DOI article:
Krasny, Piotr: Epistola pastoralis biskupa Bernarda Maciejowskiego z roku 1601: Zapomniany dokument recepcji potrydenckich zasad kształtowania sztuki sakralnej w Polsce
DOI Page / Citation link: https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.19072#0178
Maciejowski did not include any specific orders regarding religious iconography; however, he
generally demanded that the pictures placed in a church have "a suitable appearance and induce
the souls of the faithful to piety". A factor of considerable importance to creating the fonns of
churches was the order to build porches in front of their main entrances and erect sturdy beli
towers separated from the church walls.
The 1607 synod of Piotrków extended the instructions of the Epistoła pastoralis to the
whole Gniezno archdiocese (that is, to most of the CommonwealuYs area). Particular Polish
dioceses soon incorporated it into their statutes and ordinaries announced its successive reprints.
Therefore, it was probably no accident that a mass adaptation of the interiors of Polish churches
to Post-Tridentine liturgical and pastorał refonns took place especially in the first half of the
17th century, thus coinciding with the promulgation and popularization of Maciejowskie text.
The fimdainental innovations introduced into churches at that time conesponded to the bishop's
instructions with such accuracy that thcy must be accepted as their faithful implementation. So
there are many indications that the Epistoła pastoralis was the most important and influential
native product of the "Counter-Reformation theory of art" in the Polish Commonwealth.
148
generally demanded that the pictures placed in a church have "a suitable appearance and induce
the souls of the faithful to piety". A factor of considerable importance to creating the fonns of
churches was the order to build porches in front of their main entrances and erect sturdy beli
towers separated from the church walls.
The 1607 synod of Piotrków extended the instructions of the Epistoła pastoralis to the
whole Gniezno archdiocese (that is, to most of the CommonwealuYs area). Particular Polish
dioceses soon incorporated it into their statutes and ordinaries announced its successive reprints.
Therefore, it was probably no accident that a mass adaptation of the interiors of Polish churches
to Post-Tridentine liturgical and pastorał refonns took place especially in the first half of the
17th century, thus coinciding with the promulgation and popularization of Maciejowskie text.
The fimdainental innovations introduced into churches at that time conesponded to the bishop's
instructions with such accuracy that thcy must be accepted as their faithful implementation. So
there are many indications that the Epistoła pastoralis was the most important and influential
native product of the "Counter-Reformation theory of art" in the Polish Commonwealth.
148