The granite plaque is in Latin and Polish. The Latin portion reads:
"IN MEMORIAM PEREGRINATIONIS
AD TUMBAM S. STANISLAI
JOANNIS PAULI PP II
QUI HAC IN DOMU
DIEBUS 6-10 JUNU 1979 ANNI
COMMORATUS EST
IN QUA UT ARCHIEPISCORPUS CRACOVIENSIS
ANNIS 1964-1978 HABITABAT"
Google translates the Latin as:
"IN MEMORIAM PEREGRINATIONIS
CURED Saint Stanislaus
JOHN PAUL 2
Those who allow home
DAYS 6-10 JUNU 1979 SOLSTICE
abode
In which the ARCHIEPISCORPUS Krakow
ANNIS lived 1964-1978"
Basically, the sign is informing us that John Paul II lived here while he served as Krakow's Bishop.
Wikipedia (
visit link) informs us about his years as Bishop and Cardinal:
"On 4 July 1958, while Wojtyla was on a kayaking holiday in the lakes region of northern Poland, Pope Pius XII appointed him as the Auxiliary Bishop of Kraków. He was then summoned to Warsaw to meet the Primate of Poland, Stefan Cardinal Wyszynski, who informed him of his appointment. He agreed to serve as Auxiliary Bishop to Kraków's Archbishop Eugeniusz Baziak, and he received episcopal consecration (as Titular Bishop of Ombi) on 28 September 1958. Baziak was the principal consecrator. Principal co-consecrators were Bishop Boleslaw Kominek (Titular Bishop of Sophene and Vågå, auxiliary of the Catholic Archdiocese of Wroclaw, and future Cardinal and Archbishop of Wroclaw) and then-Auxiliary Bishop Franciszek Jop of the Catholic Diocese of Sandomierz (Titular Bishop of Daulia; later Auxiliary Bishop of the Archdiocese of Wroclaw and then Bishop of the Catholic Diocese of Opole). At the age of 38, Wojtyla became the youngest bishop in Poland. Baziak died in June 1962 and on 16 July Wojtyla was selected as Vicar Capitular (temporary administrator) of the Archdiocese until an Archbishop could be appointed.
In October 1962, Wojtyla took part in the Second Vatican Council (1962–1965), where he made contributions to two of its most historic and influential products, the Decree on Religious Freedom (in Latin, Dignitatis humanae) and the Pastoral Constitution on the Church in the Modern World (Gaudium et spes). Wojtyla and the Polish bishops contributed a draft text to the Council for Gaudium et spes. According to the historian John W. O'Malley, the draft text Gaudium et spes that Wojtyla and the Polish delegation sent "had some influence on the version that was sent to the council fathers that summer but was not accepted as the base text". According to John F. Crosby, as pope, John Paul II used the words of Gaudium et spes later to introduce his own views on the nature of the human person in relation to God: man is "the only creature on earth that God has wanted for its own sake", but man "can fully discover his true self only in a sincere giving of himself".
He also participated in the assemblies of the Synod of Bishops. On 13 January 1964, Pope Paul VI appointed him Archbishop of Kraków.[65] On 26 June 1967, Paul VI announced Archbishop Karol Wojtyla's promotion to the Sacred College of Cardinals. Wojtyla was named Cardinal-Priest of the titulus of San Cesareo in Palatio.
In 1967, he was instrumental in formulating the encyclical Humanae vitae, which dealt with the same issues that forbid abortion and artificial birth control.
In 1970, according to a contemporary witness, Cardinal Wojtyla was against the distribution of a letter around Kraków, stating that the Polish Episcopate was preparing for the 50th anniversary of the Polish-Soviet War."