Polish witnesses to the faith speak about of Mary

  • Kazimierz Pek The John Paul II Catholic University of Lublin, Faculty of Theology
Keywords: Piotr Skarga; Jan Paweł II; Polish mariology

Abstract

Father P. Skarga and John Paul II no adopted the principle that every biography of a saint must mention his or her devotion to Mary. This “omission”of sorts was due to various reasons. Sometimes testimonies were missing, other times the biographers only wanted to highlight the central truthsof the Christian Mystery. They both spoke of Marian devotion in the context of the whole of Christian witness, the whole Mystery of Christ. Their accounts indicate that the Polish saints discussed here represent many models of Marian devotion. Fr. Skarga and John Paul II pointed to various forms of Marian devotion of the Polish saints: from summoning of the Mother of the Lord to imitating her attitudes. In the light of these accounts, the hypothesis that there is one way in which the Polish saints lived their devotion to Mary is disproved.

References

Apostolic Letter on the Occasion of the 6th Centenary of the Baptism of Lithuania (1987), in: John Paul II, The Collected Works, t. 3, Cracow 2009 (hereinafter: JPDZ 3), 132-133.

Apostolic Letter on the 9th Centenary of the Death of St. Stanislaus Bishop and Martyr (1979), JPDZ 3, 839-842.

Apostolic Letter on the Millennium of Episcopal Consecration of St. Adalbert, JPDZ 3, 674-676.

Letter to the Polish Bishops 1997, JPDZ 3, 870-873.

Letter to the Parishioners of St. Stanislaus Kostka's Church in Cracow (1996), JPDZ 3, 869.

Letter on the Occasion of the 750th Anniversary of the Canonization of Saint Stanislaus Bishop and Martyr (2003), JPDZ 3, 879-881.

th Pilgrimage to Poland (Lubaczów 1991), in: John Paul II, The Collected Works, t. 9, Cracow 2009.

Skarga P., Lives of the Polish Saints, Cracow 2011.

Published
2019-12-05
Section
Articles