THE SANITARY SERVICE OF SEMINARIANS OF THE SEMINARY IN PRZEMYŚL DURING THE FIRST MONTHS OF THE GREAT WAR (1914–1915)

Abstract

The subject of this article is the fate of the seminarians of the Przemyśl seminary during the battles for the Przemyśl fortress in 1914–15. In the face of the approaching Russian army, they decided to serve as orderlies in military hospitals. This service was very demanding, due to extremely difficult sanitary conditions, and shortages of food, medicines, dressing materials, and so on. Information about the life and work of future priests during successive sieges of the fortress was included in the Chronicle of the Przemyśl Seminary. Lay people who stayed in the fortress during the siege also wrote numerous memoirs and diaries describing the work of seminarians and priests. Thanks to these materials, it is possible to learn how the seminary trained Roman Catholic clergy for the war, the medical preparation that was offered by the standard seminary training program, and, finally, how the seminarians proved themselves in the hour of trial.