[1] Christopher Szwernicki was born on September 8, 1814, in the Varnupiai village near Marijampolė to Adam and Katarzyna née Woclawska.

[2] When the November Uprising began, Szwernicki enlisted in uhlan's regiment, commandeered by Józef Dwernicki.

In 1846, he was arrested for his patriotic activity and put into Warsaw Citadel, where he spent five years under strict investigation.

Hacicki (like a vicar), and after the latter's death in 1856 he became parish priest of Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary Church in Irkutsk.

In his pastoral care he met (a future saint and a Carmelite friar) Raphael Kalinowski, who was exiled to Siberia after the January Uprising.

by giving them alongside material support, spiritual comfort together with this quiet exposed hope, which only one can prevent people from pessimism and despair.