Vatican News / Dorota Abdelmoula-Viet, Wojciech Rogacin – Vatican
The ceremony for bestowing Poland’s second-highest civilian decoration took place at the seat of the Polish Embassy to the Holy See, with the participation of Wanda Gawrońska’s family members – including her siblings, Count Maria Grazia Salviati, Giovanna Gawrońska-Gilardini, and Jasiu Gawroński, as well as former Prime Minister Hanna Suchocka.
As emphasized by the host of the meeting, Ambassador Adam Kwiatkowski, it was an opportunity “to jointly celebrate an extraordinary person and express our gratitude for decades of her work, dedication, and care for Poland and for Polish people,” while the decoration awarded to Wanda Gawrońska is “a tangible symbol of the bonds that have connected her to Poland throughout her life, rooted in family history, but above all consciously and consistently built through her actions.”
Decades of work for Poland and the Polish people
In his occasional laudation, the ambassador recalled some of the most important events in Wanda Gawrońska’s life and her rich activity for the Polish people and the development of Polish-Italian cultural and scientific cooperation, based on shared Christian and European roots. He spoke, among other things, about the Center for European Studies and Meetings co-founded by her in 1976, which funded scholarships for researchers from Central and Eastern Europe, sent publications unavailable during communist times to Poland, and organized meetings of figures in science, culture, and politics, and in 1978 enabled the free broadcast of the inauguration of the pontificate of St. John Paul II in Poland.
“During martial law, Wanda Gawrońska, together with her collaborators, organized extensive assistance for Poles: sending packages, family adoption, medical aid, and support for Polish children treated at the Bambino Gesù Vatican Pediatric Hospital,” Adam Kwiatkowski listed.
Introducing St. Pier Giorgio Frassati to successive generations
The second area in which Wanda Gawrońska’s commitment and generosity have manifested for years has been and is the popularization of the figure of her uncle, canonized in 2025, St. Pier Giorgio Frassati, and the care to ensure that successive generations of youth and adults can find inspiration in him for growth in faith and social commitment.
“Mrs. Wanda continues to do this to this day, combining her Italian and Polish heritage in this activity and bringing his figure closer to people around the world, including in Poland,” the ambassador emphasized.
Memory of her mother, gratitude toward the Italians
In turn, Wanda Gawrońska, addressing those present, emphasized the memory of her mother Luciana Gawrońska-Frassati, the sister of St. Pier Giorgio Frassati, and her merits for Poland. She also drew attention to the immense warmth and support from the Italians.
“I am immensely grateful for everything Italy has done for Poland. It wasn’t me who did it; the Italians did it. I only tried to set something in motion, to initiate something. They did so many wonderful things,” she said. “I am truly moved and I think of my mother. She is the one who should receive greater thanks than I. My mother made the effort to go to Mussolini and ask for the release of one hundred professors of the Jagiellonian University by the Germans. And she succeeded. That was something extremely important. More important than what I managed to achieve,” she emphasized.
Congratulations from the John Paul II Catholic University of Lublin
An important part of Wanda Gawrońska’s activity was helping the Catholic University of Lublin and cooperating with the association she founded, Associazione Pier Giorgio Frassati, Amici dell’Università Cattolica di Lublino. A congratulatory letter on the occasion of receiving the state decoration was sent to her by the Rector of KUL, Rev. Prof. Mirosław Kalinowski, on his own behalf and that of the academic community.
“Thank you for your commitment to the affairs of Poland and the cult, for spreading the idea of Deo et Patriae in Italy, for this Polish-Italian cooperation and activity in disseminating the image and cult of Saint Pier Giorgio Frassati, whose attitude constantly inspires young students and adepts forming the KUL academic community,” the rector wrote. “Thank you for those acts of all goodness which, I am convinced, stem from the love of Truth that gives meaning to our lives.”
