POLAND
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POLAND
their convents, and in these parishes all the pastoral
work was done by members of the order.
The Piarists. — In 1642 the first thirteen Piarists came from Rome to Warsaw at the request of King Ladislaus IV. The Poles readily entered this order, and it soon spread through the whole country. The first monks were Bohemians, Moravians, and Ger- mans by birth. The schools founded by them were organized in accordance with the constitutions of St. Joseph Calasanctius. In the first hundred years the schools of the Piarists, so far as excellence is concerned, were in no way different from the others. Not until the reform of Konarski was there an improvement in the instruction and training. This monk, during a journey through Italy, France, and Germany, studied the foreign educational systems and undertook there- form of the Piarist schools on a basis more in con- formity with the requirements of the time. He carried out the reform not only by the li\'ing word in the schools, but by writing educational treatises. The method of instruction as systematized by him stimu- lated everj- faculty of the mind, it made demands on the reason rather than on the memorj', it led the pupil to a consideration of the main points and to clearness of expression. A further aim of his schools was the education of the pupil's heart, in order that as men they might be useful members of society and be qual- ified to bring up others to a religious life. This reform of the Piarist schools had its successes in other schools as well, for the Jesuits adopted the new method of instruction, and other schools did the same. The beneficial efficacy of tliis school-reform at once became apparent in the general advance of culture. The Pia- rist convents were suppressed in Galicia after the parti- tion of Poland, and in Russian Poland in 1864. Only one Polish convent of this congregation, that of Cracow, is still in existence.
The Order of the Reformed Franciscans was intro- duced into Poland at the time of the beatification of St. Peter of Alcdntara (1622 under Gregory XV). The first members of this new order were recruited from the Bernardines and Franciscans; they were at first persecuted and even banished. But when the news of their piety reached the Court, King Sigismund III himself made an appeal to the pope for permission to introduce the order into Poland. The Holy Father did not refuse him, and the Bishop of Cracow had hardly issued the decree of their admission (29 May, 1622), when foundations of Reformati were at once begun, the number rising to fifty-seven. The Re- formati in Poland lived entirely on alms; they gave themselves up exclusively to religious exercises. Their convents were suppressed at various times : in Austria, partly between 1796 and 1809, in Congress Poland in 1834 and 1864, lastly in Russian Poland in 1875.
The Templars are supposed to have been introduced into Poland as early as 1155, but this date is not abso- lutely certain. However, the account of a Templar foundation at Gnesen before 1229 is reliable. When the order was suppressed throughout Europe, in 1312, all their possessions in Poland were transferred to the Knights of St. John.
The Theatines were in Poland from 1696 to 1785; their place of residence was Warsaw. They had aa pupils at their lectures the sons of the wealthiest families, but their instruction was inadequate, and ignored the Polish tongue. There was no fixed curri- culum, no advanced method of instruction, no system of classes, arranged according to the degree of pro- gress of the pupils. The i lain subjects of instruction were the Latin, Italian, a li French languages, with architecture, painting, and music. There were no class rooms, the teacher gi ving instruction in his own dwelling to one or more pupils in his own specialty. The subjects taught followed one another in accord- ance with no uniform plan, but in accordance with the wishes and choice of the teacher or pupil. When
tired of teaching, the teachers not infrequently went
visiting with their pupils to some acquaintance or
relative. Not imtil later did they begin to pay any
regard to the principles of pedagogy relative to joint
instruction by classes. Failing in energy and in the
ability to adapt themselves to the demands of their
time, they were compelled to leave Poland in the
year 1785.
The Trappists, driven out of France as the result of the French Revolution, stopped for a while in White Russia and Volhynia. The Russian Emperor Paul welcomed them within the boundaries of his empire and gave them refuge and support. The first eighteen Trappists came in 1798 and settled in White Russia. However, they did not remain there long, for as early as the beginning of the year 1800 they left their new homes anfl went to England and America.
The Trinitarians (Ordo Ccelestis SS. Trinitatis de Redemptione Captivorum). — King John Sobieski, after the deliverance of Vienna (12 September, 1683), sent Bishop Denhof to Rome to Innocent XI with the captured Turkish flag, which the pope caused to be placed in the Lateran on 7 October of the same year. While in Rome, Denhof frequently visited the convent church of the Trinitarians, and this order pleased him so much that he decided to introduce it into Poland. He succeeded in doing this in April, 1685. The Trini- tarians were installed at Lemberg, because this city, being near the Turkish frontier, was more favourably situated than Warsaw for the negotiations necessary for the ransom of prisoners. A second convent of the Trinitarians was at Cracow; the third, at Stanislaw, was suppressed by the Austrian government in 1783; the fourth, in Volhjiiia (Beresczek), in 1832. The eighteen convents in Poland constituted a separate province. In Austria they were suppressed in 1783 by Joseph II, in Russian Poland, in 1832 and 1863. The discalced Trinitarians led a rigorous life; no mem- ber of the order was permitted to have any property, and as a result great poverty prevailed among them. In addition to the daily prayer of the Breviary, they had meditations and prayers lasting two hours and a half; they kept silence and fasted on all days of the week except Sunday; furthermore, there were fre- quent disciplines. The Trinitarians in Poland re- garded it as their chief task to ransom prisoners from the Turks and Tatars, for which purpose they de- voted, according to the rule of their order, one-third of all they received. They also collected alms for the deliverance of prisoners; ecclesiastical as well as secular lords contributed large sums of money for this purpose. Two years after their arrival in Poland (16SS) the Trinitarians ransomed 8 prisoners; 13 in 1690; 43 in 1691; 45 in 1694; 25 in 1695; 43 in 1699; 55 in 1712; 49 in 1723; 70 in 1729; 33 in 1743. Among those ransomed were not only Poles but also members of other nationalities, particularly Hunga- rians.
The Ursulines entered Poland only in the nine- teenth century, but they have rendered great service to the country by training and instructing the girls. Expelled by the Prussian Government, they found a refuge in Austria.
The Vincentian Sisters, or Sisters of Charity, ob- serving the rule of St. Vincent de Paul, came to Poland during his lifetime (1660). Besides nursing the sick, they devoted themselves to the training of orphans and poor girls. They have survived in all the prov- inces of the former Kingdom of Poland, except Lithuania, where they were suppressed in 1842 and 1864.
V. Present Position op the Church. — At the present time the Polish people are closely bound to the heads of their Church by ties of love and con- fidence. In Russian Poland it is not probable that any enemy could alienate the Cathofic part of the population from the bishops; in Austria the relations
