Keywords: liber beneficiorum; the diocese of Gniezno; the archdeaconry of Kalisz; office practice
Łaski’s Liber beneficiorum: A monographic article on the source criticism of the Gniezno Book of BeneficeThere has been almost no source research on the books of benefice (libri beneficiorum) of Polish dioceses dating back to the end of the Middle Ages and the beginning of the early modern period in Polish historiography, the only exception being Jan Długosz’s book of benefice. Given the significance of these sources for studying a wide array of historical problems, the lack of research on those mentioned above is a serious omission. The article attempts to fill this gap, focusing on a text about the archdeaconry of Kalisz (the creation of this document, its storage and function) included in liber beneficiorum of the diocese of Gniezno, drawn up on the orders of Archbishop Jan Łaski in the 1520s and early 1530s. The paper is narrow in scope and only attempts to address certain basic issues. The study of the problems mentioned above was based on the well-known description of the archdeaconry of Kalisz and information from other sources: consistory and chapter records, and the other volumes of Jan Łaski’s Liber Beneficiorum, including the Łęczyca and Łowicz draft. In addition, other essential sources for the following study are the copies of the description relating to St Michael’s Parish in Dobrzec (currently part of Kalisz), coming from the hitherto unknown description of the Kalisz archdeaconry of the Gniezno Book of Benefice. These copies are discussed more extensively and their edition is included in the appendix.The article proposes hypotheses regarding the organization of work on Łaski’s book of benefice, the methods of the text’s preparation, and the function of the book over the first hundred years of its existence.
More...Keywords: the Catholic Church; the clergy; the interwar period; the Second Republic of Poland; social changes
The article presents the views of the Catholic clergy of the interwar period on selected aspects of the changes taking place in contemporary Polish society regarding religiosity, morality, the family, and the upbringing of younger generations. This analysis, which is preliminary and survey-oriented, discusses only some aspects of these issues in the context of the interwar Catholic renewal movements. The article is based on clergymen’s statements – primarily from the two former annexed territories: Prussian and Russian – included in the pages of two monthly magazines (influential and opinion-forming in the clerical milieu): Wiadomości dla Duchowieństwa published in Poznań, and Wiadomości Archidiecezjalnych Warszawskich published in Warsaw.
More...Keywords: archdiocese of Lwow (Lwów); Grzymalow (Grzymałów); parish registers; the Diocesan Archive in Koszalin-Kolobrzeg (Kołobrzeg)
Parish registers are getting more and more popular. Not only professional historians and genealogists, but also various passionate people come to diocesan archives. It is important for the staff of the archives to save the books properly, digitalise them and publish appropriate inventories on the content of the archives. The author in his article, preceded by a preface, showed the parish registers of Roman-Catholic Parish of Grzymalow (Grzymałów). The Parish was established in 17. Cent. Then it went through turbulent times. After the second World War it ceased to exist. Its last parish priest took some of the books with him and left them at the territory of present Koszalin-Kolobrzeg (Kołobrzeg) Diocese in Parsecko (Parsęcko). He had settled there with a numerous group of the faithful in year 1946. Now 48 parish registers are stored in the Diocesan Archive of Koszalin-Kolobrzeg (Kołobrzeg).
More...Keywords: the archdeaconry of Lublin; the development of the parish network in the Middle Ages; the development of the parish network in the 16th century
The article summarizes all the findings on the development of the parish network in the archdeaconry of Lublin in the period from the appearance of the church structures in this area until the beginning of the 17th century. The work which was of fundamental importance in research on the issue under discussion was the study by Przemysław Szafran, published in the 1950s. Researchers exploring the issue of the development of the church structures in the areas around Lublin still refer to the findings included in the work mentioned above. There is no other work which could be compared to Szafran’s one, despite the fact that numerous studies conducted in recent decades have revealed that it is already out of date. The postulate for the future is, therefore, conducting comprehensive research on the development of the church structures in the archdeaconry of Lublin in the first centuries of their development and presenting up-to-date data on this subject.
