Wincenty Kadłubek

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Vincent Kadłubek
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Jędrzejów

Wincenty Kadłubek (

Bishop of Kraków from 1208 until his resignation in 1218.[2][1] His episcopal mission was to reform the diocesan priests to ensure their holiness and invigorate the faithful and cultivate greater participation in ecclesial affairs on their part.[3][1] Wincenty was much more than just a bishop; he was a leading scholar in Poland from the twelfth and thirteenth centuries.[4] He was also a lawyer, historian, church reformer, monk, magister, and the father of Polish culture and national identity.[5]

The process of his canonization proved quite slow despite the initial momentum to see him proclaimed as a saint.[1] The cause languished for several centuries until 1764 when Pope Clement XIII beatified him.[2]

Early life and education

Little is known about Kadłubek's early life, but we do know he was born around 1160 to parents of elite status.[6] Eleventh and Twelfth century Poland was a complicated and turbulent place, shaping Kadłubek's works and life. This period of time is characterized by territorial divisions between branches of the Piast family and civil war. [6][4]

Kadłubek first studied in

priesthood before 1189 and served as the provost for the Sandomierz Cathedral;[5] some sources suggest that he served as the principal of the cathedral school in Kraków.[2][3]  He studied in France at the university of Paris as well as at the university of Bologna. Some sources suggest that he met the future Pope Innocent III at Bologna when the two were students[5] and it was further said he once encountered John of Salisbury.[1]

Kadłubek was considerably educated for the time period. He was knowledgeable of medieval and classical literature, spoke Greek, French, and Latin, and had a meticulous knowledge of Roman and Canon law.[7] At the time, you could only learn about Roman and Canon law at schools in Paris and Bologna. He was the first known Polish lawyer to contribute to Polish legal scholarship.[5] Kadłubek's Chronica Polonorum (Chronicle of Poles) confirms he was a lawyer. Through this chronicle, he was the first Polish person to chronicle Polish history, making him a cardinal source for the early medieval history of Poland.[6]

Time as a bishop

Kadłubek was elected to be a bishop in 1208.

Archbishop of Gniezno
two months later. Innocent III's bull referred to Kadłubek's wisdom as the motivation for his selection while referring to him as a "master and preacher".

He set out to reform the diocesan priesthood to ensure their holiness while also seeking to invigorate the faithful to active participation in ecclesial affairs.

Dominican friar Ceslaus.[1]

The bishop was noted for his linguistic skills and his charismatic preaching; Kadłubek was known also for his expertise in

Saint Bernard of Clairvaux and became enthralled with the charism of the Cistercians whom he granted favors to as bishop.[1]

He followed Gallus Anonymus in further developing the idea of the Latin proverb "vox populi vox dei" ("the voice of the people is the voice of God") and argued that the ruler (king) should follow a council that includes bishops and representatives of clans since not the ruler but the council has higher power originating from the laws that God instituted. He also claimed that the council should elect the ruler and that rulers abusing their power should be removed from their position.[8]

Later life

In 1217, Kadłubek decided to resign from his duties as a bishop. He spent his last years at the Cistercian monastery in Jędrzejów, making him the first Bishop of Krakow to join the Cistercian order after voluntarily abdicating. This also made him the first Polish person in the Cistercian monastery in Jędrzejów, which was composed of exclusively French monks at the time. The fire of the Jędrzejów monastery in 1800 in combination with the turbulence of Polish history at the time makes it difficult to understand the remaining years of his life.[5] He likely continued to write the Chronica Polonorum into this time.[6]

Kadlubek died on March 8, 1223, retaining his bishop's pallium, buried in the Jędrzejów monastery,[5] his remains were interred before the high altar of the convent church. His remains were exhumed on 26 April 1633 with his pallium found intact though his remains had become skeletal. Measurements were taken and it was surmised that he was of "fair height".[1] His remains were moved to a new location before the high altar on the following 16 August. Kadłubek's remains were again exhumed and reinterred in mid-1765 and some were moved to Sandomierz in 1845 for veneration. Other parts to his remains were moved in 1903 to Wawel and placed in a silver urn.[2][3]

Beatification

Painting in the Sandomierz Cathedral.

In 1634 the Polish episcopate made a petition to

Order of Cîteaux made similar request in 1699 at their General Chapter.[3] The Polish episcopate made another request to Pope Clement XII
to canonize him but the process that the pope requested came to the same conclusion as the previous one.

In 1761 the king Augustus III sent two letters to Pope Clement XIII requesting the canonization which prompted the pope to order another process of investigation. That investigation proved to be successful for Clement XIII issued a papal bull in which he beatified the late bishop on 18 February 1764.[2] On 9 June 1764 the pope issued another bull that allowed for a Mass and the Divine Office to be said in his honor in Kraków and among the Cistercians.

He is referred to in Poland as a saint despite the fact that he has not been canonized as such; Cardinal

Jędrzejów
.

Efforts to resume the cause

There had been several efforts since his beatification to resume the cause and achieve his canonization though each attempt failed. Cardinal Stefan Wyszyński and Karol Józef Wojtyła (the future Pope John Paul II) both supported his cause in 1964 with Wojtyła referring to the late bishop as the "Father of Polish culture".[1]

In 1972 the

Congregation for the Causes of Saints concluded that there was no reliable or available documentation that could confirm Kadłubek's heroic virtues thus suspending the cause which has not continued since.[1]

Works

Relics in Jędrzejów.

His best-known work - Chronica seu originale regum et principum Poloniae (Chronicles of the Kings and Princes of Poland) - is a historical compendium of Poland in four volumes.[2] The first three volumes take the form of a dialogue between Archbishop John of Gniezno and Bishop Mateusz. The first volume's sources are legends while the second is based on the chronicle of Gallus and the last two are based upon Kadłubek's own experiences. Writing this work made him the first Polish native to chronicle Polish history.[7]

This work had a huge impact on the Polish political doctrine of the 14th and 15th centuries co-authored by

Leszek while Kadłubek was a bishop; still others claim that it was not written until after his retirement.[9]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k "Beato Vincenzo Kadlubek". Santi e Beati. Retrieved 14 October 2017.
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i "Blessed Vincent Kadlubek". Saints SQPN. 6 March 2017. Retrieved 14 October 2017.
  3. ^ a b c d e f g "Blessed Wincenty Kadłubek". The Wawel Royal Cathedral of Saint Stanislaus B.M. and Saint Weneceslaus M. Retrieved 14 October 2017.
  4. ^
    JSTOR 48577798
    .
  5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Blicharz, Grzegorz. "Wincenty Kadłubek, Magister Vincentius (ca. 1150–1223)".
  6. ^
    ISSN 0032-2970
    .
  7. ^
    ISSN 2207-2802
    .
  8. JSTOR 10.5406/polishreview.58.3.0003
    .
  9. ^ "Blessed Vincent Kadlubek". New Advent. Retrieved 14 October 2017.

External links

Catholic Church titles
Preceded by
Fulko
Bishop of Kraków

28 March 1208–1218 		Succeeded by
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