Bronisław Świeykowski was born in 1865 in Uherce near Sanok. He gained the basics of education thanks to private tutoring. In addition to general knowledge, he also learned several languages during this time: French, German, Russian, Latin and Greek. He began his studies at the seminary in Przemyśl. In 1889 he was ordained a priest. He then studied in Innsbruck and Rome. After completing his education, Father Bronisław Świeykowski was sent to parishes. The next, fourth, which he took over on January 16, 1896, is Gorlice.
It is with Gorlice that he is to be associated for the next 60 years of his life. Here he was given the position of director and catechist in a girls' school, in the Society of the Ladies of Mercy according to the rule of St. Vincent de Paul.
Świeykowski is keenly interested in politics. His candidacy was put forward in 1911 in the elections to the Vienna parliament on behalf of the conservative camp. Renounces however, there was a place in favor of Prof. L. Jaworski, who ran from the same group as him. In 1913 he joined the Red Cross.
Preparations before the beginning of the school year 1914/1915 are interrupted by the news coming from the front of the Great War for Father Bronisław Świeykowski.
The initial successes of the Russian army and the impending threat of the approaching front caused the evacuation of the city authorities from Gorlice. Gorlice was twice under Russian occupation. The first of them is the period from November 15 to December 12, 1914. Heavy fighting near Kraków and Limanowa, and on 11-12 December also near Gorlice, caused the retreat of the tsarist troops. But already on December 27, 1914, as a result of the counterattack of the Russian army, just after Christmas, the second invasion and thus the Russian occupation of the city began. It lasted until May 2, 1915. At that time, the combined Austro-Hungarian and Prussian forces succeeded over the tsarist army.
In the last days of December 1914, Gorlice found itself on the front line. The city and its surroundings were mercilessly shelled, burned and looted for 4 months. Bronisław Świeykowski described the period of the second occupation in his diary, later known as the diary "From the Days of Horror in Gorlice. From 25 September 1914 to 2 May 1915".
In the period between November 1914 and May 1915, Bronisław Świeykowski did not cease to perform priestly functions, he celebrated daily Holy Mass and confessed the inhabitants of the city. Before Easter, more than 120 Russian soldiers went to confession, perhaps for the last time in their lives. He also gave his last service to civilians dying as a result of wounds or spreading diseases, as well as to soldiers, including those dying on the battlefield. He assisted in makeshift burials organized in home gardens.
The priest-mayor himself avoided death at least three times from bullets aimed at him and from the rubble of a collapsing building.
The ordeal of the front of Gorlice and its inhabitants ended on May 2, 1915. The decision is brought by Operation Gorlice, one of the largest battles of the Eastern Front of World War I. After 3.45 p.m., the city is in the hands of Prussian troops. The front retreats, leaving the burning ruins of the city.
The priest immediately makes himself known as an excellent organizer of the reconstruction of Gorlice. Thanks to min. his efforts managed to prepare the city so that it was possible to survive the winter of 1915/1916.On
November 23, 1915, Father Bronisław Świeykowski was appointed Government Commissioner for the city of Gorlice by a rescript of the Central Committee of the Governorship. Bronisław Świeykowski served as the Government Commissioner of the City of Gorlice until May 31, 1920. On that date, he resigns from office. On July 4, 1921, the City Council, in recognition of his merits and as a thank you for his 4-year mayorship in a difficult time of war, granted Father Bronisław Świeykowski honorary citizenship of the city of Gorlice.
He died after a long and serious illness at the age of 91, on January 27, 1956.