [[Superior General of the Society of Jesus]]. However, Tsar Alexander prohibited Brzozowski from leaving Russia. Brzozowski therefore appointed Luigi Fortis, as his representative in Rome from 1814 until his death in 1820. Brzozowski had managed to secure the continuity of the Society from his exile in Russia.

=== Political complications ===
The Society's restoration coincided with Russia becoming more nationalistic and strengthening its native [[Eastern Orthodox Church]]. The Jesuits were seen as an obstacle to those developments. Opposed to the expansion and influence of the Society, Alexander published an edict on December 20, 1815, expelling the Jesuits from [[Saint Petersburg]] and taking over their high school on the grounds that they were converting Russian nobles to Catholicism. Despite his ailing health and protests, Brzozowski was detained and forbidden to return to Rome. Sensing that the days of the Society in Russia were numbered, Brzozowski sent several Jesuits to Western Europe to speed up the reestablishment of the order.

==Death==
Brzozowski died on February 5, 1820, and was buried in Polotsk. He had taken the precaution to nominate an Italian, Mariano Petrucci, as his Vicar General, to ensure that the Congregation to elect his successor would meet in Rome. On 13 March 1820 the Society of Jesus was expelled from the Russian Empire.

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==Bibliography==
{{EB1911 poster|Brzozowski, Thaddeus}}
* Worcester SJ, T. (Ed.), (2017). Brzozowski, Tadeusz, SJ (1749–1820) in The Cambridge Encyclopedia of the Jesuits (p.&nbsp;124). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. doi:10.1017/9781139032780.002
* Inglot, M., ''La Compagnia di Gesù nell'impero Russo (1772–1820)'', Rome, 1997.
* Rouet de Journel, M.-J., ''La Compagnie de Jésus en Russie; un collège jésuite à Saint Petersbourg (1800–1816)'', Paris, 1922.
* Zalenski, S., ''Les Jésuites de la Russie blanche'' (2 vol.), Paris, 1886.

{{s-start}}
{{s-rel|ca}}
{{succession box | before=[[Gabriel Gruber]] | title=[[Superior General of the Society of Jesus#Notes|Superior General of the Society of Jesus In Exile (Russia)]] | after=''restoration'' | years=1805–1814}}
{{succession box | before=''suppression'' | title=[[Superior General of the Society of Jesus]] | after=[[Luigi Fortis]] | years=1814–1820}}
{{s-end}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Brzozowski, Tadeusz}}
[[Category:1749 births]]
[[Category:1820 deaths]]
[[Category:Clergy from Königsberg]]
[[Category:18th-century Polish Jesuits]]
[[Category:18th-century Polish nobility]]
[[Category:Superiors General of the Society of Jesus]]
[[Category:19th-century Polish Jesuits]]
[[Category:19th-century Polish nobility]]

[[tg:Тадеусз Брзозовски]]