Piotr Skarga
Piotr Skarga | |
---|---|
Kingdom of Poland | |
Died | 27 September 1612 | (aged 76)
Other names | Piotr Powęski |
Piotr Skarga (less often Piotr Powęski;
Skarga is remembered by Poles as a vigorous early advocate of reforms to the Polish–Lithuanian polity, and as a critic of the Commonwealth's governing classes, as well as of its
He was a professor at the
Life
Skarga was born on 2 February 1536, north of
Immediately after he finished his education, he served for two years as rector of the collegiate school at
In 1568 he departed for Rome, arriving in 1569 and joining the Society of Jesus.[13] In 1571 he returned to Poland,[14] and preached successively at Pułtusk, Lwów, Jarosław, Warsaw (where he delivered a sermon before the Sejm) and Płock, where he visited the court of Queen Anna Jagiellon, who would become one of his patrons.[15] A leading proponent of counter-reformation, Skarga commonly preached against non-Catholic denominations and helped secure funds and privileges for the Society of Jesus.[16]
In 1573 he was rector of the
In 1576 he published Pro Sacratissima Eucharistia contra haeresim Zwinglianam, ad Andream Volanum (For the Most Sacred Eucharist, against the Zwinglian Heresy, to Andrzej Wolan).
In 1584 Skarga was transferred to the new Jesuit College at Kraków.
As part of his Counter-Reformation policies, Skarga was also a major proponent of the
In 1611 he delivered his final sermon before the Sejm and published his final work, an ideological testament, Wzywanie do jednej zbawiennej wiary (A Call for One Redeeming Faith).[30] He remained Sigismund's court preacher until April 1612, four months before his death.[31]
Skarga died on 27 September 1612 and was buried in the Saints Peter and Paul Church in Kraków.[31]
Writer
In addition to being a popular and well-known preacher, Skarga was the author of numerous theological texts and polemics, and it is as a writer that his fame has endured.[32]
His two most important works are The Lives of the Saints (Żywoty świętych, 1579) and Sejm Sermons (Kazania Sejmowe, 1597).[33] The former, a hagiography, won him fame in his lifetime, while the Sermons gained recognition only in subsequent centuries, during the Partitions of Poland.[33] Tazbir describes the Lives as Skarga's chief work and as a major attack on the religious tolerance promoted by the Warsaw Confederation.[33] The book was immensely popular, the first edition selling out by 1583.[34] A second edition was published in 1585, and by the mid-17th century twelve editions had been printed, making it one of the most popular books published in Poland and Lithuania in that era (rivaled by the Kronika Polska—Polish Chronicles—of Marcin Bielski).[34] It was Skarga's most popular work and continued to rank highly with Polish readers until the 18th and 19th centuries, when it was eclipsed by his Sermons.[35]
The Sermons, a political treatise composed in the guise of
Importance
Janusz Tazbir, in his 1978 biography of Skarga, noted that "there already is an extensive literature on Skarga".[41] He attributed this to Skarga's being the most famous figure of the Polish Counter-Reformation, which gained him his initial fame; and, later, to his rediscovered reform proposals which, while controversial in his time, gained him renown during the Partitions of Poland and have been well regarded since.[41][42]
His popularity as the "patriotic seer" who predicted the Partitions reached a zenith in the second half of the 19th century, when some historians, such as
From the
Over the centuries, Skarga became a character in a number of other artistic works, including a novel by Józef Ignacy Kraszewski, though he has never been the chief character in any literary work longer than a poem.[46]
In 1936, on the 400th anniversary of Skarga's birth, with the endorsement of Poland's President Ignacy Mościcki and the Polish government,[47] the Polish writer Zofia Kossak-Szczucka proposed that Skarga be beatified.[48] Nearly eight decades later, Skarga's cause for beatification was inaugurated on 12 June 2013.[49]
In 2012, on the 400th anniversary of his death, the Polish Sejm declared that year the "Year of the Reverend Piotr Skarga".[49] The decision caused considerable controversy: a Calvinist polemicist Kazimierz Bem called it in the newspaper Rzeczpospolita "an example of deep disdain Poland holds for any of its minorities." The newspaper carried a rejoinder.[50] The Lutheran Church in Poland called the decision to commemorate Skarga "disturbing" and not understandable in the realm of separation of church and state"[51]
Writings
- Pro Sacratissima Eucharistia contra haeresim Zwinglianam, ad Andream Volanum (For the Most Sacred Eucharist, against the Zwinglian Heresy, 1576)
- Lives of the Saints (Żywoty świętych, 1579, 8 editions in his lifetime).
