Jan Bernard Szlaga

Jan Bernard Szlaga
Szlaga in 2011
Born	May 24, 1940
Died	April 25, 2012 (age 71)

Jan Bernard Szlaga (May 24, 1940 – April 25, 2012) was the Roman Catholic bishop of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Pelplin, Poland. He was born the youngest of six children of Jan and Helena (Sciesińska) Szlaga.

Education and early career

From 1947 to 1953 Szlaga attended elementary school in Gdynia and then went attended Collegium Leoninum in Wejherowo and Collegium Marianum in Pelplin. He studied at the Pelplin Higher Seminary ( Wyższe Seminarium Duchowne w Pelplinie) and was ordained a Roman Catholic priest in Chelmno (Culma, Kulm) in 1963. From 1965 to 1969 Father Szlaga continued his biblical studies at the Catholic University of Lublin and from 1972 to 1973 at the Pontifical Biblical Institute in Rome. Upon completing his doctorate in theology, Szlaga took on academic duties in addition to his priestly duties:

• Assistant to Professor of Biblical Studies, Catholic University of Lublin
• Vice-Dean at Catholic University of Lublin
• Dean of the Faculty of Theology 1981-1984
• Lecturer at the Major Seminary in Lublin, Pelplin Seminary and Nicolaus Copernicus University in Toruń.
• Professor at the University of Gdańsk's Faculty of Languages and History 1991-2001
• Member of the Studiorum Novi Testamenti Societas
• Ordinary Member of the Scientific Society of CUL

As bishop

In 1988, Father Szlaga was named Auxiliary Bishop of Chelmno and Titular Bishop of Mascula. In 1992 he was consecrated as Bishop of Pelplin. While serving as Bishop he received Commander's Cross of the Order of Polish Rebirth. He was named an honorary citizen of Chojnice (1994), Starogard Gdański (2007) and Gdynia (2008), and received the 2010 Award For Services to Pomerania.

Szlaga's health declined just before he was to act as main consecrator of the new Auxiliary Bishop Wiesław Śmigiel and he died on April 25, 2012. He is buried beside the altar at the Cathedral Basilica of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary at Pelplin Abbey.