Uwagi o prowincjałach karmelitańskiej Wielkopolskiej Prowincji Najświętszego Sakramentu w XVIII w.

Abstract

The article is focused on the provincial superiors of the Carmelite Province of the Blessed Sacrament (Carmelites of Ancient Observance), which is based in the Wielkopolska region and was established in 1728 as a result of separating those monasteries which had adopted the so-called Touraine reform (strictior observantia) and until then had formed part of a vicariate controlled by the Provincial Superior of Poland. The history of the province, which can be divided into three periods: establishment (up to 1728), growth (1728–1799) and decline leading to dissolution (up to 1863 or 1918, depending on the canonical interpretation), is little known and requires a profound study. Part of that is the history of its superiors, whose brief descriptions are presented here. General remarks concern the method of selection and interpretation of data from the province’s chapter records. This also applies to numerical data from provincial superior elections. The attempt to sort out biographical data concerning individual provincials is complemented with general remarks on this group of monks and their position in the province. However, the reader may be more interested in a more general interpretation of the relations between individual superiors (and the province) and state authorities and social elites of the regions of Wielkopolska, Pomorze, Ziemia Dobrzyńska and Mazowsze; a task impossible to conduct at this stage of research.