Początki kultu i procesy kanonizacyjne św. Kazimierza

Abstract

On the basis of the hitherto existing literature and new sources, the author attempts to pinpoint the beginnings of the cult of St. Casimir Jagiellon, the Polish Royal Prince (1458–1484), and to solve the tangled problem of his canonization. Having discussed the canonization processes of that time, the author shows that in the first years after his death the cult of St. Casimir concentrated on his virtues of justice and wisdom, which indicated the ideal of the Christian ruler. At the same time, there appear the first signs of the religions honour paid to him, as evidenced by his tomb in the Cathedral in Wilno. In 1501 Pope Alexander VI granted an indulgence to those visiting the chapel 'in which Casimir’s body was buried. This was an automatic permission, as the author assumes, to honour Casimir publically, which suggests also permission to use the title „Blessed”. This hypothesis – confirmed by evidence of the cult (votive offerings by his tomb) and the information about the miracles occurring in Wilno – disproves the existing conviction of historians that the cult of St. Casimir originated only after the Battle of Połock in 1518, in which the Polish army defeated the Muscovites. This hypothesis first appeared in historiography due to the association of this victory attributed to the Royal Prince, with the one described in 1520 by the first biographer of the Saint, Nuncio Zaccaria Ferreri, also as a miracle worked by Casimir. The Nuncio asserts that it was after this victory that the efforts to canonize him commenced. The author analyzes Ferreri’s description of the victory, and – by comparing it with the contemporary descriptions of other battles – he discover that in his account the Nuncio relates it to the victory of the Polish army over Moscow at Orsza on 8th September, 1514. It was after this victory, in October 1514, that King Sigismundus I commenced efforts in Rome to canonize his saintly brother. The abundant authorized documentation does not leave any doubts as to the King’s frequent requests with Pope Leo X to begin the process in 1514, 1515 and in 1517, as a result of which (thanks to the favourable political situation and the diplomatic skills of the King’s Legate, Wawrzyniec Międzyleski) the process was initiated. At the Papal Consistory on 4th November 1517, Jan Łaski, Archbishop of Gniezno, was appointed Commissioner to perform the process of canonization. He carried out the first process in Wilno in August 1518, and sent the records to Rome. After examining them, the Pope appointed another commisioner, Nuncio Zaccaria Ferreri, who carried out the second process in Wilno at the close of 1520. The records, as well as the biography of the Royal Prince, written on the basis of the accounts of eye witnesses, were brought to Rome by Ferreri in the autumn of 1521. It is not known what followed. The problem of canonizing St. Casimir was not returned to till the end of the 16th century. It was King Sigismundus III Vasa, who – wishing to strengthen his dynasty by the canonisation of his near relative, Casimir (the Vasa dynasty was related to the Jagiellons through Sigismundus III’s mother, Katarzyna, daughter of Sigismundus I) applied to the Apostolic See for the canonization. As a result of these efforts undertaken by the Bishop of Wilno, Benedykt Woyna, and Canon Grzegorz Święcicki, on 7th November 1602 Pope Clement VIII issued the Bull Quae ad Sanctorum, which confirmed (by virtue of the 1521 „canonization”) the permission to celebrate the Mass (both Latin and Uniat) of the Saint all over Poland and Lithuania. In his work Theatrum Sancti Casimiri (Wilno 1604), Canon Święcicka writing about the efforts, quotes a till unidentified source, saying that Pope Leo X ordered the investigation of the records of the process performed and brought to Rome by Ferreri in 1521, that he confirmed them and solemnly canonized Casimir in the same year, passing the canonization bull to the Polish Legate in Rome, Erazm Ciołek, Bishop of Płock. The latter, however, died in Rome in 1522 and all his belongings, including this Bull, were destroyed. The story was long believed in, until Jan Fijałek in 1924 and finally Florian Niewiero in 1970 proved that no such circumstance could have ever taken place. As a consequence of this ascertainment, the Bull of 1602 by Pope Clement VIII is not and cannot be the confirmation of the canonization in 1521, as all the present-day historiobiographers (excluding Paul Rabikauskas) would have it but only the tantamount canonization (equipollens), i.e., recognition of the cult allowing the Mass and the Breviary of the Saint to be said.