Journal articles on the topic 'Catholic Church. Diocese of Poznań (Poland)'

Until 1798 Warsaw remained in the diocese of Poznań despite taking over from Cracow numerous functions of a capital city in the 17th and 18th centuries (nominally it never became the capital of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth). During this time two seminaries ran by the Missionaries of St. Vincent de Paul functioned in Warsaw: Seminarium Internum and Seminarium Externum. They were founded in 1675-1676 and educated – especially the latter one – a large group of clergy who later held prominent positions in the structures of the Catholic Church on Polish-Lithuanian-Ruthenian soil. Among the seminary’s graduates were 66 future bishops (only eight of them underwent formation in Seminarium Internum), who were to minister as ordinaries or suffragans in a majority of dioceses then existing within the borders of the Kingdom of Poland and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania (and also on the territory of historical Greater Poland). Both of the above mentioned theological institutes located in Warsaw continued to function for some decades after the collapse of the pre-partition Polish-Lithuanian state (by then already within the Warsaw diocese and from 1818 in the Warsaw archdiocese). Their existence came to an end in 1864 as a result of repressions by Russian administration after the collapse of the January Uprising. In this second period of the seminaries’ operation the number of alumni who later filled episcopal offices was markedly lower, the last one being the future Gniezno-Poznań metropolitan and cardinal, Mieczysław Ledóchowski, whose name stands out illustriously in the history of the Church in Greater Poland.

The author analyzes the organization and activities of Catholic student groups during and after the communist period in Poland as an example of the transformation of religious life in response to the challenges of modernity. She argues that the student groups organized by Dominican fathers in Poznań and Kraków were the avant-garde of the Catholic Church: they pioneered liturgical reform, social activism among the laity, the ecumenical movement, the introduction of popular culture into the churches and charismatic renewal. This contradicts the image of a closed, “traditional” and “conservative” Church behind the Iron Curtain. She also maintains that the history of the Dominican-organized student groups mirrors the history of the relations between the state and the Catholic Church in Poland: these groups were banned during the Stalinist period, restored after political liberalization in 1956, and pushed towards political activism in the late 1970s. After 1989, they were again seeking new priorities.

The Diocese of Ełk was established in 1992 as a major change in the structure of the Churchin Poland. It connects the land belonging in the past to various forms of the Polish state and theGerman state, as well as the Russian state. As a result of these conditions, the parishes of theRoman Catholic Church in this area have arisen in different circumstances and have distincttraditions. Parishes are currently experiencing similar problems. Within the Diocese of Ełk therewas an increase in the number of parishes and the process of unifying the way they functioned.

In the literature on historical archives of the Catholic Church in Poland there is no scholarly monograph devoted to them. The only textbook is the one written by H.E. Wyczawski, Przygotowanie do studiów w archiwach kościelnych (Preparing for studies in church archives). The publications, appearing after the war, did not present any theoretical fi ndings which could be applied in church archival studies (it refers to developing the theoretical decisions on creating archival fonds, their names etc.), but they certainly provided the impetus and encouragement to continue the action which was initiated before the war. The program developed in the interwar period was adjusted to the new conditions; emphasis was put on practical guidelines for activities related to the founding and functioning of a historical archive in the diocese.

The article is sacrificed to the person of Wawrzyniec Grzymała Goślicki (Laurentius Grimaldus Goslicus), senator and bishop of Poland, author of the political treaties De optimo senatore. The treaties is one of less known in Poland, but was very popular in England, where it was published in English three times (The Counsellor [1598], A Comonwealth of good counsaile [1607], The Accomplished Senator [1733]). We do knowalso that the treaty was twice plagiarised, first in Germany as Jurisprudentiae Politicae, apud Antonium Hummium (1611), second one was The Sage Senator published in England (1660). There is also a manuscript of English translation of the first book of the treaties (1585). There are other evidences of its popularity in England and western Europe. In USA the treaties is considered as influencing authors of Declaration of Independence and Constitution of USA. Reprint of The Accomplished Senator was published in USA in 1992. The most probable date of his birth is 1538 in Goślice near Płock. He studied at Jagiellonian University theology and liberal arts (1556-1562). Than hewas continuing his education in Padua and Bologna studying theology, philosophy, oratory, Greeks, astronomy and law, finishing it as utrisque iuris doctor. It was stressed that he was one of the most educated person in Poland. As humanist he was not only political writer but also splendid orator and poet, writing in Latin. After his return to Poland Goślicki acts in the Royal secretary, proceeding many diplomatic missions. Simultaneously he is member of hierarchy of Catholic Church in Poland. In 1587 he entered Senat as a bishop of Kamieniec, than Chełm (1590), Przemyśl (1591), Poznań (1601). As bishop he had been introducing reforms of Tridentina. In 1593 with few persons was preparing Union of Brześć on the ground of which the orthodox hierarchy returned to Catholic Church. In politics Goślicki was acting as mediator between conflicting parties. Died in 1607 in Ciążyń preparing synod in Poznań. His sepulchre is in Cathedral in Poznań.

