Obowiązek modlitwy w szpitalach i sierocińcach gdańskich doby nowozytnej
Mandatory Prayer in the Hospitals and Orphanages of Early-Modern-Era Gdańsk

Summary/Abstract: The work presents the mandate to pray that very often appeared in the ordinances of hospitals and orphanages in Gdańsk in the early modern period. It had its roots, apart from religious inspiration, in social discipline. Expressing gratitude to God and people became an important element of prayer and it resulted in the obligation to fulfil social duties with dignity. Ordinances are a kind of behaviour scenarios (according to H. R. Schmidt), written by secular agency, but using an element of personal commitment, characteristic of religious experiences. The repeated orders to pray, as well as numerous regulations directly disciplining the patients, emphasize the fact that the city authorities of Gdańsk treated hospitals and orphanages as an area of special influence. They were used to emphasize the city council's determination to create a new society, filled with a truly Christian spirit.

• Details
• Contents