Model obywatela idealnego w listach pasterskich biskupa płockiego Michała Jerzego Poniatowskiego (1773-1784)

• Authors: Mateusz Siembab

Title variants

EN

The Model of a Perfect Citizen in the Pastoral Letters of Michał Jerzy Poniatowski, the Bishop of Płock (1773-1784)

Abstracts

EN

The article discusses the model of a perfect citizen described in the pastoral letters of Michał J. Poniatowski, the Bishop of Płock (1773-1784). The author bases his reconstruction of that model on the so-called recommendations for prayer for the souls of the departed. Those “recommendations” were devoted to eight prominent figures who lived at the turn of the 18th century and who were put forward as examples to follow for other people. Apart from the Archbishop A.K. Ostrowski, the people in question were either lay senators or high-level state officials. It is impossible to determine the level of involvement of the bishop himself in the form and content of the documents issued by his office in Warsaw. It is also impossible to deny that several of the aforementioned officials were either related to or friends with the Bishop Poniatowski and his brother - king Stanisław August. The discussed letters contain a list of attributes of a state official, who was to be a patriot and a faithful servant of the king at the same time. Among those attributes, the bishop differentiated private virtues, concerned with family life, as well as the more commonly mentioned public virtues, which were to help in managing the life of public service. For context, the author contrasts his findings with other models of citizenship permeating the preaching practice of that time and included in the program letter of the Bishop M.J. Poniatowski dating August 20, 1775. Moreover, the article includes certain biographical facts concerning the figures in question, which could be seen as unflattering and for that reason were excluded from the “recommendations” for prayer. The fact that the pastoral letters were printed by the Royal as well as the Commission of National Education printing houses further establishes the notion of active cooperation between the king and the Church officials in the effort of creating ideals of citizenship recognized and propagated by his closest advisors

Keywords

PL

Michał Jerzy Poniatowski; szlachta republikańska; modele obywatelskie w Rzeczypospolitej za rządów Stanisława Augusta; Stanisław August

EN

Michał Jerzy Poniatowski; republican nobility; models of citizenship in the Polish Republic during the reign of Stanisław August; Stanisław August

• Publisher: Wydawnictwo Uniwersytetu Śląskiego
• Journal: Wieki Stare i Nowe
• Year: 2017
• Volume: 12
• Issue: 17
• Pages: 87-107

Dates

published

2017

Contributors

author

Mateusz Siembab

Identifiers

Biblioteka Nauki

666191