Baptism Of Poland Research Articles

Wpływ chrztu Polski na język ojczysty

Baptism of Poland in the 10th century is a historical act for the Polish language and native culture. This act had a fundamental impact on the formation of the Polish language. Through the act of baptism and the subsequent work of Christianization in the Latin rite, the Polish language passed from the era of speech to the era of writing and gained access to Western culture. The Latin alphabet gradually introduced Polish to the group of literary European languages. Under the influence of baptism, a new lexicon was formed expressing the foundations of all sciences, the foundations of education, religious and moral lexis, beautiful names of people were created. The Bible, which has been translated into Polish for at least 700 years, has become a model of literary texts.

Ikonografia witraży Wiktora Ostrzołka w gdańskim kościele Mariackim (1977–1980)

In 1966, a commemorative decoration appeared inside St Mary’s Church in Gdansk: its main component was the painting showing Poland’s Baptism placed in the chancel. Meanwhile, a pillar by the Priests’ Chapel was decorated with a standard bearing striped concentration camp uniform cloth with numbers of priests -prisoners in Nazi camps. This referred directly to the décor of the Priests’ Chapel created not long before, and in which Polish priests murdered during WW II had been commemorated in 1965. Thus the millennial decoration of the chancel clearly associated the history of the Polish state with the history of Christianity in Poland, while the decoration of the Priests’ Chapel emphasized the martyrology of Polish priests. Both motifs were clearly continued in two large –size stained glass windows installed in the church in the late 1970s: one of them fills in the window in the Priests’ Chapel, while the other is to be found in the window closing the church’s chancel. Both were designed by Wiktor Ostrzołek, a leading stained glass designer in post -WW II Poland.
 The iconographic programme of the first refers to the martyrology of priests, yet it does not limit itself to priests -martyrs in recent history, but shows those connected with it from the very beginning: St Adalbert, Five Martyr Brothers, St Stanislaus, St John Sarkander, St Andrew Bobola and Maximilian Kolbe. Respective figures are interconnected with the use of a clear red line serving as a metaphor of the martyrs’ blood. Its continuity connecting St Adalbert with St Maximilian, thus the beginnings of the Polish state with the present, at the same time shows the continuity of the presence of the Catholic Church in Polish history.
 This continuity is even more unequivocally expressed by the iconographic programme of the chancel stained glass. Here it is the figure of Mary that stands out; she enshrouds the presentations referring to the Church’s mission, and in particular to the Church’s mission in Poland, in her protective mantle. A deep interconnection between the history of Poland and the Roman Catholic Church was presented in the three acts of entrusting Poland to God and Mary: the Baptism of Poland in 966, the Lvov Oath of John Casimir in 1656, and the Jasna Góra Pledge connected directly with the 1966 millennial celebrations.

The baptism of Poland in historiography and the historical consciousness of the poles in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries

Polish national identity has long been caught up with questions of Christianity and Catholicism, with some scholars in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries arguing that a turn to Christianity in the tenth century was a turn away from a more glorious non- Christian identity and that ties with Catholicism rather than Orthodoxy was a betrayal of a Slavic heritage. The question of whether Catholicism has helped or hindered Poland is much debated and Polish history is read through the lens of this controversy, which itself is a product of Polish history in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, that has tended to downplay the significance of religion in political and social life and sought to understand Polish relationships with Germans and Russians. Appreciating this means that the question about when Poland became Christian admits of no straightforward answer.

Masovia in prediction of Primate Stefan Wyszyński

Primate of Poland, Cardinal Stefan Wyszyński, in his teaching paid special attention to such notions as Church and Homeland. He focused on the value of the event, which was the Baptism of Poland in 966. Masovia was one of the stops on which the Nation’s faith was awakened, as well as the awareness of free and responsible man, creating history based on law and morality of the Decalogue. Primate was visiting Płock many times, during different occasions. He was preaching a word, which like the biblical grain was supposed to fall on the soil of human hearts and bring fruit. Historical and cultural role of Masovia, as a borough constituting an integral part of Polish state since its beginning and its contribution to culturalreligious development of Poland, was particularly emphasised during two Primate’s speeches: during millennial solemnities in 1966 and during the jubilee of a diocese in 1975. Primate Stefan Wyszyński, while talking about Masovia, emphasised its high position in building the State and the Church. Invoking figures, important for Masovia (bishops, priests, princes), he always pointed to the values, which they represented, and which were timeless. What Primate of Poland Cardinal Stefan Wyszyński said in Płock Masovia and about Masovia was fully reflected in the words of the Saint John Paul II uttered on 7 VI 1991 during his stay in Płock – “Płock has profoundly rooted in the history of Poland and the Church” – emphasising the role of this city, the capital of historical Masovia, in the millennial history of our Homeland.

Christianising a Country: A Genuine Act of Faith or an Exercise in Political Opportunism? On (Questioning) the Authenticity of Medieval Political Conversions — the Case of Poland

The most peculiar feature of the majority of historical publications accompanying the anniversary (966–1016) of the adoption of Christianity by Poland’s first historical ruler was a specific treatment of the (possible) motivation behind Mieszko's consequential decision. The so‐called. “baptism of Poland” is generally thought to have been a strategically brilliant move, guaranteeing the country’s long‐lasting political success. The reluctance of Polish researchers to consider some spiritual motives of Mieszko is especially puzzling in the context of a significant (even if slightly provocative) contribution to the debate by American historian Philip E. Steele (2005). Following in the footsteps of Charles Odahl (2004), Steele claims that the conversion of Mieszko — similarly to that of Constantine the Great — must have been principally caused by the prince’s undergoing some sort of religious experience. While endorsing a serious treatment of the religious‐experience‐based motivation of political conversions, I suggest revisiting critically the concept of “empirical religion” underlying this approach.

