625 years of the Faculty of Theology, 180th Anniversary of Its Establishment and 140 Years Since Józef Sebastian Pelczar Was Elected Rector of the Jagiellonian University

Abstract

We have had the privilege of celebrating a unique month in modern history, as on January 11, 2022, we held a grand ceremony to honor the 625th anniversary of the foundation of the Faculty of Theology in Krakow by Pope Boniface IX through the bull Eximiae devotionis affectus of January 11, 1397, at the request of Queen Jadwiga and her husband King Ladislaus Jagiello. Today (January 17, 2022) marks exactly 180 years since the birth (on January 17, 1842) of the Rector of the Jagiellonian University, Bishop Józef Sebastian Pelczar, who was also elected rector of the Jagiellonian University 140 years ago (1882–1883). The history of the Faculty of Theo­logy has seen many outstanding theologians, just to mention the saints: Jan of Kęty and Stanisław Kazimierczyk. We can also list many others, such as Konstanty Michalski, Jan Fijałek, Tadeusz Glemma or Władysław Wicher, who were committed to the quest for truth and sought to unfold the mystery of God throughout the centuries of the faculty’s existence, first at Jagiellonian University and today at the Pontifical University of John Paul II in Krakow.