Hlond worked in Upper Silesia for four years. However, his activity took place in such important circumstances for Upper Silesia, Poland and Germany that it is the duty of the historian to record in an essay the consequences of the First World War (1914-1918) and the turmoil of the Upper Silesian Uprising period on the entire political and ecclesiastical life of the state. The question here is: how did the ecclesiastical situation develop? The answer is that Cardinal Adolf Bertram, as the ordinary of the diocese of Wroclaw, formed only one delegate district of his diocese from the electoral area which, despite all Poland's efforts, fell to Poland after the vote of 20 March 1921 and the May battles. It should not be forgotten that Cardinal Bertram was one of the priests who had spoken out forcefully in favour of the whole area remaining with Germany.
Such an act was bound to cause great indignation and discord among the Polish population, so that the following year, on 7 November 1922, Rome raised this area to the status of an Apostolic Administration, which was entrusted to the Provincial of the Salesian Province of Vienna-Hungary, August Hlond, for independent administration. The handover of Polish Upper Silesia to Hlond took place on 17 December of the same year in Katowice, on the 3rd Sunday of Advent, when his first pastoral letter was read to the people in all the churches. The festivities planned for that day were considerably curtailed because the first president of the revived Poland, Gabriel Narutowicz, had been shot in Warsaw on 16 December, and Józef Rymer, the first voivode of Upper Silesia, had died in Katowice on 5 December. Hlond took office in Polish and German, in accordance with the provisions of the Geneva Convention, after appointing the necessary staff: Emil Szramek, chaplain, became chancellor and Theophil Bromboszcz, parish priest of Ornontowice, became vicar general on 12 September 1923. The deepening of religious life was to be achieved through the vigorously organised Catholic Days. The first Catholic Congress was held in Katowice in 1922, the second in Królewska Huta (later Chorzów) in September 1923, and the third in Katowice in 1924, the results of which were handed over to the individual parishes in the form of 16 regulations. Hlond had to solve difficult problems, some of which we can mention: the minority question, the care of the unemployed, the construction of the cathedral, the building of a seminary in Krakow, since theology students attended the university there. From the beginning of his ministry, Hlond emphasised spiritual tasks, which is why he strongly supported the implementation of the "Holy Year" in 1925, as well as the crowning of the image of the Mother of God in Piekary (1925). In the midst of disputes and quarrels, from which Hlond was not spared, on 28 October 1925 the diocese of Katowice was established and incorporated into the ecclesiastical province of Krakow. The bishop of the new diocese was the highly meritorious Hlond, who had been appointed for Upper Silesia. Hlond was consecrated bishop of Kraków on 3 January 1926, assisted by Bishops Anatol Nowak and Stanislaus Łukomski; 15 Polish bishops and the Polish nuncio, Laurentius Lauri, were also present. Hlond did not remain the first bishop of the Katowice diocese for long, although he was indeed the right man for the job. On 20 June 1926 he was elevated to the position of Archbishop of Gniezno and Poznañ, and in the autumn months he assumed his new duties as Primate of Poland at the height of his powers.