Studia Pastoralne
Rocznik Wydziału Teologicznego UŚ

DIE ERZIEHERISCHE ROLLE DER KATHOLISCHEN KIRCHE UND DER RELIGION IM WIRKEN VON BOLESŁAW PRUS

RELIGIOUS EDUCATION OF SCHOOL CHILDREN AND STUDENTS IN THE TERRITORY OF POLAND IN THE LATE 19TH AND EARLY 20TH CENTURIES IN THE LIGHT OF LITERATURE AND MEMOIR WRTINGS.
Summary
The research objective of the article is to show the methods and forms of religious education of school children and students in the late 19th and early 20th centuries in the territory of Poland based on fiction and memoir writings. Religious instruction teachers were responsible for teaching religion at schools. Some of them conducted classes in accordance with the teaching methodology; they were able to make students interested in religious matters, and they were treated as authorities and became their students’ spiritual mentors. Others did not contribute much to the religious and moral shaping of young people, due to the lack of teaching skills or appropriate knowledge, or because they treated their duties carelessly. The authorities representing foreign rule in the territory of Poland, by treating religion instrumentally, forced students to various religious practices, which created a negative effect, and turned the students off religion and the Church. Many students were deep believers and practicing Catholics. However, lack of proper educational impact caused some students’ difficulties with faith. Some of them even considered themselves atheists. The source material presented in the article can also be instructive for contemporary teachers of religious education.

THE ROLE OF SUFFERING IN MAN’S LIFE IN LIGHT OF ZYGMUNT KRASIŃSKI’S LETTERS
Summary
Zygmunt Krasiński (1812–1859) was one of the greatest Polish Romantic poets. The objective of this article is to present his views on suffering in light of his letters written to various addressees. The article describes the problems of the causes and effects of suffering and the sense of suffering, as well as the causes and effects of man’s happiness. Krasiński saw the ultimate cause of suffering in the original sin, which had introduced disintegration in the whole created world, also in man. He viewed suffering in light of the mystery of the passion, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, seeing it as a means of man’s spiritual development and his eternal salvation. Even though man cannot become fully happy on earth, he should aim at making others happy. The fullness of happiness can only be reached in life after death, when man will become united with God.
Keywords: polish letters in the 19th century, polish Romanticism, suffering, Zygmunt Krasiński