More...Keywords: Wojnicz; Bobowa; book collection; collegiate church; canons
The two collegiate churches existing in the archdeaconry of Wojnicz, in Wojnicz and Bobowa, possessed their own libraries with a similar number of books: the collegiate church in Wojnicz had 77 titles and the one in Bobowa around 50 titles. The core collections of both libraries comprised books on theology, preaching, philosophy, law and history. The Wojnicz collection acquired a special significance thanks to numerous fifteenth-century books in the surviving Gothic and Renaissance bindings which are of great value and only slightly damaged by the passage of time. Although these two libraries were established at different times (Wojnicz in 1465 and Bobowa in 1529) and circumstances, they both collected books related to pastoral work, particularly visible in the case of Bobowa. In the case of the collegiate church in Wojnicz, a number of valuable books were in the possession of canons, who collected them for their studies and work at the university, and then bequeathed them to the libraries of the collegiate churches. Undoubtedly, the library in Wojnicz ranked among the most significant book collections in terms of its content and the time of publication, while the one in Bobowa definitely served pragmatic purposes.
More...Keywords: bishop Zygmunt Łoziński; diocese; list; Pinsk; schematism
The Diocese of Pinsk was established in 1925. The diocese was founded by virtue of the papal bulla of Pius XI ‘Vixdum Poloniae unitas’ coming from 28 October, 1925. The bulla was implemented by virtue of the decree of the apostolic nuncio in Poland Wawrzyniec Lauri ‘Quam favente Deo’ coming from 11 December, 1925. Zygmunt Łoziński, who was the bishop of Minsk at that time, became the ordinary of the created unit of church administration on Borderlands. The first bishop of the new diocese was not only responsible for quick organization of institutions necessary for functioning of bishopric in Pińsk, but he was also responsible for offering pastoral help to priests and official church publishing houses. The publishing house together with the diocesan printing house started working in the diocesan curia in 1926. In the same year the first schematism of the Diocese of Pinsk was published for 1926 (worked out at the end of 1925). The print was introduced to the circulation in 1926. Since that time lists of churches and clergies of the Diocese of Pinsk were published annually until the break-out of the Second World War (1926-1939). The purpose of this article is to present issues connected with schematisms of the Diocese of Pinsk form a source point of view, and it is about delivering essential information about the source, about its beginning, supply, essential contents, development and evolution during the discussed period in the first place. The author has consciously decided not to discuss the issue of values of schematisms as a historic source. An analysis of this problem will be undertaken in a following publication discussing diocesan schematisms as a basic source presenting history of the Catholic Church on Borderlands.
More...Keywords: Pietà; the parish of Konopnica; the archdeaconry of Lublin; Władysław Sienicki
The parish of Konopnica in the Lublin district and the archdeaconry of Lublin dates back to the fourteenth century. It encompassed three villages located next to each other: Konopnica, Radawiec and Uniszowice. At the end of the eighteenth century the parish already had six villages, apart from the above-mentioned ones, Radawczyk, Motycz and Sporniak. It was not until the interwar period that the parish borders were changed; the parish of Motycz was established at the time.The church was endowed by the authorities of the city of Lublin in 1428. The oldest wooden St Catherine’s church was replaced with a stone church, built on a headland protruding into the river valley and consecrated in 1667. At that time the church was dedicated to the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary, as well as St Catherine.The neo-Gothic church, designed by Władysław Siennicki and erected in 1904-1906, took the place of the one from the seventeenth century (it was, however, built on a different site from the previous one). The church serves its functions to this day. The decision to build a new church was prompted by an increasing number of parish inhabitants, the poor technical condition of the existing church, and the project of the Kraśnik road, which became the main road from Lublin to Kraśnik. After the new church had been built, the old church of the seventeenth century fell into oblivion and was demolished in the interwar years.The Konopnica church boasted a sculpture of a Gothic Pietà, which is currently held at the National Museum in Poznań. The sculpture, placed in the high altar, was considered to be miraculous and was worshipped by the local population. Every year on the feast of the Seven Sorrows of Mary (the Friday before Palm Sunday), the Blessed Sacrament was exposed following the celebration of holy mass, during which the faithful were granted an indulgence. The condition of the parish and the church in Konopnica was described in detail in canonical visitation records. In addition to the church, the parish possessed a presbytery, flats for church servants, a hospital, and outbuildings, such as a coach house, a stable, a pigsty, a granary, and a brewery. The new parish cemetery, which replaced the cemetery located near the church, was opened in the early nineteenth century and is currently in the national register of historic monuments.
