GUTOWSKI Waleryan
QUADRAIEZYMAŁ CAŁA ALBO KAZANIA W POLSKIM IĘZYKV NA EWANGELIE KAZDODZIENNE ZVPEŁNEGO FASTV SWIĘTEGO, Z WIĘKSZEJY CZĘŚĆI NIEGDY MIANE PO ROŻNYCH KOŚCIEIOŁY KRAKOWSKICH
from the Reverend Oycá Waleryan Gutowski Fránciszkáná, Náuk Wyzwolonych y Pisma S. Doktora, Prowincyey Polskiey Oyca. In honor of the Lord God and His Immaculately Conceived Mother. Z Ordynánsu Przełożonych do prase [sic] drukarskiey od tegosz podáne, w roku Páńskim 1688.
Z obszernym Indexem, ktory sobie prudny y mądry Czytelnik ná wszystkie práwie w cały roku przypadájące Niedźiele, bárzo łáwietwo potráfi ákkomodowáć.
Cracow 1688, In Cracow in Drukárni Mikołaia Alexandra Schedla, J. K. M. ordináreynego [sic] typographá, errors in pagination: k. 6; p. 702; k.16; format: 20x31 cm
"Wojciech Walerian Gutowski (1629-1693) represents the Franciscan speakers of the second half of the 17th century, today known only to relatively few researchers of Baroque preaching prose. A concise biography compiled by Mgr. Edward Ozorowski brings his profile a bit closer: "He was born in 1629 in Bieganin as the son of Stanislaw and Barbara Olszewski . In 1645 he entered the Order of Conventual Franciscans taking the name Valerian. He studied in Rome. In 1658 he served as regent of the monastic college in Cracow, and in 1663-1666 as provincial, after which he became guardian of Cracow. He visited the Ruthenian province of the Franciscans and presided over the Lviv chapter in 1667. He gave a sermon at the coronation of King Michał Korybut Wiśniowiecki in 1669. He then administered the Polish province as its commissioner until 1671, after which he served as guardian and alternately as custodian in Lviv, in which position he zealously strove to multiply the church's equipment. In 1676 he presided over the proceedings of the Cracow chapter. He contributed significantly to the beatification process of Blessed Kinga. He did not accept the bishopric offered to him. [...] He died on September 22, 1693 and was buried in the Franciscan church in Krakow."
Already this brief encyclopedic biography indicates that Valerian Gutowski belonged to the intellectual elite of his congregation, which eagerly took advantage of his rich knowledge and experience, burdening him with duties in more or less prominent positions - regent of the monastic study, provincial, guardian and custodian of the Krakow monastery, commissioner of the province. The mention of his proposed bishopric indicates that his merits and competence were noticed not only by members of his mother religious community.
He was associated with Krakow for most of his life in the order, and here he became known as a noted preacher who "knew how to combine profound content with original form." He left behind two occasional sermons and
two extensive collections, the first of which contains festive sermons (i.e., on feasts and solemnities in honor of Christ, the Mother of God and the saints of the Lord, as well as on certain Sundays), and the second - Lenten sermons, to which were added: a sermon for the feast of St. Francis (1st ed. 1670) and a speech delivered during the provincial chapter of the Conventual Franciscans in Piotrkow Trybunalski in 1679.
This allows us to see Gutowski as a Krakow preacher sensu stricto - he preached his sermons in Krakow
and to its inhabitants. Fr. Walerian's voice was most often heard at the Wawel Cathedral Church (19 times), St. Mary's Church (18 times) and the home church of the Krakow Franciscans of St. Francis (14 times).
Most of the Lenten sermons (St. Mary's Church - 16, St. Francis - 9, Cathedral - 8) and Christmas sermons included in the collection Panegyrical [...] clerical discourses (Cathedral - 11, St. Francis - 6, St. Mary's - 2) were preached in these three churches. Individual sermons from this collection were delivered at the Jesuit Church of St. Peter (2), at the Dominicans in the Basilica of the Holy Trinity (1), at the Church of St. Catherine in Kazimierz, at the Poor Clare Sisters in the Church of
St. Andrew's, and outdoors in the Main Square.