Among the various forms of association of the Catholic laity in the Church, one can distinguish associations and organisations – whether they are based on canonical or civil law on associations – and informal circles: religious movements, groups, circles and small groups. The difficult situation of the Church in Poland after World War II was not conducive to the creation of organisations whose activities would be approved by both the church authorities and the state authorities. If, however, quasi-ecclesiastical or religious organisations were to emerge that were recognised by the civil authorities, these were unfortunately organisations that had very little in common with the good of the Church and the faithful. Against this backdrop, the Catholic Intelligence Clubs were a kind of phenomenon. They enjoyed the approval of the Church authorities and, to some extent, the unintentional recognition of the state authorities, and sought to strengthen religious education by forming people and communities in the Christian spirit, shaping social attitudes, creating and deepening Christian culture, intellectual development and various forms of charitable activity. Three Catholic Intelligentsia Clubs were established in the Tarnów Diocese: in Nowy Sącz, Tarnów and Mielec.

Architectural acoustics of contemporary sacred buildings is still an under-appreciated issue. Many contemporary churches are not functional enough due to acoustic defects which occur there. The study discusses issues of the modern Catholic church, where acoustic problems surface as high reverberant noise levels. The building under investigation, i.e. the Church of the Visitation of the Blessed Virgin Mary, is the biggest contemporary church in Poznań, Poland, as its internal volume amounts to 16,800 m³. On the basis of in situ investigations, a computer model of the church was built and a series of simulations were carried out to determine correct treatment in order to achieve satisfactory acoustic conditions. The main assumption was to find such a solution as not to affect the modernist architecture of the church.

Jan Joachim Tarło belonged to a family whose three members were bishops of Poznań in the first half of the 18th century. Jan Joachim was an alumnus of Jesuit schools and during his sojourn there joined the Society of Jesus which he left in 1689, passing into the ranks of diocesan clergy. In December 1718 he was granted papal provision to the bishopric in Kiev and remained in office until 1723 when he was transferred to the office of bishop of Poznań which he fulfilled for nine years until his death on 13 August 1732. He died in Vienna on his return from a journey to Rome.His book of pontifical activities for the years 1719-1731 survives till the present day and is stored at the Archdiocesan Archive in Poznań (catalogue number ASO 7). The book is divided into sections in which the following types of activities are recorded: ordinations of various degrees including presbiterate and episcopate, blessing of cornerstones, consecration and blessing of churches, consecration of permanent altars and portative stones, blessing of church bells, consecrations of the holy oils.From the records in the book it follows that during his ministry as bishop of Kiev, Tarło stayed in the Cracow diocese and discharged his duties there. Interestingly, there is no evidence of his performing any official acts in the area of the Kiev diocese, which must have been connected with the fact that already by then a great part of its territory (the bishopric of Kiev included) lay within the borders of the Russian Empire, whereas the part that remained in the Kingdom of Poland encompassed just a few parish churches.

The Polish version of the article was published in “Roczniki Humanistyczne,” vol. 61 (2013), issue 2. The article addresses the question of the fall of the Latin parish in Chorupnik that belonged to the former diocese of Chełm. The parish church in Chorupnik was taken over by Protestants in the second half of the 16th century. Unsuccessful attempts at recovering its property were made by incorporating it into the neighbouring parish in Gorzków. The actions taken by the Gorzków parish priest and the bishop together with his chapter failed, too. A detailed study of such attempts to recover the property of one of the parishes that ceased to exist during the Reformation falls within the context of the relations between the nobility and the clergy in the period of Counter-Reformation. Studying the social, legal and economic relations in a local dimension is important for understanding the mechanisms of the mass transition of the nobility to reformed denominations, and then of their return to the Catholic Church.

From the very beginning of Polish statehood in 1918, conflicts sparked between the civilauthorities and the Episcopate of Poland. In a natural way, they projected downwards to townsand villages, antagonizing and dividing the Polish society. Many publications dating to just afterWorld War 2 one-sidedly assigned blame to the Catholic Church. The present paper shows suchaccusations to be wrongful and blatantly untrue. The choice of the parish is not random – it washere that the most renowned conflict around teaching religion in the Łomża diocese took place.Father Witold Balukiewicz’s endeavors to build a modern school and teach religion in the full scopeguaranteed by the law and the Father’s later social engagement. In light of the facts and with thebenefit of hindsight, it is not difficult to determine who was right.