More...Keywords: Tarnów; collegiate church; canons; collegiate chapter; curates; library
When the Tarnów collegiate church was established (1400), a reference library necessary for pastoral work was amassed. The collection contained the Bible, commentaries on biblical texts, philosophical and theological treatises, and books helpful in preaching, including treaties in the field of polemic theology. It grew steadily in size, especially thanks to gifts and bequests made by the Tarnów canons. Among the books of the Tarnów canons are two significant and valuable collections (due to their interesting bindings), which belonged to Szymon Starowolski and Erazm Marcinowski. These are works in the fields of history, preaching, law, biblical literature, and above all, liturgy. They are printed in Latin and come chiefly from foreign publishing houses: Paris, Antwerp, Basel, Venice, Rome and Verona.In addition to the chapter library, there was also the library amassed by the college of curates, an institution established on 10 July 1458 and assigned to the collegiate church in Tarnów. The books collected by the college of curates were useful aids in parish pastoral work, as evidenced by the large number of sermons, homilies, all kinds of thesauruses, and above all, the Bible. This library was used primarily for preaching sermons on Sundays and throughout the liturgical year. Over time, the books of the college of curates were incorporated into the library of the collegiate chapter, and then into the library of Tarnów cathedral. In the nineteenth century, when the library of the Tarnów seminary was established, the books of the collegiate curates were given to the seminary book collection, where they are still today.
More...Keywords: the KUL University Library; the Second Republic of Poland; the interwar period; library reporting; library statistics; library policy
The reports prepared in 1925–1939 for the Ministry of Religious Affairs and Public Education and the Central Statistical Office – copies of which survived in the KUL University Archive – are one of the sources for reconstructing the library policy of the KUL University Library at its beginning. These reports contain the first numerical data which were later reproduced and published in the statistical yearbooks of the Republic of Poland. They also provide information on the library’s collection, acquisitions, personnel, and regulations on making the collection available to the public. The reports under study show that the books were primarily given to the library as gifts; the university did not have enough financial resources to purchase a large number of books, and its library became a legal depository only for a short time. Readers and researchers could access books and magazines in the reading room or borrow them; and due to the difficult housing conditions and the short opening hours of the library, it was mainly magazines that were read on-site.
More...Keywords: prosopography; the clergy; auxiliary personnel; the diocese of Włocławek
The sources regarding modern parishes record groups of people managing and supporting these centres. These were ministrii ecclesiae, that is priests and their auxiliary personnel. The priests – ministri sacramentorum – played the most important role in a parish; their work, however, extended beyond religious and pastoral duties. As far as laypeople are concerned, they assisted priests in parish work. They were sacristans, teachers, cantors, organists, organ pumpers, bell-ringers, gravediggers, midwives and altar servers. The article presents the sources providing information on the groups mentioned above. The archival material that is analysed concerns the diocese of Włocławek in the pre-partition period. The most important and significant sources are the records of canonical visits, containing a great amount of information about the people involved in parish life. These records are not entirely consistent: they do not always include all parishes of the diocese, and above all, they differ in the scope of information, as they were produced on the basis of various questionnaires. Nevertheless, the ones containing a great number of details are invaluable sources for research on the parish clergy and their auxiliary personnel. Other sources useful for research on the parish clergy are the records produced by consistory and episcopal offices. In the latter case, these are the books of episcopal pontifical duties, which, especially the ones of holy orders, are particularly significant for research purposes. In addition, register books constitute an exceptional source of information (although rather of an auxiliary nature) for prosopographical research on the clergy and the people who helped them. Parish offices created registers systematically from the Council of Trent onwards. Consequently, the continuity of the documentation enables a comprehensive description of the subject under study. In addition, one can learn a lot about the clergy and parish auxiliary personnel from other types of sources: the records of colleges and theological seminaries, monastic books of the deceased, the description of churches and parishes provided by various authors, chapter records, diocesan schematisms (appearing at the end of the eigthteenth century), and secular records such as books from municipal offices.
