Dziedzictwo eucharystyczne franciszkanów krakowskich od XIII do XV wieku

Abstract

The theme refers to the year 1987 as to the 750th anniversary of the Franciscans’ coming to Cracow. It speaks of the medieval eucharistic spirituality inspired by St. Francis of Assisi, zealous executor of Lateran Council IV, and his contemporary St. Anthony of Padua, famous apologist of the Eucharist and St. Clare of Assisi, seraphic vestal virgin of the Blessed Sacrament. In addition to that, Cracow was reached to some measures by the Franciscan theology of the Eucharist, especially that of St. Bonaventure, also by the liturgical reform introduced by Haymon of Faversham, because the custodial monastery in Cracow, since its beginning, was the house of theological studies. Since the very beginning, the life of the monastery was centered in the church named after St. Francis of Assisi, in its sanctuary at the altar of the Blessed Sacrament. There the friars performed their pastoral ministry setting for the faithful the three tables: of the Divine word, of the sacrament of Penance and of the Eucharist. The cult cherished here in the Middle Ages was the joint cult of the Suffering Christ and of Our Lady of Sorrow, of which the evidence is given by the ancient alter of „Mercy” and the mural painting of Jesus in the Mistic Press. In the 15th century, the Marian cult became distinct and centered at the picture of the Sorrowful Benefactress. In 1438, upon the enlargement of the church and the cloisters, bp Zbignień Oleśnicki consecrated the new temple as Corpus Christi church which became the center of the solemn eucharistic cult in the town of Cracow. Later on it lost its spectacularity because of an influence of Protestantism and partly because of the growing popularity of the Observantines Friars (Bernardines) formed in 1453. Ad present the Franciscan basilica contains three centers: the main church for administering the sacraments of Penance and of the Eucharist, the Shrine of Our Lady of Sorrow, and the Chapel of Our Lord’s Passion. Roots of all of them reach the Middle Ages.