After Poland regained its independence in 1918, the Polish Roman Catholic Church needed to be reunited, so that thoroughly educated priests could be deployed to work in the newly established dioceses. The system of teaching had to be reorganized and this issue was fi­nally regulated by the 1925 Concordat which guaranteed the possi­bility of creating a seminary in each diocese. A special situation took place in Krakow, where in the 1920s, in addition to the existing dioc­esan seminary, the Częstochowa Seminary and the Silesian Seminary were located. The article outlines the circumstances in which the seats of these institutions were established outside home dioceses and draws attention to the cultural context of the events of that time, whose mate­rial reflection remains as the two modernist buildings preserved in the center of Krakow.

An attempt of analysis of written sources of the history of the Roman Catholic Church on the territory of Ukraine at the end of 40-s of the 19th – the beginning of the 20th century was performed in the article. Such types of sources as act documents were selected due to the type-specificity principle. Concordat of 1847 as an international agreement between Vatican and the Russian Empire has become a crucial object of analysis. The legislative acts included into “The full collection of laws of the Russian Empire” are considered among the documents of the authorities engaged in the study that are crucial legislative acts the power of which was extended on all administrative and territorial units. The documents of religious organizations are represented in the study by the bull of “Diocesan separation” written by the Pope of Rome Pius IX.Business documentation, statistical materials, among of which is “The first general census of inhabitants of the Russian Empire in 1897”, are considered in the study. Moreover, “Diocesan Gazette” – an official periodical of the Russian Orthodox Church in the Russian Empire is presented in the study. Compendiums dated of the second half of the 19th – the beginning of the 20th century are a particular type of written sources, namely they are represented by “Commemorative books”, for example, an issue: “The Roman Catholic hierarchy in the Russian Empire and the Kingdom of Poland and a list to secular and monastic clergy in Lutsk-Zhytomyr diocese and Podillia province” that contained essential statistical information as well as records regarding a hierarchical structure of the diocesan clergy of the Roman Catholic Church on the territory of Naddniprianska Ukraine in defined period.

Church Life in the Congress Kingdom of Poland was subordinated to the Government. As it concerns two periods could be destinguished; till the year 1864 and after the January Uprise. During the first period only the Rector could allow the vicar to leave the parish for a short time, while the Dean could allow both of them to leave the parish for not longer than two weeks. Only the Bishop could allow them to leave the parish for a longer period. After the January Uprise the Rector and the Vicar could move freely only on the area of their own parish, the Dean in his own decanate, while the Bishop in the whole Diocese. Any time they wanted to leave they had to get the permission from the chief of the district or a governor. However, there were special restrictions as concerns going to Warsaw or abroad. Tsar Alexander I on the base of the decree issued on 6 - 18th March 1817 consigned custody and attendance of Roman - Catholic clergymen to one of the state committees. It issued a great mant decrees as concerns the above mentioned subject. The said decrees were sent to parishes sometimes adding their own comments. The Government was more interested in political matters than in those connected with church. It was not as bad as it might have resulted from the civil regulations.

The reviewed book is the eleventh in the series devoted to the “Culture of the First Polish Republic in dialogue with Europe. Hermeneutics of values”. This series is the aftermath of an interesting research project, whose aim is both to comprehensively present the cultural relations of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth with Europe, as well as to recognize the ways and forms of mutual communication of literary, aesthetic, political and religious values. In addition, it aims to present in a broad comparative context the structure of Early Modern culture of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. Apart from the introduction, the book contains the dissertations of 11 authors originating from various scientific centers in Poland and abroad (Toruń, Białystok, Vilnius, Venice, Padua, Cracow, Poznań, Rzeszów) and representing different research specialties: philology, history, and history of art. The general and primary goal of the text it is to analyze various aspects of the Ruthenian culture of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, both in its dynamic connection with the Polish-Latin culture and the processes occurring in Eastern European Orthodoxy after the fall of the Byzantine Empire and in connection with the strengthening of the Moscow state. The key issues developed in the volume relate essentially to: values of the Ruthenian culture, some of which coincide or are identical to those recognized by Western-Polish citizens of the Commonwealth, while depend on the centuries old tradition of Eastern-Christian culture.The articles focuses on the values displayed in the Orthodox and Uniate spheres and around the polemics between them, punching with axiological arguments. The most frequently and basic problems that were raised are: determinants of identity, faith (religion), language (languages), social status, origin; the policy of rulers, the problem of ecclesiastical jurisdiction; tradition and change in culture – biblical studies, patristics, liturgy, theology; printing, translations, education; apologetics and polemics, preaching, iconography; a renewal program for the clergy that was to become the vanguard of the renewal of the entire Eastern Church; Bazylian Uniate ( Greek- Catholic) clergy: the idea of cultural integration, education, translation and publishing.