More...Keywords: Rajca; Nowogródek; the Pallottine Sisters; the Pallottine Priests; the Dunin-Rajecki family
The article presents a manor house complex situated in the picturesque village of Rajca, between Nowogródek and Baranowicze, in present-day Belarus. The village belonged to the Dunin-Rajecki family from Koszelewo. They built a classicist manor house and outbuildings in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. The manor house was surrounded by four hectares of land on which there were formal and landscape gardens, an orchard and a vegetable garden. Franciszek Dunin – Rajecki’s daughter, Ludwika – inherited Rajca and brought it as a dowry to the Wereszczaka family when she married Józef, the younger brother of Adam Mickiewicz’s adolescent love, Maryla. A complete refurbishment of the manor is connected with this marriage in the mid-nineteenth century. In the second half of the 19th century another owner, Franciszek Wereszczaka, transformed the old tree stand around the manor into beautiful formal and landscape gardens, which became the most valuable assets of the entire estate. Together with the orchard and the vegetable garden, they covered four hectares of land. After Franciszek’s death, Rajca was taken over by the Puttkamer and Żółtowski families. The last owner, Count Adam Żółtowski (a professor of philosophy at the University of Poznań), bestowed his estate on the Pallottine Priests, and they sold it to the Pallottine Sisters, who had this estate in their possession until they were removed from it by the German army in 1943. It is a typical Polish classicist manor house, one of only a few wooden ones which survived in these areas. In the nineteenth century, at the entrance to the estate, on the right of the gate, there was probably an extended Empire outbuilding, which was considered to be older than the manor. There were also other outbuildings in the estate: a stable, a coach house, a granary, a barn, and a house in the garden. They all were burnt down during the war in 1943. The only things that remained were a ruined and slightly rebuilt manor house surrounded by the destroyed gardens, and a stone pillar (at the end of the avenue in the park) with the Dunin- Rajecki coat of arms, Łabędź, including a depiction of a crown and a swan.
More...Keywords: the diocese of Łódź; male orders; monasteries; priesthood
The activities of orders in Poland are closely connected with the functioning of the Catholic Church and the history of our homeland. The aim of this article is to present the history of old orders in the diocese of Łódź. Initially, it focuses on those orders which after the period of dissolutions not only returned to some of their monasteries but also organised new monastic communities. Before the collapse of the First Polish Republic, in the territory of the future diocese of Łódź, there were 8 male orders which altogether owned 13 monasteries: Dominicans (Łęczyca, Piotrków Trybunalski), Conventual Franciscans (Łagiewniki, Piotrków Trybunalski), Bernardines (Piotrków Trybunalski, Łęczyca), Franciscans of the Strict Observance (Brzeziny, Lutomiersk), Canons Regular of the Lateran (Kłodawa), Carmelites of the Ancient Observance (Kłodawa), Jesuits (Piotrków Trybunalski, Łęczyca), and Piarists (Piotrków Trybunalski). However, in 1918, when Poland regained its independence, none of the male monastic communities were still in existence. The orders which did not return to their monasteries in the period of the Second Polish Republic were Canons Regular of the Lateran, Carmelites of the Ancient Observance, Piarists and Dominicans.
More...Keywords: denominational museum; religious museum; church museum; legal documents
The article opens a series devoted to the history and function of the museums of the Roman Catholic Church in Poland. This paper is a preliminary text and provides the background for the key issues. If we want to address the issue of church museums, we must be aware of what type of museum they are. Are they exclusively independent centres operating under certain laws? Can lavishly equipped churches be referred to with this name? In addition, the article attempts to answer questions not only about the nature of denominational museums, but also about their role in museology, and whether we should call them religious museums or church ones, the terminology which is more common in scholarly and popular literature. Denominational museums are unique due to the fact that not only do they contain sacred and religious art, but they are also institutionally and doctrinally subordinate to religious authorities. This type of museum is obliged to adhere to theological principles and rules. One of the objectives of a denominational museum is to respect the religious context of a given work of art.
