Teaching and Scientific Activities of Fr. Jan Ślósarz at the Theological Faculty of the University of Lviv in the Years 1886–1903

Abstract

This article presents the university career of a clergyman of the Archdiocese of Lviv of the Latin rite, Dr. habil. Jan Ślósarz (1850–1917). After obtaining his doctoral degree in theology in 1855 at the Faculty of Theology of the University of Vienna, he returned to Lviv, where he was employed as a secondary school catechist. However, he did not abandon his plans for further scientific career. In the years 1886/87–1890/91 he was employed at the Faculty of Theology of the University of Lviv as an assistant professor. He gave lectures, on and off, on several subjects in place of absent professors. For instance, in the winter of 1888, he replaced the New Testament lecturer, Fr. Józef Watzke. In the spring of 1889 he was commissioned to give lectures on the Old Testament in place of Fr. Klemens Sarnicki OSBM. In 1890 he replaced Fr. Józef Delkiewicz at the Department of Church History. Simultaneously, in 1888–1892 the clergyman served as a prefect of the Lviv Seminary of the Latin rite, and then in 1892–1894 as a teacher of religion in the Fifth Grammar School, and in 1894–1905 as a catechist in the High Real School in Lviv. However, the ultimate dream of Fr. Ślósarz was a university professorship. He sought it already in 1895, when the Department of Church History was vacant, but to no avail. He tried again in 1900, opening his habilitation procedure in the field of pastoral theology at the University of Lviv. He obtained his habilitation degree without any major difficulties, and it was approved by the Ministry of Religions and Education in 1891. The Department of Pastoral Theology was, however, not vacant. But after the death of its head in 1902, a real opportunity presented itself. Fr. Ślósarz was made an interim acting head of the department, though he did not receive a formal nomination. In spite of his efforts, Fr. Ślósarz eventually lost the competition for the new head of the department to Fr. Alojzy Jougan, who had practical pastoral experience plus considerable writing and organisational experience. As a consolation he was entrusted with commissioned lectures in 1901–1903 on the Sacrament of Penance. Discouraged by his failures, Fr. Ślósarz turned to another sphere of his activity – in 1904 he was nominated a canon of the Metropolitan Chapter in Lviv, holding this position for the last 13 years of his life.