Prepozytura kielecka w XVI stuleciu. Wierni i ich duszpasterze
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Date
2021
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Wydawnictwo KUL
Abstract
W artykule przedstawiono duszpasterstwo parafialne w prepozyturze kieleckiej w XVI wieku. Podstawa źródłowa to przede wszystkim rejestr taksacyjny dochodów kleru diecezji krakowskiej z 1529 r., akta oficjała kieleckiego oraz księgi metrykalne kieleckiej kolegiaty zachowane od lat 60. XVI wieku, a ponadto wizytacje z lat 90. W XVI wieku prepozytura liczyła 29 parafii, w większości wiejskich. Nieliczne na tym obszarze małe miasta miały znaczenie gospodarcze i administracyjne wyłącznie jako centra okolicznych dóbr. Właściciele ziemscy w prepozyturze to z nielicznymi tylko wyjątkami instytucje kościelne, przede wszystkim biskupi krakowscy oraz klasztory: benedyktynów na Świętym Krzyżu i cystersów w Wąchocku. Stąd też przeciwnie niż na terenach sąsiednich, patronat szlachecki odgrywał marginalną rolę, co skutecznie uniemożliwiało propagowanie idei reformacyjnych. Beneficja parafialne prepozytury kieleckiej należały do najlepiej udotowanych w całej diecezji krakowskiej. Większość plebanów zatrudniała wikariuszy, na ogół jednego, sporadycznie dwu, odsetek zaś parafii z wikariuszami zmniejszył się z 79 do 62% w ciągu stulecia. O ile w 1529 r. wikariusze 44% parafii otrzymywali wynagrodzenie wyższe niż prepozyturalna średnia, to w 1597 r. takich parafii było już tylko 27%. Podejmując decyzję o zatrudnieniu wikariusza, plebani nie kierowali się przede wszystkim wysokością beneficjalnych wpływów. Podobnie też często nie wiedzieli potrzeby zwiększania salariów swych podwładnych, choć stanowiły one tylko nikły procent dochodów. Istotną częścią dochodów wikariuszy były ofiary związane z szafowaniem sakramentów, o których wiadomo tylko tyle, że miały tendencję malejącą. W 1529 r. salaria wikariuszy kolegiaty kieleckiej to tylko 16% szacunkowych dochodów kapituły. Analiza nielicznych zachowanych testamentów niższego kleru pokazuje, że ich autorzy wiedli życie dalekie od luksusu, ale też od permanentnej nędzy. Proboszczowie i wikariusze pochodzili na ogół ze wsi i małych miast położonych w większości na terenie diecezji krakowskiej; duchowni pochodzenia szlacheckiego to, jak się zdaje, najwyżej 20% badanej populacji. W środowiskach tych edukację kończono w najlepszym razie w parafialnej szkole, czytelnictwo zaś było nieczęste. Najwyżej ok. 15% badanej zbiorowości odebrała wykształcenie w krakowskiej akademii. Przygotowanie do posługi kończyło się więc zapewne na przyuczeniu przez własnego plebana. Do pracy duszpasterskiej w małomiasteczkowych i wiejskich parafiach, bardziej niż ponadprzeciętna erudycja książkowa, przydatna była znajomość środowiska, z którego księża pochodzili i w którym pracowali. Duchowni prepozytury kieleckiej świadomi byli wagi ksiąg dla duszpasterstwa, a pierwszorzędną pomocą był tu brewiarz, niekoniecznie rzymski. Jeszcze z końcem stulecia sięgano bowiem po dawne diecezjalne przewodniki liturgiczne. Stosunkowo rzadko wizytatorzy wzmiankują zbiory kazań, gdyż zapewne poprzestawano na wzorcowych kazaniach publikowanych w agendach diecezjalnych. Księgozbiory parafialne, a także nieliczne prywatne wikariuszy i plebanów, rzadko liczyły więcej niż kilka tomów. Były to na ogół dzieła przydatne w liturgii i duszpasterstwie, choć katechizmy pojawiają się rzadko. O tym, że brak jest prostej zależności między liczbą tomów parafialnej biblioteki, tj. możliwością samokształcenia i podnoszenia kwalifikacji, a zaangażowaniem w pracę duszpasterską, informuje przykład kieleckiej parafii. Od lat 60. do schyłku stulecia, 8 wikariuszy tamtejszej kolegiaty obejmowało swą opieką tylko niewielką część z ok. 5500 parafian. W latach 1597-1598 bractwa religijne odnotowano tylko w ok. 20% parafii, ich aktywizacja zaś w kolejnych latach postępowała opornie. Dostępne źródła sugerują, że nie było łatwo zaangażować świeckich w życie religijne parafii ponad niedzielną naukę podstawowych modlitw i ofertoria. Życie religijne, relacje duchownych i świeckich w prepozyturze kieleckiej drugiej połowy XVI wieku to nadal świat prowincji późnego średniowiecza. Tak bowiem jak na przełomie XIV/XV wieku, tak również dwa stulecia później program reformy życia religijnego sprowadzał się do umocnienia dyscypliny świeckich i duchownych.
