KAKOWSKI, ALEXANDER. – Cardinal, born at Dembica, in the diocese of Plock, Poland, on 5 February 1862, died in Warsaw on 30 December 1938.
Having completed his studies in Rome, he became rector of the archiepiscopal seminary of Warsaw, and then rector of the Ecclesiastical Academy of Petersburg, before finally being elected metropolitan archbishop of Warsaw on 2 May 1913. An excellent pastor, he was created cardinal priest of the title of S. Agostino by Benedict XV on 15 December 1919; in the same year he consecrated Bishop Achille Ratti, the future Pius XI, then apostolic nuncio in Poland.
A good patriot, as well as a most devout priest, after the proclamation of the Kingdom of Poland, during the First World War, he served on the Regency Council (1917–18). At his death he wished to be buried among the poor in the Brudno cemetery in Warsaw. Witold Wehr