The Invocations of Parochial Churches on the Territory of the Cracow Diocese at the End of the 16th c.

Abstract

At the end of the 16th c. on the territory of the Cracow diocese (according to the then visitation reports) there were 893 parochial and affiliated churches there. We have worked out the patrocinia (?) for 879 temples. The invocations of 14 churches are as yet unknown. We find 4 types of patrocinia: Trinitarian, Marian, Angelic and the patrocinia of the saints. Within these 4 types there have been found 68 various kinds of invocations, including: 6 kinds of Trinitarian invocations, which were dedicated to 64 temples (7.2% of the total), 7 kinds of Marian titles, which we encounter in 85 temples (2.8%) and 54 invocations which refer to the saints, under whose care 656 (73.4%) churches were given. Among the latter there are 50 titles of the saints of the Catholic Church (579 churches) and 4 kinds of the titles of Polish saints (77 churches).

We notice that the numbers which characterize the incidence of patrocinia are markedly irregular, they range from 1 to 74. Almost two thirds of the total invocations (46 kinds) cherished little publicity. They crop up in the Cracow diocese not more than 9 times (that is not more than in 1% of the churches).

We have included 19 invocations in the most popular ones (i.e., they occur in 19 to 74 cases). These are the titles: St Nicholas (74 churches), Assumption (64), All Saints (58), John the Baptist (52), Nativity of Mary (47), St Martin (40), St Bartholomew (38), St Catherine and St Stanislaus (37 each), St Adalbert (34), St Mary Magdalene (29), SS Peter and Paul (28), St Jacob (27), St Michael the Archangel and St Andrew (25 each), St Bartholomew, St. Wawrzyniec (21), Holy Trinity and St. Margaret (22 each) and St. Cross (19 churches).

In 46 churches we find complex invocations: 41 two-element patrocinia, 4 patrocinia consisting of three elements and 1 church dedicated to four patrons. In total we have noted 29 various kinds of titles, out of which the majority (23 kinds) were used as co-patrocinia only in one or two cases. To patrocinia which most often occur as the complex titles belonged the following: St. Catherine ( 5 temples), St. Margaret (4), St. Nicholas, St Mary Magdalene and St. Matthew (3 each). We rarely find temples dedicated to the same 2 or 3 saints, that is why it is difficult to determine whether there were any regularities in choosing a few patrocinia. We can only note that in the complex patrocinia there were combined either invocations to saints with invocations to other saints (ca. in half of the cases), or to invocations higher in hierarchy (Trinitarian, Marian or Angelic) were added the invocations to the Saints of the Lord (almost the other half of churches).

We have up to now referred the invocations from the later period to the moment of the establishment of a parish and church. We have made two comparisons, in order to discriminate whether this manner of procedure is justifiable:

1) The data on the invocations from the 16th-century visitations contained in J. Długosz's Liber beneficiorum have been compared. In the majority of churches (in 320 out of 416 under comparison, i.e., in 77%) the invocations were left unchanged. The differences in the writing of the invocations in 96 temples are, above all, minute changes and bear little significance (the difference in the number of the elements of complex invocations or different varieties of titles concerning the same object of cult). There is a considerable change in invocations in 39 temples (in ca. 9%).

2) The invocations from 29 churches (the second half of the 15th c. and the end of the 16th c.) built on the territory under survey have been compared with the data on the patrocinia from the earlier period. The titles were not changed in 18 churches (ca. 62%), in 5 temples (17%) we have found changes of lesser importance; we can, however, speak about some significant differences in the case of 6 churches (21%). In the light of the comparisons we may state that the titles of the majority of parochial temples did not undergo any general changes over the Middle Ages up to end of the 16th c. We recognize them as a constant element characterizing a given church, and as a phenomenon rather stable in its nature.

Having confronted various sources, we came up with the following conclusions:

1) 16th-century churches dedicated to SS Peter and Paul which stem out of the early Middle Ages were initially most probably dedicated to the single title of St. Peter. The tendency to replace one title for two, that is that of SS Peter and Paul, becomes apparent from the end of the 13th c.

2) Up to the 14th c. only the Marian churches bore the general personal title of the Blessed Virgin Mary. These invocations recalled the Marian mysteries (Assumption, Nativity, Visitation, Annunciation or the Purification of the Blessed Virgin Mary) appeared as late as the 15th c. and started to replace the primary general titles of the Mother of God.

Until 1326 150 temples had been founded on the territory under survey (prep. (?) Wiślica and Kielce, Oświęcim decanate and arch. Lublin and Nowy Sącz). They were endowed with 34 different types of patrocinia. The most essential titles are: the Blessed Virgin Mary, John the Baptist, Peter and Paul (mainly the primary churches of St. Peter), St. Adalbert, St. Jacob, St. Michael, and partly St. Martin and St. Stanislaus. In the latter group 27 temples have been discriminated. The time of their erection may be the 11th - 12th c. 14 kinds of invocations were related to them, out of which the most characteristic of the earliest stage of Polish Christianity are the following titles: the Blessed Virgin Mary, St. Peter, St. Adalbert, St. John the Baptist and perhaps also: St. Jacob, St Bartholomew, St Idzi, St Leonard, St. Nicholas and St Michael

Between 1326 and 1470 there were founded 118 churches on the territory under survey. These churches bore 36 types of titles. The most important are the invocations: Nativity and Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary, St Margaret and St. Catherine and the Holy Trinity, St. Cross,. Corpus Christi and the Holy Ghost.

The patrocinia of St. Nicholas and All Saints, which came early on the Polish territories, were also popular in both time intervals (up to 1326 and between 1326 and 1470).