Skip to main navigation menu Skip to main content Skip to site footer
Nasza Przeszłość

Vol. 107 (2007): Our Past

Articles

The participation of the clergy of the Kielce diocese in the development of reading and parish libraries at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries

  • Tomasz Domański
DOI: https://doi.org/10.52204/np.2007.107.225-245  [Google Scholar]
Published: 2007-06-30

Abstract

The level of education in the Kingdom of Poland was still very low in the second half of the 19th century. The majority of the population was illiterate (70% in 1897, or 6.6 million people). This factor dominated the initiatives and attempts of various social groups to spread education, especially in the Polish countryside. One way of combating illiteracy, in which the Catholic clergy played an important role, was to promote an interest in reading. This form of educational activity appeared in the Kielce diocese around the 1880s. It should be noted that until the Revolution of 1905, due to the difficult political situation and persecution of the clergy, only a few priests were involved in the acquisition of periodicals and the popularisation of the Polish written word. More favourable conditions for this kind of activity came with the political turn of 1905. As part of the general revival, priests generally discussed their own involvement in developing an interest in reading at deanery conferences specially organised for this purpose. Most speeches emphasised the need to popularise the moral and Catholic press as a response to the growth of the socialist press. The authorities of the diocese of Kielce also considered this question. Hence the extraordinary participation of priests in the distribution of magazines, pamphlets and books, which, in addition to raising the intellectual level of the Polish population, resulted from the desire to eliminate from the market independent popular and socialist periodicals attacking the position of the Catholic Church. Initiatives to establish parish libraries in the Kielce diocese also contributed to the spread of reading. These attempts began in the 1970s in the parish of Daleszyce and later in Olkusz. The real flowering of libraries took place during the revolution of 1905 and in the following years. According to surviving sources, in 1913 there were 79 parish libraries in the diocese of Kielce. This was a significant and remarkable number. Parish libraries also made up a significant percentage of the network of libraries in the entire diocese of Kielce. Of course, not all of these libraries were very active. Nor were they always popular with parishioners - usually more so in rural areas. However, there were many alternative educational facilities in the larger towns, and the initiatives of the clergy were not exceptional, but one of many. Many libraries faced various problems, including a lack of suitable premises, inspections by the Russian authorities, and a lack of respect for books among readers. The management of libraries was often in the hands of those involved in the struggle against newspapers that promoted the emancipation of the countryside from the influence of the clergy.

 

References

  1. Erber C., D zieje książki na kielecczyźnie w latach 1795-1865, Kielce 1996. [Google Scholar]
  2. Fulman M., Biblioteki parafialne ich potrzeba, zakładanie i prowadzenie, Warszawa 1907. [Google Scholar]
  3. Gajewski S., Towarzystwo Bibliotek Parafialnych w królestwie Polskim 1907-1910, „Summarium” 1977, nr 6. [Google Scholar]
  4. Kmiecik Z., Prasa polska w latach 1864-1918, w: Historia prasy polskiej, pod red. J. Łojka, Warszawa 1980. [Google Scholar]
  5. Kowalczyk-Mroczkowska L., Geneza księgozbioru czytelni naukowej w Kielcach (1906-1908) i jego funkcja w środowisku społecznym miasta, „Studia Kieleckie” 1988, nr 1, s. 32. [Google Scholar]
  6. Olszewski D., Aktywność społeczno-kulturalna duchowieństwa diecezji kieleckiej w XIX wieku. Zarys problematyki badawczej, w: Aktywność społeczno-kulturalna kościołów i grup wyznaniowych w Polsce w XIX i XX wieku, pod red. M. Meduckiej i R. Renz, Kielce 1993. [Google Scholar]
  7. Olszewski D., Biskup Maciej Majerczak (1800-1870). Reformator życia kościelnego w diecezji kielecko-krakowskiej, w: „Chrześcijanie”, pod red. B. Bejze, t. 5, Warszawa 1980. [Google Scholar]
  8. Olszewski D., Polski katolicyzm a sprawa narodowa na przełomie XIX i XX wieku. Stan i problematyka badań, w: Naród i religia. Materiały z sesji naukowej, pod red. T. Stegnera, Gdańsk 1994. [Google Scholar]
  9. Staszyński E., Polityka oświatowa caratu w Królestwie Polskim, Warszawa 1968. [Google Scholar]
  10. Szabat B., Walka o szkołą polską w okresie rewolucji 1905-1907 r. w guberni kieleckiej, Kielce 1991. [Google Scholar]

Downloads

Download data is not yet available.