Aleksander Zienkiewicz was born in the village of Lembówka in the Vilnius region, into a deeply religious family of Jadwiga née Wróblewska and Kazimierz Zienkiewicz, as the oldest of twelve siblings. After graduating from primary school, he entered the Minor Seminary in Nowogródek, which soon changed its name to Bishop's Junior High School for Men and was moved to Drohiczyn. Then he studied (1931-1938) at the Major Seminary of Saint Thomas Aquinas in Pińsk. He was ordained a prie ...