Treści ideowe polichromii w kościele pw. św. Michała Archanioła w Żernicy
Ideological Content of Polychrome Decorations in the Church of St. Michael the Archangel in Żernica

Summary/Abstract: Polychrome decorations of built in 1661 the wooden Church of St. Michael the Archangel in Żernica, completed probably in two stages in the second half of the seventeenth century, are one of the most interesting painting series of the post-Tridentine times found in the Upper Silesia region. Iconographic program was determined by two main factors: the imperative of religious demarcation accompanying the process of confessionalization, and connections with the Cistercian Order on whose estate the parish of Żernica was located. In the space of the church a special place belongs to paintings presenting Catholic teaching on the sacraments, the sacrificial nature of the Mass and the tradition of the worship of images that were exposed in particular. The first of the analyzed paintings shows characteristics of the reformed, post-Tridentine Catholic practice of the sacraments. The second depicts a group of people adoring the image of the Virgin and Child in the Hodegetria type applied to the wooden beams that unfortunately did not manage to survive to this day. On the church’s remaining walls there were placed images of saints particularly venerated by the Cistercian Order, including Benedict of Nursia and Bernard of Clairvaux. Furthermore, the paintings are also full of clear references to mystical devotion model propagated by the Assembly in Silesia. Because of the analyzed in the article polychrome decorations the church of Żernica became a catechization space of the faithful in the spirit of Tridentium.

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