The formation of the northern and western border of the Lublin diocese on the basis of the bull "Vix dum Poloniae unitas" of 1925

Abstract

The article is an attempt at a historical-geographical analysis of the process related to the establishment of the northern and western boundaries of the Lublin diocese in accordance with the provisions of the circular bull "Vix dum Poloniae unitas", issued on 28 October 1925. The question of the modification of the boundaries of the diocese of Lublin, separating it in the north from the diocese of Siedlce or Podlasie, and in the west from the diocese of Sandomierz, raised in the article, verifies and completes previous research on the subject. The process of demarcating the northern and western borders of the Lublin diocese, which was carried out in accordance with the bull of 1925, actually began as early as 1919 and lasted until 1939, and its aim was to achieve a compromise division favourable to the faithful of the neighbouring parishes, to separate the Lublin diocese from the diocese of Siedlce or Podlasie and to settle the border with the diocese of Sandomierz on the Vistula. The results of the research presented in the article prove that the attempts made on various occasions in the years 1925-1939 to define the stable boundaries of the Lublin diocese, which were subject to permanent changes after the final settlement, did not lead to the establishment of boundaries that would correspond to the demarcation line referred to in the text of the 1925 bull. Thus, the actual boundary of the northern and western parts of the Lublin diocese, formed between 1925 and 1939, does not coincide with that established by the 1925 Bull "Vix dum Poloniae unitas". The process in which the three stages of the formation of the boundaries of the dioceses of Lublin and Siedlce and Lublin and Sandomierz were recorded is described in detail on the map attached to the article.