Childhood

The family atmosphere, filled with sincere devotion, undoubtedly, influenced the education of the children and grandchildren of Jerzy Boym, resulting in two of his grandsons, Michał Piotr and his brother Benedykt Paweł, becoming Jesuits.

The family`s position in the Lviv society was enhanced by the missionary`s father, Paweł Jerzy Boym. Throughout his adult life, he held prestigious posts of the city`s councilor and, later, that of its mayor. He was a successful merchant who maintained wide commercial contacts with other merchants in France and Italy. He also held a doctorate title in philosophy and medicine at Padua University. Likewise, he was the royal physician (possibly purely honorific) of the Polish king, Sigismund Vasa the 3rd.

Consequently, he was very well acquainted with medicinal plants. On his deathbed, he charged his sons to educate their primogeniture in the field of medicine in Italy. Furthermore, he ordered them to pass from one generation to another the "secreta medica" received from their father "par succesionem pro traditionem."

The Renaissance climate, which dominated his family, clearly made an imprint on young Michał. His inborn talents in math and natural sciences turned his attention to medicine and pharmacology. These were to play a crucial role in his missionary work in the Far East. Although his school track is not known for sure, it seems likely that he attended Jesuit schools and colleges from the very beginning. Such a path of education was then prevalent in Poland in "good" homes. (source: Miazek-Męczyńska, Monika. Flora Sinensis of Michał Boym SI, Collegium Europaeum Gnesnense Publishing House, 2005.)