Aloysius John Wycislo


Aloysius John Wycisło was an American prelate of the Roman Catholic Church who served as the 8th bishop of the Diocese of Green Bay, Wisconsin from 1968 to 1983. Previously he was an auxiliary bishop for the Archdiocese of Chicago, Illinois.

Biography

Early life and education

Wycisło was born in 1908 to Simon and Victoria Czech Wycislo in Chicago, Illinois. He attended St. Mary Elementary School in Cicero, Illinois; Archbishop Quigley Preparatory Seminary in Chicago; Mundelein Seminary at the St. Mary of the Lake Seminary in Mundelein, Illinois; and The Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C., where he earned a master's degree in social work.

Ordination and ministry

He was ordained on April 7, 1934, by Cardinal George Mundelein at the University of St. Mary of the Lake. During WWII and into the 1950s, he served in Catholic War Relief Services, established refugee camps in the Middle East, India, and Africa, and later worked coordinating aid throughout Eastern and Western Europe at the request of the Polish American Relief Organization. He was among the first American priests to enter Poland after the Second World War and he reported that the postwar Polish government had forbidden mentioning the pope in the press and in Polish churches.

Auxiliary Bishop of Chicago

Wycisło was consecrated a bishop on December 21, 1960, and served as auxiliary bishop to Cardinal Albert Gregory Meyer of the Archdiocese of Chicago.

Bishop of Green Bay

He was appointed Bishop of Roman Catholic Diocese of Green Bay on March 8, 1968, by Pope Paul VI. Bishop Wycislo was officially installed to this Diocese on April 16, 1968.
His episcopal motto was Caritati Instate.
Wycislo retired on June 17, 1983, his 75th birthday, when he submitted his letter of resignation to the Holy See. He remained active during his retirement by performing confirmations.
On his death in 2005 at the age of 97, he was the oldest living Roman Catholic bishop in the United States, and also was one of the few living Fathers of the Second Vatican Council.

Author

Bishop Wycislo was an author as well, he wrote Vatican Two Revisited; Reflections by One who was there , The Saint Peter, along with many other titles.