Wacław Schenk (1913-1932) was born in Silesia and studied there. He was ordained a priest in 1938 in Wrocław, where he met the Benedictine monks belonging to the abbey in Krzeszów. These meetings gave rise to his interest in liturgy, and in particular local liturgy. Fr. Schenk considered knowledge of the liturgy to be a necessity for a priest. In 1950, he was appointed vice-rector of the Major Seminary in Nysa, where he demonstrated his teaching talent. In 1952, he resumed his studies at the Catholic University of Lublin, where he obtained the titles of doctor, associate professor and professor. He began his research with medieval manuscripts preserved in Wrocław and gradually expanded their scope. He won over the students and introduced them to previously unknown territory: the Old Polish liturgy, which was based on monographs relating to the 19th and 20th centuries. Schenk synthesized this research. He did not publish much, and his main achievement was encouraging his students to do so. He had his own personal project - the history of the liturgy in Poland, which was to fill an empty space on the historical and geographical map of the liturgy in Europe, so to speak. Schenk never revealed this project, although he dreamed of writing a history of the Holy Mass. in Poland, which would be the synthesis necessary to realize this dream of his life. For this purpose, he collected master's and doctoral theses of his students, but a tragic road accident ended his project. Professor Schenk's great achievement was the discovery of a huge research field and the education of historians who would continue the work he started. The local history of liturgy is surprisingly rich, and the very fact of posing the problem will encourage others to follow suit.