The Congregation of the Resurrection of Our Lord was founded in France on Ash Wednesday, 1836. Bogdan Jański, Piotr Semenenko, and Hieronim Kajsiewicz—considered the Founders of the Congregation—were the first members of this Community. 

Bogdan Jański is to be recognized as the one who planted the seed. Born to Christian parents and educated in Catholic schools, he studied at the University of Warsaw, from which he graduated with master's degrees in law and administration. However, it was at university that he got involved in student movements and, as a result, began to lose his faith. His faith weakened further when he won a scholarship and went to study economics in France, England, and Germany. A perpetual dreamer, he drifted from one social movement to another, seeking ways to realize an ideal society. Disillusioned by various proposed solutions, he eventually returned to the Catholic Church. He became convinced that the truth can only be found in the Catholic Church, and that the only effective solution to social problems is the way of life proposed by the Gospel.

Jański became an apostle among Polish exiles living in France after the fall of the November Uprising. Stefan Witwicki, a poet and witness to Jański’s struggles, described him as follows: “The émigré community is quite irreligious. One of the émigrés, the late Bogdan Jański, who devoted himself to religion, the rebuilding of the homeland, and the salvation of his compatriots with extraordinary zeal and virtue, looked among the émigrés almost like a little apostle on a newly discovered island, the first to introduce Christianity there. How many efforts and endeavors he had to undertake, how many debates and arguments to endure, how many letters to write, how many absurdities and abominations to listen to, how much angelic patience he had to possess before convincing a beloved friend, so-called republican or philosopher, correcting his pride, reforming his manners, bringing him to Holy Mass and placing him before the confessional! ... If the history of our emigration were to be properly written, Jański, though almost unknown, would occupy an important and beautiful place. Perhaps more than anyone else, he influenced the minds and hearts of the youth, turning them to love of God, good morals, and the holy Catholic faith. His apostolic work (for one can almost use that solemn expression when speaking of Jański) was all the more effective because he knew from experience the paths of error, having walked them himself. Converted, he fervently converted others: with rare gentleness and kindness he won people over, enlightened them with knowledge and uncommon expertise in Church matters, and edified them by his devout and exemplary life.” Whenever he managed to earn a bit of money—working as a tutor or writing encyclopedia and dictionary entries—he would immediately use it to help poor Polish emigrants scattered across France. He was like a “one-man office” offering not only material aid but also administrative and secretarial support.

Jański was also capable of critically assessing the position of the Church in relation to the human community of his time. He wrote: “The current ecclesiastical authority does not understand today’s social realities.” The Church, in his view, needed reform. This was to be the mission of an enlightened laity, not only in Poland but around the world, to dispel fears and clarify misunderstandings regarding the Church. “Do not limit the life of the fraternity to one religious form, but through various—yet closely united—forms, associate for the purpose of introducing Christian principles into politics, education, literature, science, the arts, industry, customs, and all areas of public and private life.” 

Jański was also deeply involved in promoting the formation of a well-educated clergy, capable of teaching and leading the people. At that time, this was an urgent need in Poland, weakened under Russian occupation. For this reason, he sent two of his closest collaborators and students, Piotr Semenenko and Hieronim Kajsiewicz, to Rome, with the task of establishing closer ties with the Holy See and, ultimately, founding a Polish College in Rome for the education of priests for Poland. In Rome, the seed of the Congregation began to sprout and bear fruit. Piotr Semenenko and Hieronim Kajsiewicz formed a small community in Rome and were ordained priests in December 1841. During a Mass in the catacombs of St. Sebastian on Easter morning in 1842, seven members of the Roman House professed religious vows in a community that was still without a name. However, Divine Providence, which had brought them to that moment, was with them that morning as well. Emerging from the catacombs, they heard the bells of Roman churches ringing out the Easter “Alleluia,” and so they decided to take their name from that feast: they became the Congregation of the Resurrection of Our Lord. 

Father Semenenko wrote the first Rule, containing thirty-three paragraphs, which was a development of Bogdan Jański’s ideas. Father Kajsiewicz described the feelings of the first Resurrectionists in these words: “We felt the need for living as a family, united by spiritual bonds. We wanted to undertake works that required continuity and order, and coworkers we could rely on. For this reason, we desired to become a religious congregation.” At the General Chapter of 1850, the members decided to follow the advice of Pope Pius IX: “Organize yourselves so that you can do the greatest possible good for the Church.” The Pope also prophesied: “You will not all write a new Rule, because that is not a work for many, but for one, and that one must have the Spirit of God.” Father Kajsiewicz quickly added: “The main merit for all our work on the Rule belongs to Father Semenenko.” Father Semenenko became the leader and guide in matters concerning the Rule and the spirit of the Congregation. It was he, more than anyone else, who formulated, developed, and defended the original thought of Bogdan Jański.

The General Chapter of 1857 was very important for the Congregation, for it was there that Father Semenenko identified the specific apostolates of the new Community: parish work and the education of youth. The Rule submitted for ecclesiastical approval in 1887 was almost entirely based on the Rule of 1850, which expressed the original ideas of the Founders. 

The latest version of the Congregation’s Constitutions is simply an adaptation of that Rule in the spirit of post-conciliar renewal, preserving the core principles and spirit of the 1850 Rule.