Lwowskie środowisko katechetyczne a początki ruchu liturgicznego w Polsce

Abstract

The liturgical movement in Poland was not promoted by the Benedictine abbeys, for the renewed foundation of Tyniec took place in 1939. The most ancient milieu, wherein the ideas of the liturgical movement gained recognition, was the Circle of the Association of Priests Catechists established in Lvov in 1899. The Circle assembled secondary school catechists, professors from the Theological Faculty of the Jan Kazimierz University in Lvov and pastors for adolescents and students. In 1899 it numbered twenty priests, and in 1914 about one hundred. Professor Władysław Jougan (1855-1942), author of textbooks on liturgy, history of the Church and dogmatic theology for religion instruction, was the chairman of the Circle. Its vicechairman was Fr. Aleksander Pechnik (1854-1935), a catechist and from 1907 onward editor-in-chief of "Gazeta Kościelna" (The Church Paper), and in the years 1911-1921 editor of "Miesięcznik Katechetyczny i Wychowawczy" (Catechetical and Formative Monthly). The Association accepted the proposal put forward by Fr. Jougan and concerned the unification of religion instruction and liturgical practices in similar types of schools. The point was to start and end religion classes with a prayer, to say Sunday masses for children and adolescents, to organize retreats during Lent with confession and solemn Communion. Following Pius X, Archbishop Józef Bilczewski (1860-1923), pastoralist Zygmunt Bielawski (1877-1939) and Stanislaw Żukowski (1881-1935), specialist in homiletics, lay stress on the preparation to the First Holy Communion. To liven up the participation in mass, Bielawski, Kazimierz Thullie (1885-1957) and Gerard Szmyd (1885-1938) prepared mass-booklets for adolescents and adults. The latter two authors, starting from 1924 onward, propagated low masses for students from the "Regeneration" association and secondary school youth. The dialogue masses were supported by Fr. Władysław Kornilowicz (1884-1946), a liturgist from Lublin University who recommended them to the Lvov friends of the work of Lambert Beaudouin and Romano Guardini. It was also he who promoted the idea of translating the Missal written by Gaspar Lefebvre OSB, the work started by Fr. Adam Bogdanowicz (1898-1939) in 1924 and carried out by the Sisters of the Immaculate Conception from Jazlowiec near Lvov. The Missal was published in Brugge in 1932 by the Beyart Brothers. The pastoralist Adam Gerstman (1873-1940) recommended teaching Liturgy in theological seminaries and at theological faculties, a knowledge different from liturgical rubrics. Fr. Józef Winkowski promoted the Marian Sodality in secondary schools, stressing that apart from selfformation young people should take an active part in masses and in religious life. The genuine pioneers of the liturgical movement in Lvov were: the promotor of the sodality Thullie, the academic pastor Fr. Karol Csesznak (1882-1944), and the spiritual father in the seminary, Fr. Stanisław Szurek (1885-1964). It was them who conducted formation of young people in the spirit of the liturgical movement, adhering to the liturgical apostolate and classical theologico-liturgical literature.