Dubbed the legend of the Black Madonna shrine, Tomziński joined the Order of St. Paul the First Hermit, known as the Pauline Fathers, in 1935. Over the decades that followed, he witnessed some of the key events in the history of the Polish nation and the Roman Catholic Church.
He was ordained a priest during World War II, which he spent at the Częstochowa monastery. He served as a custodian of the shrine, monastery prior, and a Vatican Radio correspondent. While in Rome to continue his studies in the late 1950s and early 1960s, he participated in the Catholic Church's historic Second Vatican Council.
He played a key role in organizing ceremonies marking the millennium of Christianity in Poland in 1966, as well as in preparations for World Youth Day in 1991 and the visits of Pope John Paul II to the Częstochowa shrine.
His written reminiscences of his encounters with the Polish-born pope and Cardinal Stefan Wyszyński, the former Primate of Poland known for his resistance to communism, are a valuable source for historians.
In 2018, Polish President Andrzej Duda visited Tomziński on his 100th birthday and thanked him for "his love for the homeland” and for his services in "preserving national pride and sense of identity.”
(mk/gs)