The Problem of the Nation in the Preaching of Archbishop Jan Paweł Woronicz,1757–1829

Abstract

Jan Paweł Woronicz—Polish archbishop, preacher, and poet, who lived in the second half of the eighteenth century and in the first third of the nineteenth century—presented in his writings a very characteristic and conceptually uniform vision of the nation. Generally speaking, one can say that this vision was based on the principles of divine finality and providence. It perceived individual nations as realities planned and created by God, aimed at precisely determined goals and provided with continual divine providence. These views are not the fruits of the Enlightenment, but can be traced back to biblical sources and to the writings of St Augustine and Jacques Bénigne Bosuet (1627–1704). However, in Poland these ideas are deeply rooted in the concepts already expressed by Jan Długosz (1415–80), Stanisław Orzechowski (1513–66), Stanisław Sarnicki (1532–97), Piotr Skarga (1536–1612), Wespazjan Kochowski (1633–1700), and Szymon Starowolski (1588–1656).