Przełomowa rola Zgromadzenia Księży Misjonarzy w procesie kształtowania przestrzeni sepulkralnej Warszawy
Breakthrough role of the Congregation of the Mission in Poland in the process of shaping sepulchral space in Warsaw

Summary/Abstract: A breakthrough role of the Congregation of the Mission in the proces of shaping sepulchral space in Warsaw is well-known and commonly appreciated. In spite of Vincentians’ indisputable merits in that field as well as many papers devoted to Warsaw necropolis as well as to this congregation, this topic has not been tackled in a thorough historical monograph. Such a lengthy paper would have to take account of the real time in which moving cemeteries away from the cities began and explain its causes. It has been shown in this article that in research on extra-urban cemeteries an assumption had been made for a long time that at first some legal rules ordering their creation were enacted. Only later (despite no small resistance) did it come to implementing these rules. However, new studies show that in the 16th, 17th and 18th centuries burial sites were organized without any strict obligations to bury the deceased outside of the settlements. It was done out of necessity which derived from overfilling of temple undergrounds and cemeteries located next to churches. Warsaw which was considered a huge city in the 17th century followed this pattern thanks to the Vincentians who introduced a new manner of locating cemeteries both early and consistently.

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