Motywy religijne w poezji ks. Józefa Janiszewskiego (1880-1940) z okresu bukowińskiego (1908-1919)
Religious Motifs in Fr. Joseph Janiszewski’s Poetry (1880-1940) of the Bukovinian Period (1908-1919)

Summary/Abstract: Until now nobody yet has studied the pastoral, social and written work of Fr. Joseph Janishevski (1880-1940) of Bukovina. The following article was prepared with the help of the historic-literary method (historiographic analysis of the literary document). This is the first attempt of drawing attention to a man and his poetry enriching the religious spirit and encouraging to education, to avoiding addictions and abandoning them, to persistent community effort for strengthening patriotism and struggle for freedom of Poland. The activity and literary creativity of this eminent Polish priest were among other reasons responsible for his imprisonment and placing him in German concentration camp, which finally led to his martyrdom during the World War II (1940). Poetry of Fr. J. Janishevski may appear helpful in shaping personalities of contemporary priests and lay Poles. A priest-poet may serve as a pedagogic pattern to follow in a difficult 21st century. The present paper, having a form of a larger dissertation, may significantly contribute to the history of Polish literature by broadening essentially the resource knowledge about the forgotten literary work of Fr. J. Janishevski. His priestly vocation together with the need of participation in the religious and national community life flourished in sermons, popular speeches, published pieces and poetic creativity. All were characterized by a significant didactism addressed mainly to Polish folk, existing in spiritual, intellectual, political and material poverty. Some features of this poetry were presented in the selected examples, which prove that Fr. J. Janishevski was a talented poet working on his craft. Apart from his numerous and absorbing pastoral and social dealings, he managed to write at least several dozens smart, various in subject, form and verse pieces of poetry. A major part of this poetry was a kind of contrafacture, i.e. it was composed according the rhythm of well known melodies, so it was ready to be sung as hymns, Christmas carols, marches or other songs. The author of this article is the first in the historiography of literature, who describes the personality of Fr. J. Janishevski and analyses his literary work (novelty). He is also the first to discover the forgotten priest-poet in Bukovina at the earliest of the 20th c. (the area at the frontier of the Ukraine and Romania). The text is supplemented with the first published wide subject bibliography (a list of works by Fr. Janishevski).

• Details
• Contents