Bl. Ladislaus of Gielniów: An Observant Franciscan Shaper of Religious and Literary Culture In Poland (with select translations of his poetry)

Abstract

Bl. Ladislaus of Gielniów:An Observant Franciscan Shaper of Religious and Literary Culture In Poland (with select translations of his poetry) Paul J. Radzilowski (bio) Bl. Ladislaus of Gielniów (Władysław z Gielniowa, c.1440-1505) is commonly regarded as the first major literary figure in Poland to write in Polish, as well as Latin. He is also the most important writer among the friars of the early Franciscan observant reform movement in Poland, which grew vigorously there after the visit of St. Giovanni of Capestrano in 1453. There, they took on the name of "Bernardines" to distinguish them from the Conventual Franciscans, after the cult of St. Bernardino of Siena, which Capestrano promoted so strongly on all his travels.1 The Bernardine contribution to the development of the Polish literary language was significant, and the Bernardine contribution to the development of popular Polish religious culture was arguably even more fundamental.2 Ladislaus of Gielniów, twice vicar of the Polish province, and an important producer of easily accessible Polish religious song texts, may be said to exemplify both these Bernardine accomplishments in Poland.3 Despite the fact Polish language scholarship on him and his works has seen a modest revival in recent decades, not much has been published on him in English.4 This article will thus endeavor to give a general [End Page 53] introduction to the findings of Polish-language scholarship about him, along with translations of a few of his most characteristic works. By one count, only a good half-dozen or so surviving Polish vernacular religious verses and hymns can be dated to before the fifteenth century, while a few more can be dated to the fifteenth century prior to the arrival of Capestrano to Poland, while in countries like England and Italy, many hundreds had been circulating before the fifteenth century, many linked to the earlier waves of Franciscan influence on vernacular religious culture.5 The Czech language also saw a much greater abundance of medieval religious texts, even before the coming of the Hussite and Utraquist movements of the fifteenth century, with their strong emphasis on congregational singing. Indeed, a number of the earliest anonymous Polish vernacular verses are clearly translations from the Czech, and the question of Czech influence, as we shall see, is an important one, even in case of Ladislaus of Gielniów. The model of an already established Slavic literary language in a neighboring land was one that apparently exerted a strong attraction on the still immature Polish literary language.6 With the flourishing of the Bernardine 'school' of poetry later in the century, however, the importance of Czech models decreased, and Polish literature began to mature as an independent tradition, although naturally enough for a land within the realm of Western Christendom, influences from the Latin tradition continued to make their influence felt.7 Thus Teresa Michałowska has spoken of a "Bernardine Revolution" in Polish literature in the life time of Ladislaus of Gielniów, and [End Page 54] during the next generation or two of Bernardine poets influenced by him.8 The character of the Franciscan Observance in Poland was shaped both by the general properties of the movement itself, the circumstances of its birth, and the local conditions in the Kingdom of Poland, and the lands tied to it. Receiving support from both King Casimir Jagiellon and Bishop Zbigniew Oleśnicki of Cracow, and driven by the famed preaching of Giovanni of Capestrano, many students from the Cracow University joined the Franciscan Observants, as did many others in the following years. The majority of these came from the urban middle classes, also from smaller towns like Gielniów, the birthplace of Ladislaus.9 The foremost reason for Capestrano's visit to Poland had been not just the establishment of the Franciscan Observance in that region, but to help build up a Catholic political coalition against the Hussites of Bohemia, in the form of cementing a marriage alliance between the Catholic monarchs Casimir IV of Poland and Ladislaus Posthumous of Bohemia, in the process of which the former married the sister of the latter. Thus, Capestrano did not turn down the request of...