Sposób powoływania lektorów w studiach zakonnych w XVII i XVIII wieku oraz przysługujące im przywileje

Abstract

The paper is a continuation of the author’s research on the religious studies in the 17th and 18th c. The author is concerned in it with two questions: the manner of recruiting lectors in religious studies in the 17th and 18th c. and with the privileges to which they were entitled. There was a great similarity between particular orders as to the nomination of lectors, or - as we would say today - religious professors and their privileges. Almost in all orders the most important criterium when recruiting to the office of lector was the intellectual level of the candidates. It was evaluated in the course of exams of several stages and public disputes. Dominicans recruited their lectors in two ways: via scholae and via praedicationis. A possibility to bring lectors (in case there was a shortage of them) from other provinces ensured that the religious youth could continually pursue their studies, and allowed to maintain their high standard. Privileges to which professors of religious studies where entitled were wide in scope. They concerned various spheres of religious life. In order to ensure lectors intellectual work they were exempted from some duties imposed by their rule and Constitutions, such as nocturnal vigil or some fasts. The duties of lectors were also combined with some organizational limitations, e.g. they could not hold any other religious posts when fulfilling the function of lectors. This was also with a view to ensure lectors proper conditions to fulfill their lectors’ tasks well.