The article discusses the cure of souls in the Kielce Provostry in the sixteenth century. The source-base comprises the 1529 benefice taxation register of the Cracow Diocese, the records of the local consistory court, the Kielce collegiate parish registers, which date back to the 1560s, and the 1590s visitation protocols. There were twenty-nine parishes in the territory under the provost of the Kielce collegiate chapter. It was predominantly a rural area with only seven towns, whose economic and administrational roles were limited to the demesnes in which they were located. With a few exceptions, the local landowners were ecclesiastical institutions, first and foremost the Bishop of Cracow, the Benedictine monastery of the Holy Cross and the Cistercian monastery at Wąchock. Thus Reformation ideas did not spread in the Provostry, in contrast to neighbouring lands, where noble patronage played a key role.The parish benefices in the Provostry of Kielce were among the best endowed in the whole diocese. The majority of pastors employed curates, usually one, though occasionally two. The number of parishes with curates fell from 79 to 62 percent between the 1520s and the 1590s. In 1529, 44 percent of curates enjoyed higher incomes than the Provostry average, but in 1597 parish priests with above-average incomes constituted only 27 percent. There is no straight correlation between the level of parish incomes and the decision to employ a curate. Although the salaries of the lower clergy were usually only around 15 percent of the overall annual parish revenues, there was no move to raise them. Salaries were supplemented with fees for administering sacraments, but all we know about them is that they were on the decrease throughout the century. The salaries of the Kielce lower chapter that substituted for non-resident canons and prelates constituted only 16 per cent of its total annual income. The curates’ testaments confirm the impression that generally, if their lives were far from luxurious, they were certainly not poor.The majority of rectors and curates in the Provostry were born to burgher or peasant families of the Cracow diocese, and those of noble birth constituted at most 20 percent. The lowest reaches of Polish society completed elementary education at most, hence mass literacy was uncommon. As no more than 15 percent of the Provostry clergy enrolled at Cracow University, training under the guidance of the local parish priest was the only route to ordination for most of them. The lower clergy were aware of the importance of books for the cure of souls, and a breviary, not necessarily the Roman Breviary, was commonly relied upon. Pre-Tridentine liturgical manuals were in use in some parishes down to the end of the sixteenth century. Rarely did visitations list sermon collections, which suggests that the priests must have relied on homilies pu-blished as part of diocesan guides (agendæ). Parish and private libraries were usually small, mostly containing only liturgical manuals and books useful on an everyday basis; catechisms are rarely mentioned.There is no straight correlation between the variety of books in the parish library and the quality of the cure of souls, as is demonstrated by the case of the Kielce collegiate parish. From the 1560s through to the end of the century the six to eight local chapter vicars exercised care only over a minority of local parishioners, perhaps some 5,500. In 1597–98, religious brotherhoods were active only in around 20 percent of parishes, and efforts to expand their activities were frequently in vain. It was clearly difficult to engage parishioners beyond Sunday mass atten-dance, and to do more than persuade them to memorise the rudiments of the faith and contribute to bringing offertories. In the second half of the sixteenth century, religious life in the Kielce Provostry was still to a considerable extent a continuation of the mediaeval world, in which the programme of reform was limited to the strengthening of Church discipline.