Dobroczynność względem sierot na ziemiach polskich do 1918 roku

Since the baptism of Poland up to 1918, the social care of orphans was diversified. Until the annexations, the care of parentless children in the Polish territories had been environmental and stemmed from voluntary and charitable actions taken up mostly by the Church. The creation of children wards in hospitals and shelters, and the establishment of children’s households in Warsaw as a result of father G. Baudounin’s initiative, might be considered as prototype actions in the complete institutional care of orphaned children. However, during the time of annexations, the situation of orphans became significantly diversified because it depended on the invaders’ policy and the citizens’ activity. Thus, on the one hand, it was created by the occupying country, on the other, it was shaped by tradition. In the territories of each of the conquerors there were periods of liberalization of law, which rendered it possible, at least to some degree, to follow Polish concepts. These were mostly based on philanthropy, charity religious groups, associations and individuals. It needs to be stated that at the beginning of the 21st century, in all of the partitioned territories, the orphanages were governed by obsolete regulations although tried out in other countries. In each of the annexed parts of Poland, the educational and caring actions stemmed from the acquired legislative system. Under the Austrian occupation it was the commune that had the duty of taking care of the parentless children as it was stated in the act passed on 3rd December 1863. In the Prussian part of Poland, the commune’s duty of taking care of the orphans was stated in the act passed in July 1870. It is worth mentioning that the legislative in Prussia was very similar to the Austrian one. The only difference between them was their effectiveness – it was far more efficient in the Prussian province. Under the Russian invasion the regulations concerning the orphanages were quite different. Since the resolution from 1817, the public care of orphans relied on the good will of the society. It was not until the ruling from 1870 that the city councils of public philanthropy, supervising such institutions, were brought to life. At the turn of the 19th century in Poland, especially among social and educational activists, the problem of children’s care became more popular. The necessity of providing care through social actions based on the law was discerned. During World War I, the problem of orphanhood achieved a new dimension, the so-called war orphanhood. It was not effectively taken care of until the end of the war.

LANGUAGE WAYS OF CHRISTIANIZATION OF POLAND

On the occasion of the 1050th anniversary of the baptism of Poland, a number of new works appeared on the subject of this event and of the beginnings of the Polish state in the European context, just as it did half a century ago (Początki państwa polskiego, 1966). They bring new scientific syntheses (Chrystianizacja Europy, 2014; Chrystianizacja „Młodszej Europy”, 2016) and textbook perspectives (Nowak, 2014; Ożóg, 2015, Walkowski, 2015-2016), as well as important detailed arrangements on the oldest contacts between the Slavs and the Franks over the central Danube (Polek, 2007), connections between southern Poland and Avars and Great Morawa (Třeštík, 2009; Poleski, 2013), with the Czechs of the first Przemyślids (Matla-Kozłowska, 2008). Some historians refer to linguistics, questioning, among others, Czech provenance of the oldest Polish Christian terminology (Sikorski, 2011, 2012), or suggesting their own explanations of Polish tribal names and names of the oldest rulers of Poland (Urbańczyk, 2008; 2012), which is difficult to agree with, however.
 As regards the works of Polish linguists in this field, upon the great works of A. Brückner (1915; 1974) and E. Klich (1927) on Polish Christian terminology and discussions on the Old Church Slavonic language in medieval Poland of K. Lanckorońska (1961), T. Lehr-Spławiński (1962), T. Milewski (1965), only at the end of the 20th century there appeared analytic studies of L. Moszyński (1994), J. Siatkowski (1996), and M. Kucała (2000) and discovery publications of M. Karpluk (collected in 2010), especially her «Dictionary of Old Polish Christian Terminology" (Karpluk, 2001), based on which we will try to discuss the ways in which it reached Poland. The starting point for the authors' considerations will be the phases of the process of Christianisation and its course in Europe and in Slavdom, and then sources of Old Polish religious terminology on selected examples and other testimonies of the Christianization of Poland. The summary will cover some arguable issues and the results of the work.

A Polish Ethno-Religion? Some Thoughts on The Baptism of Poland and Contemporary National Identity

A Polish Ethno-Religion? Some Thoughts on The Baptism of Poland and Contemporary National Identity

The Baptism of Poland in Public Opinion

The aim of this article was a comparative analysis of the social perception of the event of Poland’s baptism, as well as of its significance for the development of Polish statehood, culture, religiousness and its standing in the international arena, in the light of opinion polls carried out by the Centre of Studies of Social Opinion (CBOS) and the Centre of Studies of Public Opinion (OBOP) in the years 1965–2016. It is an attempt to find an answer to the following research problems: what is today’s historical awareness of Poles? Of which historical events are they proud, and which are those—in the opinion of the respondents—that give Poland bad name? Do Poles know the date of Poland’s baptism? To what degree is Poland’s baptism perceived as a decisive event on the background of other events of Polish history right up to the beginning of the 20th century? What importance do Poles give it for the development of Polish statehood, culture, religiousness and standing in the international arena? In the research process the following thesis was accepted that in the last fifty years social apprehension of Poland’s baptism has not undergone any change. The incompleteness of source materials issuing from the fact that the author did not carry out her own research, but only based it on data contained in CBOS and OBOP reports, made it impossible to give a univocal reply. By the same, the thesis formulated in the introduction to the article was not confirmed nor refuted. In elaborating the research material, a method of comparative analysis, of quantitative and qualitative analyses of contents, as well as of an analytical-descriptive one was applied.