More...Keywords: Święta Lipka; The Jesuits; The Marian cult; bibliography; historical research
The Marian sanctuary in Święta Lipka, in the Masurian Lakeland macroregion, is one of the most famous sacred places in Poland. Pilgrims from Poland and from abroad have been coming here since the Middle Ages. People pray to Our Lady of the miraculous painting. They also listen to music that is played on a baroque pipe organ. In 2018, the sanctuary celebrated important jubilees: the 400th anniversary of the protection of the Polish king Sigismund III Waza over the sanctuary; the 125th anniversary of the music school graduation of the composer Feliks Nowowiejski; the 50th anniversary of the crowning of the image of Our Lady by the Polish Primate, Cardinal Stefan Wyszyński and the Archbishop of Kraków, Cardinal Karol Wojtyła. The festive jubilee gave the opportunity to summarize scientific research on the church and monastery of the Jesuits. The author of the bibliography presents what we already know about the sanctuary, and also suggests research areas that have not yet been analyzed by historians.
More...Keywords: 10.31743/abmk.2019.112.20
The Catholic community in Słupsk began organizing their religious life in the first half of the nineteenth century. The first church services were regularly held from 1864 by the then parish priest of Koszalin, A. Pfeiffer. On 12 February 1866, a missionary parish was established. In 1873 St Otto’s Church was consecrated. Rev. F. Hübner became the first parish priest of Słupsk, and then he was succeeded by J. Hartmann, B. Mangelsdorff, C. Sauer, Adolf Pojda, and P. E. Gediga; from 29 May 1945 Jan Zieja was a parish priest, then Karol Chmielewski and Henryk Hilchen. Assistant Curates: Józef Piekarek, Józef Szmurło, Leon Gliszczyński, Jerzy Gawrych, Michał Kądziołka and Wiktor Markiewicz.On Rev. Zieja’s initiative the following institutions were founded: Mother and Child Home in Słupsk, People’s University in Orzechów, and the Piotr Borowy Society.On 15 October 1947 St Otto’s Parish was divided into three communities: the Holy Family and Judas Thaddeus parish at 9 Grottger Street – Rev. Jan Zieja, St Otto’s parish with the parish church dedicated to the Sacred Heart of Jesus – Rev. Henryk Hilchen, and the parish of the Blessed Virgin Mary, the Queen of the Holy Rosary – Rev. Karol Chmielewski.
More...Keywords: Prussia; Szymon Maciejowic of Staw; the Kamień officiality; the Pomerania officiality; the fifteenth century; diplomacy
The aim of this article is to present the format of the letters written by the Kamień official and curate in spiritualibus et temporalibus (temporarily the Pomerania official as well), Szymon Maciejowic of Staw, to addressees in Prussia, namely the Grand Masters of the Teutonic Order and Gdańsk councillors. Unfortunately, only seven original letters from that church dignitary survive to this day. Analysis of these letters reveals that Szymon called himself a chaplain (cappellanus) when writing letters to the aforementioned addressees. This polite term was, in fact, a synonym for ‘clergyman’. It is also worth emphasizing that Maciejowic, in order to please the recipients and win their favour, frequently addressed the Grand Masters as dukes in his letters. It should be added that addressing the head of the Teutonic Order as a duke became a fairly common diplomatic practice in Poland only after the signing of the so-called Second Treaty of Toruń in 1466.
More...Keywords: West Prussia; the Prussian state; the diocese of Warmia; the diocese of Chełmno; religious orders; the dissolution of the monasteries; monasteries; libraries; monastic libraries
At the turn of the 19th century, the Prussian state began the dissolution of the religious houses, including in West Prussia. Of the 28 monasteries existing in this area before the dissolution, 15 were part of the Franciscan religious family: six Bernardine monasteries (Kadyny, Lubawa, Nowe, Świecie, Toruń, Zamarte), six monasteries of the Reformed Franciscans (Brodnica, Dzierzgoń, Gdańsk Chełm, Grudziądz, Łąki Bratiańskie, Wejherowo), two monasteries of the Conventual Franciscans (Chełmno, Chełmża), and one monastery of the Capuchins (Rywałd). After 1840 only two monasteries survived, in Wejherowo and Łąki Bratiańskie near Nowe Miasto Lubawskie. During the dissolution of the monasteries, the monastic book collections and archives were secured and translocated by Prussian officials. Using the surviving archival material, the author presents the holdings of the individual monastic libraries and their history.
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