Non turbetur cor vestrum. Father Fabian about the „comet” seen in the Lublin sky in 1665

Abstract

The article is devoted to the text of the sermon delivered by the Dominican Fabian Sierakowski on the holiday of Pentecost in Lublin on 24 May 1665; its text was published in the same year. The subject of the sermon was the appearance of a strange light over Lublin on that day, that was defined as a „comet” (a meteor shower?). The phenomenon caused an alarm in the inhabitants of the town who were convinced that the „comet” would bring some disaster to the town. In his „Prediction from the Comet” Fabian Sierakowski shows that the prodigium forecasts happy events – but in the spiritual sense. He bases his prediction on an interpretation of Chapter Two of the Acts of the Apostles (Descent of the Holy Ghost). The text is an interesting example of Baroque homilies. The author sees a parallel between the events that occurred on the day of Quinquagesima Sunday and on the feast of Pentecost in 1665. Sierakowski also refers to the situation of the Polish Republic (Jerzy Lubomirski's rebellion); among others, he presents an analogy between the state and the members of the human body.