O Rzeczpospolitej Sztabińskiej, historii i pracy duszpasterskiej – wspomnienia księdza Jakuba Rółkowskiego jako dokument czasów

Abstract

The article presents the memoirs Thirty years of my priestly work in Sztabin parish by father Jakub Rolkowski, and the biography of their author. Jakub Rolkowski has been a parish priest in Sztabin for 40 years – from 1901 until his death in 1941. His book is a fourfold document of the history of the Sztabin area in 1901-1931. First, it presents the Republic of Sztabin in 1820-1854 and Karol Brzostowski the count, who established it. Secondly, it is the document which describes the first three decades of XX century in Podlasie area – among others things it depicts the first world war and its components like fights, damages, arrests, exiles and executions. Thirdly, it features the every day life of the parish priest in Sztabin: his engagement in the building and rebuilding of the church, and his regular contacts and relations with his parishioners. Fourthly, the book delivers a lot of important biographical data on its author, father Jakub Rolkowski.