Duchowieństwo parafii Miechocin w okresie przedrozbiorowym oraz jego bibliofilskie zainteresowania

Abstract

The presented list of the clergy of the Miechocin parish was compiled to a large degree on the basis of the surviving Michał Marczak’s typescript under the title Katalog druków i rękopisów przy kościele parafialnym w Miechocinie (diecezja przemyska) [A Catalogue of Prints and Manuscripts at the Parish Church in Miechocin (the Przemyśl Diocese)], prepared in 1923. Although in fact the author describes a wonderful, but today non-existent, Miechocin library, in the introduction to the catalogue he gives a list of priests who were then working in the parish; the list was based on the register that still existed at that time. Hence presenting these priests’ biographical data supplemented with the accessible information from other sources may be a valuable contribution to the history of Catholic clergy of the then Krakow Diocese. The history of the Miechocin parish goes back to the 12th century. The church that has been used since the Middle Ages till now is dedicated to St Mary Madeleine. The parish that according to the ecclesial structure belongs to the Sandomierz Archdeaconate in the Krakow Diocese from the end of the 16th century till the partitions of Poland was also a dean’s parish. This is why it was manned with priests who had special moral and intellectual qualities and were people deserved for the Church. Among the priests working in Miechocin we can name 17 parish priests, 3 parish administrators and 77 parish assistants. 8 priests were given canonry in collegiate chapters, 2 were doctors of both laws. In the presented list special attention was paid to the priests’ bibliophilie interests that left its traces in the catalogue. They are a clear confirmation of the Miechocin priests’ intellectual interests.