Historical Calendar: January 6, 1285 – The beginning of the Synod in Łęczyca

Historical calendar – the anniversary of convening the synod of Polish bishops in Łódź. It was decisive for the formation of the modern Polish Nation.

Today in our calendar we will look at 1 of the most crucial events in the past of our nation.

The 1285 Łeczycki Synod was convened at the initiative of Archbishop of Gniezno Jakub Świnka. It was an event of epic importance. During it it was decided to present the thought of the Polish Crown and the Polish Nation in the Church.

At the time Poland was located in the apogee of the territory crash. The most enlightened princes and bishops of the Polish dioceses sought with all their might to reconstruct the unity of the country and the royal crown restaurant ( Saint Stanislaus, canonized in 1253, was the patron of this union).

Among the various obstacles, a peculiarly dangerous and increasing threat was the expanding mass influx of the German population. At the same time, as in the case of the secession of the Slavic Franciscans, there were actions consisting in the usage of ecclesiastical institutions to destruct Polishness (e.g. restrictions were introduced in the number of Poles in individual monasteries).

The reaction to these threats was placed by the Łeczycki Synod inside its The pastoral action program. In defining the liturgical responsibilities of the clergy, it was stated, inter alia:

We are all priests during the Holy Mass, after singing the Creed to the gathered faithful, lecture in Polish: I believe in God, Our Father and Hail Mary – and the holidays the following week they announced.

The command to usage the Polish language was put even more powerfully in the resolution of schools:

We order for the preservation and improvement of the Polish language at all cathedral and spiritual church, as well as another places, that specified only are school managers who talk Polish well and could explain authors in Polish to boys.

Similarly with respect to the granting of ecclesiastical offices:

Also, erstwhile it is written “Get to know your flock urgently,” we constitute and powerfully command that no 1 beneficed with the shepherding of souls who would not be born in the country and run in the speech of the land.

The Synod was initiated by Archbishop Pińka, undoubtedly 1 of the most prominent bishops the Church had in Poland throughout the millennium. The Archbishop, until his death in 1314, consistently acted for the unification of the Kingdom of Poland (not without the generosity which he demonstrated, for example, by supporting Prince Henry Probus, with whom he was in conflict).

In a letter written in the aftermath of the synod of Łęczyk, “to the 3 cardinals of the Roman Church” from 1285, Archbishop Pińka warned against the harm resulting to the Church from German dominance in any ecclesiastical spheres in Poland, while diagnosing:

But many another evils have been multiplied in the country by the influx of this people, due to the fact that the Polish population suffers oppression, disregard, is shaken by fights and robbed of glorious laws and native customs...

Both the decrees of the Łęczycki Synod and the activities of Archbishop Świnka illustrate the phenomenon of solidarity of Polish bishops with the devoted care of God's people, whose elites in seeking political unity and for preserving their identity began to be found as a separate nation.

This was most likely the first minute in our past erstwhile the “elementary” of Polishness found its main support not so much in secular institutions but in the Church. Polish speech, expressed in it cognition of holy things, Polish school and selection of social elites – all this made the modern Polish Nation educated. Besides, as 1 of the first in Europe.

It was this event that Roman Dmowski referred to erstwhile he wrote that Polishness is inseparable from Catholicism.

Previous entry from our calendar is available Here.