Born on 18th May 1944. In 1959 he entered the novitiate of the Salesian Congregation in Czerwinsk upon the Vistula, where he took his vows for his first profession in 1960. After completing philosophical-theological studies, in 1969 he was ordained to the priesthood by Bishop Jan Zareba, Ordinary of Wloclawek Diocese. In the years 1969-1972 he studied at the Institute of Church History in the Faculty of Theology of the Catholic University of Lublin, obtaining Master’s and pre-doctoral Licentiate degrees.
In 1974 he was employed as an assistant at the Chair of XIX-XX c. Church History at the Catholic University of Lublin (from 1983 as assistant professor). In 1982 he obtained his doctoral degree (PhD dissertation: “The Administration of Gniezno Diocese in the years 1918-1939.” Lublin 1987), and his habilitation in 1992 (habilitation dissertation: “Episcopate of the Catholic Church in Poland in the years 1918-1939.” Warsaw 1992).
In the years 1993-1998 he was a Vice-Dean of the Faculty of Theology at the Catholic University of Lublin, and from 6 April 1998 Vice-Rector for Academic Affairs. On 1 September 2004 he was elected Rector of the Catholic University of Lublin (since 16 October named The John Paul II Catholic University). Since 7 January 1995 he has been the Head of the Chair of the History of Religious Orders. On 1 June 1996 he was made an associate professor, in 2001 he obtained the title of professor and in 2003 was made a full professor.
He collaborates with the Learned Society of the Catholic University of Lublin and Istituto Storico Polacco in Rome. Since 1995 he has been a member of Associazione Cultori di Storia Salesiana (Rome), and since 1998 a member of Wissenschaftliche Rat des Instituts für Vergleichende Staat-Kirche-Forschung and a corresponding member of the Lublin Scientific Society. His research and academic interests encompass the broadly understood history of the orders in contemporary times and the history of the Church in the times of II Republic of Poland.
He was awarded the Wlodzimierz Pietrzak Academic Prize (Civitas Christiana, 2004).
He is particularly interested in the life and work of the Primate of Poland, Cardinal August Hlond as well as the first Papal Nuncio in Reborn Poland, Achilles Ratti, later Pope Pius XI, about both of whom he wrote many publications. He wrote approx. 110 articles and papers, including 7 volumes of the sources on the history of Achilles Ratti’s nuncio work: Achilles Ratti (1918-1921), Vol. l-7 (25 IV 1918-31 I 1920) (Romae 1995-2003), published by the Polish Historical Institute in Rome in the series Acta Nuntiaturae Polonae, V.57
