Studium teologii w środowisku jezuitów krakowskich w XVII i XVIII wieku

Abstract

In the 150 years between 1623 and 1773 the Jesuits of Cracow ran a course of studies in Theology at university level attached to the Church of St. Peter and St. Paul. This Theology course was intended chiefly for Jesuit seminarists, but it was also open to the diocesan priests. For the Polish Jesuits this centre at Cracow was an important focus for training and research in Theological Studies. However, since it was never accorded the rights enjoyed by the universities and colleges recognised by the State authorities, this Jesuit school has hitherto not been devoted much academic attention. The Society of Jesus had been granted two Pontifical privileges, by Pius V on 19th March 1571, and by Gregory XIII on 5th May 1578, which enabled it to establish colleges in all towns and cities, even those in which there were universities already. In such cases students who read Philosophy and Theology at the Jesuit college could have academic degrees conferred upon them by the university once they satisfied the appropriate requirements. Pius Vs privilege stirred up a considerable amount of hostility from the old universities, which now expected a substantial drain of students to the Jesuit institutions, where tuition was free. But this did not stop the Jesuits from exercising their privilege. The outcome would often be a merger between the Jesuit college and the local university. This type of co-operation between the Jesuits with the universities at Douai, Ingolstadt, Vienna, and Prague, secured a considerable level of growth for the Order. The long period of contention between the Polish Jesuits and the University of Cracow was thus only a detail on the general European panorama of the Order’s conflict with the established universities. The Jesuits’ resolute endeavours to set up their own college and officially recognised schools met with unmitigated opposition on the part of the University of Cracow. The debate was fought chiefly by means of pen and ink, but occasionally the wrangling would spill out into the streets, giving rise to a spate of anti-Jesuit pamphlets. Thus there was never any co-operation between the Jesuits and the University of Cracow, and the Jesuits sought to found their establishments outside the City of Cracow. Their efforts were successful at Wilno, where in 1579 the Jesuit College transformed into the University; and partially successful at Lwów, too, where a University was created as well, but not until 1759. The Jesuits made use of the royal favour of Sigismundus III Vasa, and in 1623 opened several officially recognised grammar schools (at the secondary level) and colleges (at the tertiary level). But already in 1634, on the grounds of Urban VIII’s breve, they were obliged to close down. From that time on the Jesuit colleges were allowed to teach only Philosophy and Theology, and from 1640 onwards only Theology. But the university men still did not like it, and they continued to protest. The study of Theology offered by the Jesuits of Cracow was kept at a high academic standard. Lectures would be given by four or five experienced tutors under the supervision of the Prefect (prefectus studiorum - performing the duties of dean), who would usually be a professor emeritus, often a former rector or provincial. Two of the tutors would teach Scholastic Theology, one Polemical and Positive Theology, and one the „Third Lecture” in Theology and Moral Theology. Apart from them there would often (though not invariably) be another member of staff lecturing on the Scriptures, a professor of Canon Law, and frequently a professor for Hebrew as well. The Cracovian Jesuit milieu constituted an important centre for writers, although the Order did not run its own printing-house here. This is where Father Piotr Skarga composed some of his works prior to the institution of the Jesuit College (1602-1609). Here, too, the lexicographer Father Grzegorz Knapski, author of the earliest Polish-Latin-Greek dictionary, completed his philological research. Cracow was also the place where numerous Jesuit theologians and ascetic writers, such as Mikołaj Łęczycki, Kasper Drużbicki, Marcin Hińcza, Tomasz Młodzianowski, Adrian Miaskowski, and Stanisław Solski, worked on their ascetic writings.