Franciszek Schulak was born December 17, 1825 in the village of Niecie, Moravia (Austria). After having attended local schools, this son of Ignacy and Anna Bajer Schulak entered the Jesuit novitiate at Stara Wies, Galicja in 1845. In 1847, he studied at Nowy Sacz. The following year saw him continuing his studies in Laval, France; it was here that he was ordained a priest on November 20, 1851. In 1852, he was transferred to the Jesuit school in Tarnopol that Schulak pronounced his last vows in August 1857.

In 1865, his request to do missionary work was approved and Schulak was sent to labor among the Slavic people in the United States. He arrived in New York City in August 1866 and made his way to St. Louis, MO (from where he would begin his field work). It was here that he delivered his first sermon (in Hungarian) in 1866. From St. Louis, this priest who already spoke Slovak, Moravian, German, Polish, Hungarian and French traveled to Florissant, MO to learn the English language. While in Missouri, Schulak also served in Westphalia and assisted Rev. Aleksander Matauschek with missionary work among the Slavs and Germans who were settling in the Midwest.

By 1869, Schulak was stationed at St. Ignatius College in Chicago, IL. Here he met Piotr Kiolbasa and together they laid the foundations for the St. Stanislaus Kostka Society and the future St. Stanislaus Kostka Church. (This church, the largest Polish parish in the world at one time, was eventually taken over and administered by the Resurrectionist Order.)

For forty years, Schulak ministered to the people scattered throughout the United States. He was a member of a band of Jesuits who served the growing communities from the New England states to the Midwest. As the number of Poles in these areas grew, he encouraged the immigrants and helped them organize first societies and, eventually, parishes. His efforts proved successful in places such as Posen and Roger City in Michigan, Otis, Indiana, and New Posen in Nebraska. Locally, Schulak attended to the spiritual needs of Poles in Dunkirk, NY and Erie, PA. He was well respected by the bishops in whose dioceses he gave missions. (It is said, however, that some Poles complained because he did not speak the Polish language too well.)

Schulak was an avid reader and encouraged the communities he visited to establish libraries. The newly established Polish seminary in Detroit, MI had a special place in his heart and he often gave retreats and missions there. For his concern and assistance, the seminary made him the first person to have received an honorary degree there. Since it was also located in Detroit, the Felician Sisters’ motherhouse was a regular stop for Schulak when he was in the area.

This well-traveled priest was wont to collect various specimens of minerals, rocks, fauna and other items during his journeys and display them in the museum at St. Ignatius College in Chicago. (The collection is now at the Benedictine Monastery in Lisle, IL.) nor did Schulak forget about the Jesuit school in Galicja where he once taught; he also sent it a sizable collection of his specimens.

In 1906, with advanced age slowing him down, Schulak returned to Krakow, Galicja to retire. Here he spent his last days and died on January 29, 1908 at the age of 83.