Biography
Adam Stefan Stanisław Bonifacy Józef Sapieha, of the Fox coat of arms, was born at Krasiczyn castle on the 14th May 1867. He was the seventh child and the fifth son of Adam Stanisław Sapieha and Jadwiga née Sanguszko. Initially – in accordance with the custom at magnate homes – he was educated at his family home, then at the IV Junior High School in Lviv. Having received a secondary school-leaving certificate (August 8, 1886), he enrolled at the Faculty of Law at the University of Vienna, and simultaneously, with his brother Jan, attended the Institut Catholique in Lille (October 1886-August 1887). In the autumn of 1887, he continued (from the second year) law studies in Krakow at the Jagiellonian University where – after the second year – he passed the official examinations on the 26th August 1888. He resumed his law studies in Vienna, from which he graduated on the 10th March 1892. Concurrently (autumn 1890) he enrolled in the Faculty of Theology of the University of Innsbruck, from which he graduated in July 1894. Having taken the decision to enter the clergy, he was incardinated into the Archdiocese of L’viv of the Latin rite (1892) and entered onto the list of alumni of the seminary of that archdiocese, where he received lower holy orders. In 1893 he received higher holy orders – subdeaconate in Feldkirch, diaconate (the 15th July 1893), he was then ordained priest on 1st October 1893 by the suffragan of L’viv, Jan Puzyna, in the chapel of the seminary in L’viv. It is worth adding that as a student he was an active participant in many academic meetings, discussion groups, and pastoral activities.