The article discusses the cure of souls in the Kielce Provostry in the sixteenth century. The source-base comprises the 1529 benefice taxation register of the Cracow Diocese, the records of the local consistory court, the Kielce collegiate parish registers, which date back to the 1560s, and the 1590s visitation protocols. There were twenty-nine parishes in the territory under the provost of the Kielce collegiate chapter. It was predominantly a rural area with only seven towns, whose economic and administrational roles were limited to the demesnes in which they were located. With a few exceptions, the local landowners were ecclesiastical institutions, first and foremost the Bishop of Cracow, the Benedictine monastery of the Holy Cross and the Cistercian monastery at Wąchock. Thus Reformation ideas did not spread in the Provostry, in contrast to neighbouring lands, where noble patronage played a key role.The parish benefices in the Provostry of Kielce were among the best endowed in the whole diocese. The majority of pastors employed curates, usually one, though occasionally two. The number of parishes with curates fell from 79 to 62 percent between the 1520s and the 1590s. In 1529, 44 percent of curates enjoyed higher incomes than the Provostry average, but in 1597 parish priests with above-average incomes constituted only 27 percent. There is no straight correlation between the level of parish incomes and the decision to employ a curate. Although the salaries of the lower clergy were usually only around 15 percent of the overall annual parish revenues, there was no move to raise them. Salaries were supplemented with fees for administering sacraments, but all we know about them is that they were on the decrease throughout the century. The salaries of the Kielce lower chapter that substituted for non-resident canons and prelates constituted only 16 per cent of its total annual income. The curates’ testaments confirm the impression that generally, if their lives were far from luxurious, they were certainly not poor.The majority of rectors and curates in the Provostry were born to burgher or peasant families of the Cracow diocese, and those of noble birth constituted at most 20 percent. The lowest reaches of Polish society completed elementary education at most, hence mass literacy was uncommon. As no more than 15 percent of the Provostry clergy enrolled at Cracow University, training under the guidance of the local parish priest was the only route to ordination for most of them. The lower clergy were aware of the importance of books for the cure of souls, and a breviary, not necessarily the Roman Breviary, was commonly relied upon. Pre-Tridentine liturgical manuals were in use in some parishes down to the end of the sixteenth century. Rarely did visitations list sermon collections, which suggests that the priests must have relied on homilies pu-blished as part of diocesan guides (agendæ). Parish and private libraries were usually small, mostly containing only liturgical manuals and books useful on an everyday basis; catechisms are rarely mentioned.There is no straight correlation between the variety of books in the parish library and the quality of the cure of souls, as is demonstrated by the case of the Kielce collegiate parish. From the 1560s through to the end of the century the six to eight local chapter vicars exercised care only over a minority of local parishioners, perhaps some 5,500. In 1597–98, religious brotherhoods were active only in around 20 percent of parishes, and efforts to expand their activities were frequently in vain. It was clearly difficult to engage parishioners beyond Sunday mass atten-dance, and to do more than persuade them to memorise the rudiments of the faith and contribute to bringing offertories. In the second half of the sixteenth century, religious life in the Kielce Provostry was still to a considerable extent a continuation of the mediaeval world, in which the programme of reform was limited to the strengthening of Church discipline.
Description
Keywords
diecezja krakowska, reforma Kościoła, duszpasterstwo, biblioteki, testamenty, dyscyplina kościelna, Cracow diocese, Church reform, cure of souls, libraries, testaments, Church discipline
Citation
"Archiwa, Biblioteki I Muzea Kościelne" 2021, T. 115, s. 197-251