* 1807, † 1875,

       He was born on 7.4.1807 into the family of Andrzej, a weaver and burgher of the Cieszyn suburb of Brandys. After finishing Cieszyn’s High School (as top-boy) in 1825, he took up studies at the Philosophy Faculty of Vienna university. On completing these studies, he enrolled at the Theology Faculty of Olomouc University. In doing so, he was following in the footsteps of relatives including his uncle Paweł who served as General Vicar to the Austrian part of the Wrocław diocese. He was consecrated as a priest in 1831 and sent to Frydek as parish priest and catechist, then in 1835 he took up duties as deputy head of the Cselesta seminary in Cieszyn. In 1837, however, he became tutor to sons of the nobility first in Gnojnik, then in Svitavka in Moravia. He took advantage of this time to educate himself still further and became a Doctor of Philosophy.
       In 1848, he returned to Cieszyn to take on the role of catechist in the High School, and then in other schools, working also as a preacher and pastor. He financed several scholarships for poor children of Cieszyn’s schools, regardless of their religion. He was elected to the Silesian Parliament in Opawa in 1861, and was also a member of many liberal-leaning societies. In 1862, he addressed a letter to the primate and prime minister of Austria with a proposition to create a national church within the Austro-Hungarian Empire, which resulted in him being suspended from spiritual duties in 1864. He never changed his views, however, and developed them further in the pamphlet “The Rational Church of Father Prutek”, which appeared in 1874 and was dedicated to Cieszyn’s Rabbi Friedmann. In the same year he was excommunicated, but retained the support of liberal bourgeois circles and of Cieszyn City Council, of which he was a member from 1861 – 4. He was awarded the title of honorary citizen of Cieszyn, the city organised and paid for his funeral, and named a street after him.