6533b857fe1ef96bd12b4775

RESEARCH PRODUCT

Religia i religijność a problemy narodowe i cywilizacyjne na Górnym Śląsku na przełomie XIX i XX wieku

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The 19th century, particularly the second half, proved to be of importance to the Silesia of today. A period of rapid industrialization, the introduction of the mechanisms geared towards mass European culture, and the presence of acute political and social problems affecting a highly diversified ethnic population all had a tremendous iniluence on the region. An individual and collective religiousness, presented in professional literature is considered to be the constitutive quality of Silesian culture for both Poles and Germans alike. The formative processes produced reactions ranging from placid to militant opposition. Notable was the religiousness strictly connected with social activism such as with trade unions, social organizations, and the general reading public. Religious institutions were perceived in the context ot national and regional transformations which fostered the cult of the Polish language. The popularity of religious elements was evidenced in the titles of magazines, in the names of organizations, in correspondence and in the collecting of ..holv" paintings by individuals and families. The Kulturkampf carried out by Bismarck was not onlv directed against Polishness per se but also against the strong religiousness of the Polish people. Kulturkampf gave rise to the establishment of a Catholic opposition party and to the mobilization of defenders of faith among the Polish folk. There was a strongly felt need among the more educated people to integrate the society by means of evangelisation. Religiousness often became the subject of acute political games. In certain circles political priority was given to the state or to the nation, and the widely held stereotype of Poland as the stronghold of Catholicism was continually being reinforced. The clergy, in turn, was forced to declare which side they would support: the German or the Polish. The choice of the latter meant persecution by state authorities. Under such adversary conditions, Polish priests were frequently engaged in cultural, national, and social activities which, supported by their personal authorin’, rendered their social status even higher. Not only did they manage to consolidate religiousness and the Polish identity but they also fostered the development of an authentic and valuable indigenous Silesian culture. Contemporary sociological research carried out on the status and personality of priests has revealed the establishment of a multifaceted model of the clergy operating in the urban milieu of Silesia. The ideal priest was not only a man of the Church, he tried to be ..everything for everybody'’. He helped create national identity, organized education and folk culture both on a regional and national scale, and more often than not was a genuine writer. He could recognize the dangers looming ahead. The growing Silesian culture with its ideological and commercial orientation and its potentiality for destructiveness were identified. The priests opinions were ahead of his contemporaries, particularly in the denouncing of rough folk culture, for the priests considered trash and kitsch as positively dangerous to a sense of beauty and ot metaphysical feelings. The model of such a priest as described in the article was most closely realized by revs. Emil Szramek, Konstanty Damrok, Norbert Bohczyk, and Aleksander Skowronski, to mention but a few of those enumerated.