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Nasza Przeszłość

Vol. 97 (2002): Our Past

Articles

Contributions to the issue of spirituality of the Order of St Norbert in Poland

  • Jerzy Rajman
DOI: https://doi.org/10.52204/np.2002.97.5-23  [Google Scholar]
Published: 2002-06-30

Abstract

Next to the Cistercians, the Premonstratensians were the greatest contemplative order of the 12th century. In Poland, they made their appearance in the mid-12th century and soon built up more than a dozen monasteries. As the spirituality of the Polish Premonstratensians has not been researched yet, this article tries to identify some important issues in that field. The Polish Premonstratensians were quick to adopt the cult of the Virgin Mary — evidence of it can be found in all the monasteries of the Polish circaria. The church at Strzelno was dedicated to the Holy Trinity; the place is also known to have venerated the Holy Rood. Although there is no reliable proof of Polish Premonstratensians practicing the cult of the Holy Sepulchre, we have a 17th-century devotional manual on Christ's Passion which came from the library of the former Norbertine monastery of Płock. Medieval records of the spiritual profile of the order are scanty. Among the few that we do possess are the feast day glosses in the Hours of St. Vincent’s Abbey at Ołbin (dated back to the 13th century) and some directions concerning fasting in the Statutes of the Norbertine Chapter (the manuscript with a Polish translation from 1540 can be found in the Norbertine Monastery at Zwierzyniec). An examination of other manuscript calendar entries (Zwierzyniec, Witow, and Imbramowice) should be the next step in researches into Premonstratensian spirituality.

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