Polska literatura kaznodziejska XIX w. – pytanie o potrzebę edycji naukowej
Polish Preaching Literature in the 19th Century – a Question about the Need for Scientific Publication

Author(s): Martyna Deszczyńska
Subject(s): 19th Century
Published by: Wydawnictwa Uniwersytetu Warszawskiego
Keywords: history of Poland; 19th century; historical sources; sermons; edition
Summary/Abstract: The article discusses the need for scientific publication of 19th-century sermons. This period in Polish history was characterized by extraordinary limitations for domestic culture and restrictions of freedom of speech and civil rights in the circumstances of lack of the state. The author gives the definitions of sermons, lists their types and describes their ecclesiastical manner of predication as well as their role as a special kind of literary output and a special historical resource of a particular meaning. Sermons reflected not only moral imperatives and religious precepts but also the mentality of the clergymen and showed their intellectual level (references to literature, tradition, history and its eminent historical figures). They said much about the listeners, mostly non-reading and non-writing people of various denominations hailing from the lower classes. The content of sermons expressed the common cultural code between preachers and the faithful, and potential changes of the code in this period, which involved introducing new symbols and notions. The article stipulates examples of famous preachers (whose influence stretched for decades), especially from eastern territories of the former Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. The importance of sermons as a historical source was examined with regard to the medieval history as well as the 19th-century history. It was found that for the 19th-century history research, sermons are an unknown theme in terms of methodology. The author states that the omission of sermons as historical sources impoverishes our knowledge of the epoch and also reduces the base of available testimonies to the past. After analysis of the subject literature, the author presents problems facing a future publisher of a scientific edition of sermons, and formulates her own criteria of selection and editing of materials (manuscripts from archives or sermons printed in the 19th century), which must be taken into account to choose representative or otherwise necessary sources for publication. These criteria fall into three categories, encompassing those related to: the listeners, the occasion of preaching, such as an anniversary, and the affiliation of the preacher. The answer to the question posed in the title is absolutely positive. The author considers potential scientific publication of 19th-century sermons an important step in supplementing knowledge about the epoch among scholars and students.

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