Utworzenie autonomicznego województwa śląskiego w ramach polskiego państwa narodowego oraz diecezji katowickiej wiązało się z reorganizacją systemu władzy, w którym poczesne miejsce zajęły grupy polsko-śląskich duchownych oraz urzędników i świeckiej inteligencji. Ich wzajemna rywalizacja oraz wspólne dążenie do nacjonalizacji Górnoślązaków w duchu polskim inspirowały dwa odmienne, choć spokrewnione dyskursy, w których wykorzystywano środki obrazowe. Wśród nich znaczącą rolę odgrywały alegoryczne wizualizacje Polski, zakorzenione w tradycjach sztuki polskiej przełomu XIX/XX wieku. W wystrojach gmachów Sejmu Śląskiego i Śląskiego Urzędu Wojewódzkiego oraz starostwa powiatowego w Katowicach zastosowano motyw Polonia Triumphans. W pierwszym z przypadków rzeźbiarz Jan Raszka nadał personifikacji wczesnośredniowieczną stylizację, nawiązującą do piastowskiego „złotego wieku”, a u jej tronu umieścił asystę w osobach hutnika i górnika, stylizowanych na kresowych rycerzy. Inna z płaskorzeźb przedstawia Polonię jako Nike i Wolność prowadzącą do boju powstańca śląskiego, zobrazowanego jako hutnik z młotem, oraz żołnierza walczącego z Czechami o Śląsk Cieszyński. Wątek zbrojnej walki o granice pojawia się także w malowidłach Felicjana Szczęsnego Kowarskiego w budynku starostwa, gdzie ukazaną w postaci greckiej heroiny Polonię z mieczem i tarczą flankują postaci śląskich herosów – całość programu ma jawnie rewizjonistyczną wymowę. Wyraźnie większe bogactwo wątków prezentuje zespół trzech obrazów Józefa Unierzyskiego, zamówionych do kościoła mariackiego w Katowicach. Ich centralną postacią jest Maria Królowa Korony Polskiej, przybierająca cechy Polonii Triumphans. Fundamentem łączności Górnego Śląska z Polską jest tu wspólna katolicka wiara. Górnośląski lud pod przywództwem bliskich mu kapłanów włącza się u stóp Madonny w nurt polskiej historii, określony dziejową misją przedmurza chrześcijaństwa, wnosząc jako wiano żywą religijność i pracowitość. Na zlecenie proboszcza ks. Emila Szramka malarz zaprezentował zrastanie się z polskością jako naturalny i obustronnie korzystny proces. The creation of the autonomous Silesian voivodeship within the borders of the Polish nation state and of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Katowice meant a profound change in the distribution of power, the groups of Polish-Silesian clergy and Polish bureaucrats, as well as secular intelligentsia gaining increasingly in importance. Their rivalry and common effort to polonize Upper Silesians inspired two different, although interrelated discourses, visual means being involved in both of them. Among the motives, implemented in the propaganda, allegorical depictions of Poland - rooted in the traditions of the Polish art of the turn of the twentieth century – played a significant role. In the decorations of the edifices of Silesian Sejm and Silesian Voivodeship Office and of the county authorities they were shaped as the personification of Polonia Triumphans. In the former case the sculptor Jan Raszka represented the allegory as an early medieval figure, reminding of a „golden age” of the Piast dynasty, seated on the throne and accompanied by a coal miner and a foundry-worker, stylized as borderland knights. In another bas-relief Polonia was depicted as Victory and Liberty leading into battle a Polish-Silesian insurgent, rendered as a foundry-worker with a hammer in his hands, and a soldier, fighting against Czechs for Teschen Silesia. The strand of military fighting over disputed territories occurs also in the paintings by Felicjan Szczęsny Kowarski in the Katowice County Hall, where Polonia, depicted as a Greek heroine with a sword and a shield, is accompanied by Silesian heroes and the meaning of the decoration is manifestly revisionist, advocating moving Polish border westwards. A conspicuosly wider range of contents is reflected in a series of three paintings by Józef Unierzyski, ordered for St. Mary’s Church in Katowice. Their central figure is Mary the „Queen of the Polish Crown”, assuming the features of Polonia Triumphans. The connection between Upper Silesia and Poland is founded here on the common catholic faith. At the feet of Madonna Upper Silesian folk, led by clergy, that remains faithfull to its popular roots, and bringing its vivid religiosity and dilligence, joins the stream of the Polish history, determined by the historical mission of antemurale christianitatis,. Commissioned by the parson Emil Szramek, the painter represented the growing together of Upper Silesia and Poland as a natural and mutually profitable process.

