Zygmunt Gorazdowski was born on 1 November 1845 in Sanok to the politician Szczęsny Gorazdowski (c.1813-May 1903) and Aleksandra Łazowska; his parents had married in 1843 and his paternal grandparents were Szymon Gorazdowski and Maria Dobrzańskich. He was baptized on 9 November 1845 at a Franciscan church. In his childhood he suffered a lung ailment that became tuberculosis; this did not prevent him from considering the needs of others and offering his help wherever he could. He almost died in 1846 during the Galician slaughter that saw peasants revolt against serfdom and he managed to survive when his parents hid him under a mill's wheel. In 1863 he joined the uprising against the Russian occupation.