Renewing the Musical Culture of the Diocese of Lublin during Episcopal Ministry of Stefan Wyszyński

Abstract

In this article, author presented the process of renewing the musical culture of the Diocese of Lublin just after the end of World War II. The collected sources lead to Stefan Wyszyński, who as the diocesan bishop turned out to be a courageous inspirer, undertaking a series of activities to rebuild the proper level of liturgical life in the Diocese of Lublin. In order to implement the assumptions, Bishop Wyszyński created real opportunities to improve the professional qualifications of church musicians, and thus initiated the process of teaching the faithful a new liturgical repertoire as well as correcting musical and theological errors of the songs previously used. The renovation of many old instruments, as well as the construction of new church organs, had a natural influence on the level of musical culture in the Diocese of Lublin. Care for church music by Bishop Wyszyński was also manifested in admirable (for difficult post-war times) decisions on how to finance the Church’s employees.

The presented materials on the subject of church music in the years 1946–1948 in the Diocese of Lublin allow to state that thanks to the Bishop Stefan Wyszyński a lot was done to influence the level of the Church’s musical culture. Until today, after 70 years, these activities should be pointed out as a model to be followed.