Wlodimir Ledóchowski

Very Rev. Wlodimir (or Włodzimierz) Ledóchowski, S.J. (7 October 1866 – 13 December 1942) was the 26th Superior-General of the Society of Jesus (Jesuits). Born in the Austro-Hungarian Empire, he was a member of the Southern Polish Province of the Jesuits. Prior to the priesthood, he worked for a time as a page in the Habsburg Court. He became Superior General of the Jesuits in 1915, during the First World War, and went on to serve through the Great Depression, and outbreak of World War Two.

He was a son of Count Antoni Halka Ledóchowski and Countess Josephine Salis-Zizers. He was born in the manor house built by his father in Loosdorf, near St. Pölten (Lower Austria). His uncle was Mieczysław Halka Ledóchowski, and his sisters included Saint Ursula Ledóchowska, and Blessed Maria Teresia Ledóchowska. His brother, Ignacy Kazimierz Ledóchowski, was a General in the Polish Army.

He studied at the Theresianum in Vienna and for a time was page to the Empress. He studied Law at the University of Kraków and then began studies for the secular priesthood. While attending the Gregorian University, he decided to become a Jesuit and entered the Society in 1889. Five years later he was ordained a Jesuit priest. At first he took to writing, but was soon made Superior of the Jesuit residence in Kraków, then, Rector of the College. He became the Polish Vice-Provincial in 1901 and Provincial of Galicia in 1902. From 1906 until February 1915 he was the German Assistant.

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