DETROIT — Fr. Boleslaus Krol — known to his parishioners and others as “Fr. Bill” — could never rest if he knew someone needed him. As a priest, he knew it was his calling.

“He was a quiet man, but his heart was always beating for people. You’d hardly ever see him at the rectory. He was always someplace visiting with those who were in need — not always with material and physical things, but in the spiritual world, too,” said Fr. Zbigniew Grankowski, pastor of St. Barbara Parish in Dearborn and St. Cunegunda Parish in Detroit and a longtime friend of Fr. Krol.

Fr. Krol, who served for many years as a pastor in the Archdiocese of Detroit — including most recently at St. Louis the King Parish in Detroit — died Jan. 15 at the age of 82.

Fr. Krol, a Polish immigrant, was born Sept. 11, 1934, in Kaweczyn, Poland, to Szymon and Mariana Krol and was ordained a priest for the Society of Jesus (Jesuits) in Warsaw on July 31, 1961.

After coming to America, Fr. Krol served as chaplain at Henry Ford Hospital in Detroit and as an associate pastor of three parishes — St. Hyacinth in Detroit (1979-87), St. Florian in Hamtramck (1987-89) and St. Colette in Livonia (1989-91) — before being incardinated into the Archdiocese of Detroit in 1990.

In 1991, he was made pastor of St. Louis the King Parish in Detroit, where he continued to serve until being granted senior priest status in 2011. From 1995-2005, he also served as pastor of St. Bartholomew Parish in Detroit and was involved in urban youth ministry in the city.

While Fr. Krol’s Polish heritage was important to him, his ministry extended to everyone, especially those who were hurting, Fr. Grankowski said.

“He was very sensitive to the suffering of people. Seeing them suffer, he saw in them Jesus’ suffering,” Fr. Grankowski said.

Whether it was someone who was sick or a senior citizen or simply someone who needed to talk, Fr. Krol was always on the go. Often, he’d bring someone a copy of the parish bulletin or a book he thought would help strengthen them, Fr. Grankowski said.

“He never sat down. He was always walking and visiting with people, asking people what kind of service they needed and always providing for them. His whole life was his people,” Fr. Grankowski said.

Fr. Grankowski, who is more than 20 years Fr. Krol’s junior, described Fr. Krol as “like my older brother.”

“We would visit and talk, and when I’d get sick he was always one of the first to check how I was doing and offering prayers and support. ‘Whatever I can do, let me know,’ he’d say,” Fr. Grankowski said.

When he wasn’t visiting the sick or celebrating the sacraments, Fr. Krol loved to travel, Fr. Grankowski said. He would often take vacations overseas with another brother Jesuit priest, Fr. Janusz Iwan, and loved celebrating with other priests during the Archdiocese of Detroit’s annual priest convocation in Boyne Mountain.

While Fr. Krol’s passing is “a great loss,” on the other hand, “it’s a great gain, too,” Fr. Grankowski said, reflecting on the Gospel reading during Fr. Krol’s funeral Mass on Jan. 18 at St. Martin de Porres Parish in Warren.

“We lost a great companion and a great brother priest, but it’s like in the Gospel that was preached at the service: St. John is arrested, and Jesus is coming and preaching and moving to different territory, and he’s calling others to follow him,” Fr. Grankowski said. “It means we are passing, and a new generation of priests, deacons and bishops is coming, and the same thing happened with Fr. Krol.

“He did his work and ministry well, and he was a man of God.”