The place where the sermons were delivered carries important information about the position and rank of the preacher. It is not difficult to see that most of the sermons announced in print were delivered in the most prominent or prestigious
temples of Krakow - the Wawel Cathedral and St. Mary's Church. This testifies to the reverence and respect that the Franciscan speaker enjoyed. Everything indicates that also the speeches delivered in other churches in Krakow
and outside Krakow were, in a way, written at the special invitation of their hosts, usually monks or nuns celebrating patronal feasts in honor of their founders or saints. Thus, the seventh and eighth sermons from the
of the collection Panegyrical [...] clerical discourses "miane w kościele św. Piotra u Ojców WW. Jesuits" were delivered on the feast of St. Ignatius Loyola and Blessed (then) Stanislaus Kostka. The fifteenth sermon from the same collection was written "for the feast of the many holy orders, of the patriararch Saint Benedict" and, according to the occasion, was delivered "in the Tyniec church at the WW. O. Benedictines." Similarly, the twentieth sermon "for the feast of Blessed
Kunegunda" was preached in Stary Sącz at SS. Poor Clares. Fraternities and religious associations, of which there was no shortage in old Kraków, could also have acted as principals10. Sermons preached on such occasions
were primarily intended to add splendor to the ceremony, so efforts were made to recruit speakers of recognized repute, who were popular and distinguished by their talent for eloquence. Thus, Fr. Gutowski's presence at such ceremonies clearly testifies to his position in the circle of Cracow predicators. His talent was probably also appreciated by his confreres, since they entrusted him to preach the word of God on monastic feasts, even in the presence of such unusual guests as the newly elected Polish King Michał Korybut Wiśniowiecki 11. Finally, it was no coincidence that it was Fr. Gutowski "by the order of the Prince H.E. the Bishop of Cracow" who had a special sermon on the Main Square in Cracow during "a public processionyjej,rzeciwko morowe powietrzu [....] decided" in the year 166012. Thus, the time and place of delivering the sermons confirm Walerian Gutowski's high position among his predicates, which in turn also allows us to take more seriously the mentions of numerous listeners flocking to his speeches13 and even demanding the republication of some sermons14. The circumstances of delivering the sermons did not, of course, remain without influence on their content and literary shape. The place of their delivery (Cracow), which is emphasized repeatedly (on the title pages and in the "metrics" of the individual sermons), is reflected in the images of space contained in the individual texts. Gutowski , like other contemporary Franciscan speakers, is an urban preacher par excellence. How significant here, noticed by Janusz Drob , is the almost total absence of images of the countryside15. Unlike in the so-called land literature, in which the opposition city - village becomes almost identical to the opposition locus amoenus - locus horridus, in the sermons the city is characterized more positively, and is even subject to a kind of sacralization16, as in the excerpt quoted by Janusz Drob from sermon XXVIII from Panegyrical [...] clerical discourses: "He has this favor from God and this
capital city, that in addition to angelic guards at almost every gate, he has placed various of his saints for us, as heavenly guardians, so that we would be all the safer in our adventures and in our cases, with their defense.
We have at one gate the infulat and shepherd of ours Stanislaus the holy martyr, we have at the second Jack the saint, we have at the third Florian the saint, at the fourth Salome the blessed, at the fifth the blessed Kante, not to mention so many others". Source; WIELCY KAZNODZIEJE KRAKOWA, Studia in honorem Prof. Eduardi Staniek, edited by Rev. Kazimierz Panus, UNUM Publishing House; Krakow 2006.
Very rare!
HARDCOVER LEATHER FROM THE EPOCH
Condition DB/ heavily damaged cover with dirt, stamp on title page, stains on some pages
Provenance; seal of Aleksey Prusinovsky.
Aleksy Prusinowski (born July 13, 1819 in Gostyń, died February 14, 1872 in Poznań) - member of the Polish National Committee in Poznań in 1848[1], Polish social activist, Catholic clergyman, preacher, publicist.