Ustrój i organizacja archidiecezji gnieźnieńskiej i poznańskiej w świetle bulli papieża Piusa VII „De salute animarum” z 1821 r.
The structure and organization of the archidiocese of Gniezno and Poznań in the light of pope Pius VII's bull "De salute animarum" of 1821

Summary/Abstract: The territorial development of the Kingdom of Prussia, which was sanctioned at the Congress of Vienna, demanded the administrative and organizationalreform also with regard to the Catholic Church. For this reason, in 1816, King Friedrich Wilhelm III delegated an envoy Barthold Niebuhr to enter into negotiations inRome with Secretary of State Cardinal Ercole Consalvi. These ended with the promulgation by Pius VII of the bull De salute animarum (July 16, 1821). The bull regulatedthe system and organization of the Catholic Church in the whole Kingdom of Prussia. Significant changes took place in the Grand Duchy of Poznań. A new archbishopric(formerly a bishopric) was established here, with its seat in Poznań, which was merged with the archbishopric of Gniezno under a personal union. Henceforth, the two Greater Poland archdioceses had one archbishop, but separate central offices: consistory, chapters, seminaries, auxiliary bishops and, in times of vacancy, alsoseparate chapter vicars. These archdioceses had equal rights, as they were combined according to the principle of aeque principaliter. The bull also defined the boundaries ofthe archdioceses. Its guidelines survived until 1925, when the Holy See concluded a concordat with the Republic of Poland and a new Circumscription Bull Vixdum PoloniaeUnitas was issued. The Union of Gniezno and Poznań was dissolved in 1946.

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