Piotr Turzyński

Turzyński was born on September 28, 1964, in Radom, Poland, as one of three children of Julian and Helena née Rzadkowska.^[1]

He was educated at the local Tytus Chałubiński 4th High School,^[1] where he passed his secondary school leaving exam in 1982.^[2] During his high school years, he was an animator of the Light-Life Movement.^[1] From 1982 to 1988, he studied philosophy and theology at the Higher Seminary in Sandomierz.^[2] On May 28, 1988, he was ordained a priest by Bishop Edward Materski in the Radom co-cathedral. He was incardinated into the Sandomierz-Radom diocese.^[3] He obtained his master's degree in theology at the Catholic University of Lublin.^[1] He continued his studies at the Augustinianum Patristic Institute in Rome from 1989 to 1992, graduating with a licentiate in theology and patristic sciences.^[3] He continued his studies at the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome from 1992 to 1995,^[3] and, in 1996, he received a doctorate in theological sciences, based on the dissertation Il Cantico nuovo nella teologia di sant'Agostino. Specialmente nelle Enarrationes in Psalmos (Canticum novum in the theology of Saint Augustine. Study on the Commentary on the Psalms).^[4] He obtained his habilitation in 2014 at the Faculty of Theology of Cardinal Stefan Wyszyński University in Warsaw after submitting his dissertation, Beauty, in the theology of Saint Augustine. An attempt to systematize Augustinian theological aesthetics.^[4]

From 1988 to 1989, he worked as a vicar in the parish of the Mother of the Redeemer in Ostrowiec Świętokrzyski, in Poland. During this time, he led a youth oasis group and a teachers ministry.^[1] After the 1992 reorganization of diocesan structures in Poland, he was included in the presbytery of the Radom diocese.^[5] In 1999, he was appointed as director of the diocesan council for the permanent formation of priests, and, in 2006, director of the diocesan council for consecrated life.^[3] In 2002, he joined the priests' council of the diocese.^[5] In 2008, during the second diocesan synod, he assumed the position of chairman of the synodal commission for culture, media and new evangelization. He led missions, parish, and youth retreats, as well as retreats for priests, nuns, and clerics.^[3] He became involved in the activities of the Home Church.^[2] He prepared meetings for the youth of the Radom diocese, under the names Kuźnia Młodych, Appeals for the Young, and Diocesan Days of Youth. He took part in founding the association Młyńska. Verum, Bonum, Pulchrum, which organized the Weeks of Christian Culture.^[3] He hosted evangelization broadcasts on the diocesan Radio AVE and Radio Plus Radom.^[1][3] In 2003, he was appointed canon of the Ostra Brama Chapter in Skarżysko-Kamienna.^[3]

In the years 1995–2006, he served as spiritual father at the Higher Theological Seminary in Radom, and, in 2006, he took up the office of vice-rector of the seminary.^[5] He began lecturing there on patrology, introduction to theology, and theology of spirituality,^[3] and he also ran a clerical theater.^[1] In 2000, he became an assistant professor at the Faculty of Theology in Radom (later renamed the Institute of Theology) at Cardinal Stefan Wyszyński University in Warsaw. In the years 2006–2012, he was deputy director of the institute, dealing with matters related to part-time studies and the Benedict XVI Thought Center. In 2013, he was appointed assistant professor at the Faculty of Theology of the John Paul II Catholic University of Lublin at the Institute of Church History and Patrology at the Chair of Greek and Latin Patrology.^[1]

On January 17, 2015, Pope Francis appointed Turzyński as auxiliary bishop of the Radom diocese, with the titular see of Usula.^[5][6] On February 28, 2015, at the Cathedral of the Protection of the Blessed Virgin Mary in Radom, he was ordained as a bishop by Archbishop Celestino Migliore, the Apostolic Nuncio to Poland, assisted by Wacław Depo, the Metropolitan Archbishop of Częstochowa, and Henryk Tomasik, the Diocesan Bishop of Radom.^[7][8] He adopted the words Ecclesia Mater – Mater Ecclesiae (Mother Church – Mother of the Church)^[9] as his episcopal motto. He assumed the office of vicar general in the diocesan curia.^[10] During the 2015 Polish Episcopal Conference, he became a delegate for the Pastoral Care of Teachers^[11] and, in 2022, a delegate for the Pastoral Care of Polish Emigration.^[12] In 2018, he became a member of the Permanent Council,^[13] in 2020 of the Commission for the Doctrine of the Faith,^[14] in 2021 of the Council for Social Affairs,^[15] in 2023 of the Commission for the Clergy,^[16] and in 2024 of the Joint Commission of Representatives of the Government of the Republic of Poland and the Polish Episcopal Conference.^[17]

Turzyński died from cancer at the age of 60, on April 14, 2025, in Radom.^[18][19] On April 22, he was buried in the tombs of the bishops of Radom, at the cemetery on Limanowskiego Street.^[20]