02 August - Eldest son of Prince Władysław Czartoryski and grandson of Adam Jerzy Czartoryski, August was born on 12 August 1858 in Paris at the Hotel Lambert on the Île Saint-Louis, where his family had emigrated for political reasons thirty years earlier.
From abroad, his father led an important diplomatic action with other Poles and the European authorities to restore the unity of his country. August lost his mother to tuberculosis when he was six years old. His father remarries in 1872 with Princess Marguerite d'Orléans, daughter of the Duke of Nemours and granddaughter of the King of the French, Louis-Philippe Ist.
Prince Władysław took care of her education by giving her Joseph Kalinowski as tutor from 1874 to 1877, who had a great influence on him, introducing her to the works of Louis de Gonzague and Stanislas Kostka, which were decisive for her future vocation. After Joseph Kalinowski joined the Carmelites, it was Father Stanislas Kubowicz who in turn became tutor to the young prince, who also attended the Charlemagne secondary school. August quickly understands that he is not suited for court life and to take on the social and political tasks that his father wishes for him. He refuses several proposed marriages, sensing that this is not the fate that awaits him.
It was during a Mass celebrated by Don Bosco in the Hotel Lambert, home of the Czartoryski family, that August, at the age of 25, met the founder of the Salesians. It was then that he became clearly aware of his religious and priestly vocation. He went several times to Turin to meet Don Bosco in order to benefit from his spiritual advice.
August, against the advice of his father, who wanted to see his elder son take over, was eager to join the Salesians, but Don Bosco himself was reluctant. The young man then appeals directly to Pope Leo XIII who receives him, questions him and says: "Tell Don Bosco that the Pope wants him to accept you among the Salesians". John Bosco then accepted him into the Order. August arrived in Italy at the end of June 1887, where, during his novitiate, he lived in a poor and difficult way for which he was unprepared, undermined by tuberculosis, resisting the repeated attempts of his family who wanted to make him change his decision at all costs. During his studies at the Salesian High School in Valsalice, he met Venerable André Beltrami. They became close friends and when August' tuberculosis worsened, the superiors asked André for help and treatment. On November 24, 1887, Don Bosco received his vows in the Basilica of Mary Help of Christians, before dying two months later.
August is sent to the Ligurian coast, more favourable to his health, and begins his theological studies to become a priest. His family, worried about the worsening of his illness, tried through Cardinal Parocchi to get him to leave Salesian life, without success: "It was in full freedom that I wanted to take my vows, and I did so with great joy. Living in the Congregation, I have since that day experienced great peace of mind and I thank God for having made me know the Salesian Society and for having called me to live there".
He was ordained a priest on April 2, 1892, in San Remo by Bishop Tomaso Reggio, Bishop of Ventimiglia. But he was able to carry out his ministry for only one year; he died on April 8, 1893, in Alassio, on the Ligurian coast. Relics of the Blessed in the Salesian Church of Przemyśl (Poland). His remains were brought back to Poland and buried first in the parish crypt of the church of Sieniawa, where he made his First Communion, before being transferred to the Salesian Church of Przemyśl where they are still to be found. He was beatified in Rome on April 25, 2004 by Pope John Paul II.
