From the history of the Krakow Churchin the 19th and 20th centuries

In the mid-18th century, the Krakow diocese encompassed an area of 53 thousand square kilometers. Currently, it covers 8.1 thousand square kilometers, which is only one-seventh of its former territory. The Krakow diocese, which had 7 archdeaconries in the mid-18th century, has now been reduced to just one former archdeaconry – Krakow. In the 18th century, there were about a thousand parishes within the borders of the Krakow diocese, and after a hundred years of reduction, there were only 44. That’s why the first chapter presented in the monograph deals with changes in the borders and territory of the diocese, reduced in the third quarter of the 19th century to the level of an apostolic vicariate. The diocese was only restored in 1880. In subsequent texts, the author addresses central diocesan institutions such as the cathedral chapter, seminary, Theological Faculty of the Jagiellonian University, bishop’s curia, Retirement Home for Priests, and their relationships in various periods of the 19th and 20th centuries. There are several texts related to the bishops of Krakow (Cardinal Albin Dunajewski, Cardinal Jan Puzyna, Cardinal Adam S. Sapieha). The author also undertakes the presentation of the clergy of Krakow in the interwar period. Religious life is reflected in texts about experiencing the Holy Year of 1826, as well as the liturgical life of the cathedra chapter during the German occupation, and in the chapter on tourist pastoral care in the Tatra Mountains since 1957. The history of religious life is represented by a text on the return of the Jesuits to Krakow in 1868 and the beginnings of the Albertine Sisters during the life of their founder (until 1940). The monograph discusses one deanery (Zywiec deanery) and one parish (Dzianisz). Each chapter of the monograph is a single piece in the mosaic of the history of the Krakow diocese in the two past centuries.