Proboszczowie zebrzydowiccy w XVII i XVIII w.
Zebrzydowice parish priests in the 17th and 18th century

Summary/Abstract: St. Michael Archangel’s parish (formerly St. Martin’s parish) in Zebrzydowice, near Kalwaria Zebrzydowska, was established in the Middle Ages on the land owned by the Radwanita, i.e. knights bearing the Radwan coat of arms. Their descendants included Krakow voivode Mikołaj Zebrzydowski (1553-1620), who restored the Catholic rites in the parish after the Reformation and appointed its priest, providing him with appropriate remuneration. Henceforth, priests were appointed to this position by Zebrzydowski’s descendants, and then by the Czartoryski family from Korzec, who inherited the town after the death of the last Zebrzydowski (Michał, who died in 1667). The article discusses, among other subjects, the conditions in which the clergy worked in the Old Polish period. Biographical entries concerning eighteen priests in Zebrzydowice show that they were typical representatives of the 17th/18th century clerical estate. However, the fact that the group included six priests with academic degrees, five of whom were active lecturers at the University of Krakow, reveals a certain irregularity in the then model of a rural parish priest.

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