- Artes duodecim Sacramentariorum, sive Zwinglio-calvinistarum (Siedem filarów, na których stoi katolicka nauka o Przenajświętszym Sakramencie Ołtarza, llThe Seven Pillars on Which Stands Catholic Doctrine on the Most Sacred Sacrament of the Altarll, 1582)
- Sejm Sermons (Kazania sejmowe, 1597, published posthumously).
- Soldiers' Devotions (Żołnierskie nabożeństwo, 1606).
- Wzywanie do jednej zbawiennej wiary (A Call for One Redeeming Faith, 1611)
See also
Notes
- ^ His surname Skarga (in Polish, the word means "accusation" or "complaint") has been misinterpreted by some as having been inspired by his career as a social critic. Tazbir points out that the surname Skarga had been borne by at least one generation of his ancestors: his grandfather had used the surname Powęski, while his parents had used the surname Skarga.[1]
References
- ^ a b Tazbir, p. 14–17
- ^ Martin Patrick Harney (1962). The Jesuits in History: The Society of Jesus through Four Centuries. Loyola University Press. p. 141.
- ^ Tazbir, pp. 18–19
- ^ a b Tazbir, p. 19
- ^ a b Tazbir, p. 21
- ^ a b Tazbir, p. 22
- ^ a b Tazbir, p. 23
- ISBN 978-1-4129-7782-1.
- ISBN 978-0-313-03456-5.
- ^ a b Tazbir, pp. 24–25
- ISBN 978-83-902657-2-8.
- ^ Tazbir, p. 26
- ^ Tazbir, pp. 28–31
- ^ Tazbir, p. 39
- ^ Tazbir, pp. 42–43
- ^ Tazbir, pp. 42–45
- ^ Tazbir, p. 44
- ^ Tazbir, p. 37
- ^ Tazbir, p. 99
- ^ Tazbir, p. 45
- ^ a b c Tazbir, pp. 51–52
- ^ a b Tazbir, p. 48
- ^ Tazbir, p. 52
- ^ Tazbir, pp. 205–206
- ^ Tazbir, pp. 122–123
- ^ Tazbir, p. 124
- ^ Tazbir, pp. 128–129
- ISBN 978-90-04-17448-1.
- ^ a b Tazbir, p. 243
- ^ Tazbir, p. 268
- ^ a b Tazbir, p. 269
- ^ Tazbir, p. 270
- ^ a b c Tazbir, p. 97
- ^ a b Tazbir, pp. 100–101
- ^ Tazbir, pp. 296–297
- ^ a b Tazbir, pp. 132–133
- ^ Tazbir, p. 134
- ISBN 978-1-78076-116-9.
- ISBN 978-0-521-24093-2.
- ^ Tazbir, pp. 192–193
- ^ a b c Tazbir, pp. 5–6
- ^ Tazbir, pp. 310–311
- ^ Tazbir, pp. 302–303
- ^ Tazbir, p. 295
- ^ Tazbir, pp. 299–300
- ^ Tazbir, pp. 307–310
- ^ Tazbir, p. 304
- ^ Tazbir, p. 309
- ^ a b "Rusza proces beatyfikacyjny ks. Skargi" (in Polish). wiara.pl. 2007. Retrieved 12 June 2013.
- ^ "Piotr Skarga - patron roku 2012 - dwugłos: Bem i Horodniczy".
- ^ "Synod KEA w sprawie roku Piotra Skargi". 16 October 2011.
Bibliography
- Janusz Tazbir, Piotr Skarga, Szermierz kontrreformacji (Piotr Skarga: Champion of the [Polish] Counter-Reformation), Warsaw, Państwowe Wydawnictwo "Wiedza Powszechna", 1978.
External links
- Bain, Robert Nisbet (1911). . Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 25 (11th ed.). p. 166.
- Tarnowski, Stanislaus (1912). Catholic Encyclopedia. Vol. 14. .
- Short note on Jesuits portraits
- Żywoty Świętych Starego y nowego zakonu, na każdy dzień przez cały Rok, Kraków 1603 at Opolska Biblioteka Cyfrowa
- Works by Piotr Skarga in digital library Polona