Roman Maria Jakub Próchniewski
Roman Maria Jakub Próchniewski (February 29, 1872 – February 13, 1954) was a Polish church leader who led the Mariavite Old Catholic Church as Prime Bishop from 1945 to 1953.
He studied at the Saint Petersburg Theological Academy and taught at the Theological Seminary in Lublin. In 1903 he became the Mariavite provincial leader for the Lublin district, and in 1906 he was the parish priest in Płock. From 1907 he served as vicar general of the Mariavite Church and was consecrated a bishop on September 4, 1910, in Łowicz.
Próchniewski was the confessor of Maria Franciszka Kozłowska, the founder of the Mariavite movement, and he wrote many theological pieces for the movement. He also authored a book about Kozłowska titled Life of the Pure Lady and her Revealed Work of Great Mercy.
As the main consecrator, he ordained Bishop Zygmunt Szypold on April 13, 1947, with Jan Maria Michał Kowalski and others assisting.
His episcopal lineage goes from the Roman Catholic Church to the Old Catholic Church of the Netherlands and then to the Mariavite Church.
He died in Płock, Poland, in 1954 at the age of 81.
This page was last edited on 2 February 2026, at 03:47 (CET).