Adam Marcinkiewicz was born in 1867 in the town of Przeclaw (Galicja); it was here that he received his primary education. Upon completion of his schooling in Tarnow, Marcinkiewicz was admitted to the University in Krakow to study law. After his family emigrated and settled in Buffalo, NY, Adam continued his education at the Polish seminary in Detroit, MI and was ordained in 1896. As was the custom, he celebrated his first Mass in his home parish of Transfiguration (Buffalo, NY). Before receiving his first pastorate, the newly ordained priest was assigned to assist Ks. J. Pitass, Ks. J. Wojcik, and Ks. T. Flaczek. Then, in 1897, he began his tenure as pastor of Holy Cross Parish in Salamanca, NY a parish founded only four years earlier. Following Salamanca, Marcinkiewicz was named pastor of St. John Kanty Parish in Buffalo, NY, a position he held for three years. In 1903, he left Buffalo for his last known assignment in this diocese, a pastorate at the Church of the Assumption in Albion, NY.

Marcinkeiwicz was seriously involved in working for the success of the Polish seminary, serving in various capacities in the school’s Alumni Association. In 1918, he was transferred to Detroit, MI and became the assistant pastor of the oldest Polish parish in that city St. Adalbert (across the Polish seminary, which was located in Detroit at that time). He would remain there until his death in 1939.

During his lifetime, Marcinkiewicz wrote several books both of a religious and secular nature.