SUMMARYIt is essential to know the history of Catholic Church in Poland during German occupation when it comes to exploration of aggregate history of Polish nation in this difficult time. The issue of repression against Polish clergy from Lublin diocese by German authorities in years 1939-1944 and powers of Third Reich, was presents in various aspects, in many scholarly articles, monographs and group works. However, the aforementioned publications do not exhaust basics to educate foil and fair-minded view on this problem.German army went in to Lublin on 18 September 1939, after dramatic defense of the citizens.After the short time of reign of Wehrmacht units, on 26 October 1939, Führer proclaimed his decree on creating administrational entity called Generalna Gubernia, which involved four regions, including lubelski region with Lublin as its capital. This decree embraced the area of pre-war Lubelskie Voivodeship. The occupation authority’s division of administration did not violate the structure of deanery in the diocese. However, under the new circumstances, deans and rectors had difficulties executing administrational functions. When the Lubelski District was created. Bishop Marian Leon Fulman and suffragan, Bishop Władysław' Goral wielded authority in this area.It is necessary to mention that bloody operations of the police and SS are especially remembered in the history of Church in Lublin and the whole area. These two bodies were executing the most important strategic tasks within the scope of ‘maintaining order’, prevention, requital, or even genocide and extermination. This group was led by SS- Brigadeführer Odilo Globocnik (till September 1943) and SS-Gruppenführer Jacob Sporrenberg.The most significant German operations, when it comes to repression of catholic clergy in, the Lubelski District are repressive or intimidating actions.In the Lubelski District, occupation authorities applied the same methods of repression and extermination both to all citizens and clergy. Lublin’s clergymen were dying in executions, they were taken as hostages, arrested and send to concentration camps. Hie repression involved priests on every level of church hierarchy. What is more, it must be said that only Polish bishops out of all occupied countries were arrested and taken to concentration camps.In the Lubelski District, the main place where the people were arrested was Lublin and prison of Security Police and Security Service. Prison on the Castle, as it was called, was subdued to the leader of SS and the police in the district. The prison m Lublin was without undoubtedly a place of terror and attrition of prisoners held in it on the mass scale. This prison became the place of direct extermination where executions were done by firing squad, hanging, or even by gassing. Executions had unitary or mass character, they were sometimes done in a company of eyewitnesses, but usually they were confidential, performed at night or in the morning.The first ‘purifying’ action of intelligentsia, which started with arrests in November and was follow ed by verdicts of executions for bishops and the execution itself on 23 December, was perceived by the leaders of SS and the police, Odilo Globocnik, as fight with leading layer of society, who could potentially organize actions against German authorities, they could give signal to ruthless fight with ‘unwanted elements’. Repressions took place on the local scale, because they involved only people from Lublin or from area around Lublin. The way in which this action was prosecuted indicates that it was chaotic strike, because the enforcement authority which held power at the beginning of the November did not have full records of the intelligentsia.Globocnik considered Catholic Church an important monument of Polish national spirit, so he began the purging of the district by first destroying the Church. It can be validated by the three mass arrests of clergy on 9 Nov, 11. Nov and 17 Nov 1939.The effect of the policy realized by Odilo Globocnik is presented in statistics relating to repressing of clergy in years 1939-1945. 200 out of 459 priests from Lublin diocese in 1939 fell victim to German terror.

Laddach Agnieszka, The development of historical imagination on the example of an exercise addressed to firstyear students of history at Nicolaus Copernicus University. Culture – Society – Education no 2(16) 2019, Poznań 2019, pp. 163–181, Adam Mickiewicz University Press. ISSN 2300-0422. DOI 10.14746/kse.2019.16.11. December 12, 2016 a group of eleven first-year students of history organized at the Institute of History of Nicolaus Copernicus University in Toruń (Poland) participated in the field work carried out in the church Roman Catholic parish of St. Jacob the Apostle in Toruń. During a visit in the temple the students performed an exercised to draw their attention: generally to the role of the imagination in the practice of the historian’s research and training his own imagination in whole live. First, the authoress described a process of the exercise. Then she briefly pointed to the literature on the role of the imagination. Later she discussed the work that have arisen in the result of the exercise. Next she characterized the thoughts and impressions of students. She also outlinedthe importance of this exercise in a broader context. At the end she summed up the whole article.