Rev Zygmunt Nowicki SJ
Title:
Rev
First Name:
Zygmunt
Middle Names:
Preferred Name:
Surname:
Nowicki
Order:
SJ
Date of Birth:
Place of Birth:
Olszewo, Sierpe
Country of Birth:
Poland
Date of Ordination:
Place of Ordination:
Warsaw
Country of Ordination:
Poland
Ordination Diocese:
Seminary:
Date of Death:
Place of Death:
Gdynia
Country of Death:
Poland
Date of Burial:
Place of Burial:
Gdynia
Country of Burial:
Poland
Find A Grave URL:
Biographical Notes
Fr David Strong SJ, The Australian dictionary of Jesuit biography 1848-2015, Second Edition, 2017, post-publication supplement:
Nowicki, Zygmunt
Polish chaplain; born Olszewo, Sierpe, Poland, 20 May 1932; died Gdynia, Poland, 23 August 2018, aged 86.
Zygmunt Nowicki received a technical education at Torun, Pozan, Poland, and, after some work experience, entered the Society at Kalisz, 31 August 1952. Extra school and matriculation studies were at Poznan, 1954-56, followed by philosophy at Krakow. Theology was at Warszana, 1959-1963, and his ordination in Warsaw, 5 August 1962, by Cardinal Stefan Wyszynski. He was stationed at Swieta Lipka, North Poland, as assistant parish priest and catechist, 1963-67. After tertianship at Czecwowice-Dziedrice, 1968, he returned to Swieta Lipka.
In May 1969, Nowicki became a missionary in Zambia. After studies in English in London, and other courses in the local language in Lusaka, he was sent to Mpansha parish as assistant priest, and soon after as parish priest in Kizito. He took final vows at Kassisi, Zambia, 2 February 1972.
In 1974 he sustained a very bad car accident, returned to Poland, and after recovering in Warsaw, joined Father Jozef Janus and the Polish Jesuit community in Richmond, Australia in 1974. For five years he assisted Janus, and after the latter's death in 1980, Nowicki took care of the Polish Catholic Community in St Ignatius' parish, Richmond.
In 1987 he was officially appointed as a chaplain to the Polish Catholic community in the Sacred Heart Parish in Oakleigh, where he served for 22 years, 1987-2009.
He retired to Gdynia, Poland, 9 September 2009, having been a missionary in Australia for 34 years. Time in retirement he found challenging, but the occasional communication with Polish Australians, reminded him that he much missed Australia. After a bad fall in 2018, suffering a broken pelvis, he passed away soon after.
Upon hearing of his death, members of his Melbourne community praised him for being a caring pastor who shared their joys and sorrows, and often waited for them in the confessional. He readily visited the sick and elderly, and taught catechism to Polish children for over 30 years. He was a faithful friend to many.
(Reproduced by permission of Fr David Strong SJ.)