Cardinal Adam Kozłowiecki SJ (1911–2007), the first Metropolitan Archbishop of Lusaka
Cardinal Adam Kozłowiecki SJ (1911–2007), the first Metropolitan Archbishop of Lusaka

Summary/Abstract: Cardinal Adam Kozłowiecki died in 2007 and was buried in Lusaka. He was a prominent figure in the history of the African Church, especially in Zambia. He lived to the age of 96, having spent more than 60 years working for the Jesuit missions in Northern Rhodesia, later Zambia. This paper will discuss the various stages of the cardinal’s life: his origins, childhood, early upbringing at home under the supervision of his parents. Then we will look at his education in the renowned schools of the Second Republic, his joining the Society of Jesus and his desire to become a Jesuit educator of youth; next, World War II, his arrest and five-year ordeal as a prisoner in German concentration camps; and after that, his trip to Africa where his work with the local people was apparently extremely difficult, but fruitful. We will then examine the gradual development of the mission and the formation of the church administration that took place in Zambia. All these efforts resulted in Kozłowiecki’s appointment as apostolic administrator and apostolic vicar. Later, the Holy See created a new metropolitan see in Lusaka and Adam Kozłowiecki was appointed the first metropolitan archbishop of that city. We will review his participation in the Second Vatican Council, his becoming the first president of the Episcopal Conference of Zambia, his activity as a member of the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples and as director of the Pontifical Mission Societies in Zambia. In 1998, he was the first Polish Jesuit to receive a cardinal’s hat.

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