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Ludwik Grzebień SI, Paweł Bieś SI
The Society of Jesu Scientific Library and its collection
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The Society of Jesu Scientific Librar
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This article was translated thanks to the grant received from the Open Society Institute
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The founder of the Society of Jesus, Father Ignacy Loyola (1491-1556)
was very well aware of the value and meaning of books in people s
lives. Two books in particular Vita Christi by Ludolf of Saxony and
Flos Sanctorum by James de Voragine played an important role and
influenced Father Loyola's religious experience.
Loyola when establishing the Society of Jesus in XVI century- was
guided by an idea of reforming the church and human spiritual
re-birth. With full realisation of the importance of a written
message-Father Loyola included books into this mission.
The Society's first members prepared prayer books and catechize,
translated the Bible, worked on treatises regarding the struggle for
faith (apologies), prepared sermons and lives of saints.
The most renown authors in Poland were Father Piotr Skarga and Father
Jakub Wujek.
The Jesuits, apart from producing scientific papers and ascetic books,
also wrote and published manuals for Jesuit schools.
The book stock.
The collections of books could be found in every Jesuit college
they were considered an essential and indispensable element in any
such institution.
Every chapter building belonging to the Society had at its
disposal an in-house library with specialised and reference sections
those were mostly of a humanistic profile.
The largest libraries in pre-partition Poland could be found at Jesuit
colleges with theological or philosophical faculties (Braniewo, Wilno,
Kalisz, Cracow, Lwów). The size of these collections ranged from 10,000
to 20,000 volumes. Residential libraries (those of private houses and
palaces) usually held up to 5.000 volumes.
Nowadays, in many public libraries, one can find volumes originating
from old Jesuit colleges.
An old print from the library collection.
In January of 1872, Father Stanislaw Stojałowski (1845-1911) published a
newspaper, entitled: "Apostolstwo Serca Jezusowego" (The Apostleship of the Heart of Jesus), later
called: "Posłaniec Serca Jezusowego" (The Messenger of the Heart of Jesus), thereby establishing the
very first Catholic publishing house in Galicia. It was later called
Wydawnictwo Apostolstwa Modlitwy (The Apostleship of the Prayer -Publishing House).
In time, apart from popular brochures and an ascetic-devotional monthly,
other periodicals began to appear, for example: "Misje Katolickie" (Catholic Missions and)
social/cultural "Przegląd Powszechny" (Popular Review).
In 1872, a separate Writers Library was created, strictly for the use
of writers, and steadily and significantly grew thanks to private
donations, new purchases and acquisitions of books sent for review.
This library included in its content various encyclopaedias, lexicons,
dictionaries, source documents, prints regarding the history of the
Church, as well as theological and philosophical books.
Sadly, the Library was seriously damaged during the Second World War.
For many years now, this library has been under the management of Father
Professor Ludwik Grzebień and it thrives with close to 220,000 volumes
(160,000 titles) and 2,000 periodicals.
The Jesuits created an entirely separate library for the needs of
members of the Society and their theological and philosophical studies.
In 1926, a theological faculty was transferred from Nowy Sącz to Cracow
and the creation of a specialised Philosophical Library next to the
Writers Library followed.
The Jesuit philosophical centre of Cracow was awarded a church faculty
status by the Congregation for Education (for Seminaries and Educational Institutions) in 1932.
In 1989, the Philosophical Faculty of the Society of Jesus gained a
status of a state faculty (following the decision of the Senate in
1989), thereby granting access to secular students and furthering its
development at the same time.
A Philosophical Library, under the management of Father Czesław
Michalunio for the last 50 years, has been gathering primarily
philosophical books/material. At the moment, there are about 150,000
volumes in its content (about 70,000) titles). There is also a very
extensive collection of foreign magazines on the subject of philosophy,
of which, the current number of newspapers amounts to 217 (97 foreign).
The Writers Library former reading room.
A separate section, the so-called: Provincial Library was created within
the Writers Library.
In 1929, Father Stanisław Bednarski (1896-19420) took upon himself to
gather all old prints of all Society's chapter houses (with the
exception of Chyrów), thereby creating the Małopolska Province of the Society of Jesus
The collection consists of nearly 20,000 (30,000 volumes) of valuable
Polish and foreign prints.
Among others: a part of the Jozef Kalasanty Szaniawski's book collection
(1764-1843), the books of old Jesuit Libraries in Austria, many rare old
prints from Połocko, legal theses from old German universities, not
to mention many jesuitica. .
In 1980, a section of manuscripts and drawings was created.
Undoubtedly, an extremely valuable part of the Writers Library is the
archival section of photocopies and microfilms regarding the history and
the legacy of the Jesuits in Poland. These originate mostly from Roman
Archives of the Society of Jesus (Archivum Romanum Societatis Iesu
ARSI). Some manuscripts from the archive of the South Polish Province of the Society of Jesu, as well as other manuscripts from Polish
archives and non-Jesuit libraries have been secured at this collection.
Microfilms of personal files of Polish Jesuits stored at libraries in
Austria, Sweden and Latvia complement this collection.
The group of new buildings, in one of which a new reading room is planned.
In the years 1983-1988, with the help of German Jesuits, a new Writers
Building and new Library Building were built, creating a separate wing
of the Cracow College.
The building was consecrated by the General of the Society of Jesus,
P.H. Kolvenbach, on the 11th of May of 1988.
New library magazines have a capacity for storing up to 600,000 volumes.
The collection of the Writers Library was relocated to the new building
and fully computerised. The general public was granted access to the
collection.
Five years later, the new Writers Building included the Philosophical
Library as well.
The two libraries (combined), under the name of the The Society of Jesu Scientific Library have now 370,000 volumes and 525 current newspaper
titles.
This library is a scientific backup of sorts for the University School of Philosophy and Education "Ignatianum" , run by Jesuits. Its content consists
of works on philosophy, pedagogy, theology and religion; also, of books
on history (especially, the history of the Church), and social
studies.
Due to the collection's limitations (the majority of titles is
one-volume only), the library allows access exclusively on the premises.
The readers have direct, on-line access to the catalogues at the
following address: http://www.jezuici.krakow.pl/bibl/htm, and about
230,000 entries can be found in the catalogues.
The library database available on the Internet is regularly updated
(served) by the Library's staff. One can obtain more detailed
information by accessing the Library's web page -
http://www.jezuici.krakow.pl/bibl/info.
At the moment, the Library's most urgent need is the creation of a
modern, well-equipped reading room, better suited for the growing needs
of students and people of science, as its temporary public reading room
welcomes about 40 users daily.
Bibliography.
- Encyklopedia wiedzy o jezuitach na ziemiach Polski i Litwy 1564-1995. Ed. L. Grzebień, Cracow 1996; S. Bednarski S.: Biblioteka Prow. Małopolskiej. "Nasze Wiadomości" 9 (1928-1931) 75-79.
- Bednarski S.: Biblioteka J. K. Szaniawskiego. Cracow 1929.
- Bednarski S.: Polonica w archiwach jezuickich. "Nauka Polska" 1935 no 20, p. 141-167.
- Encyklopedia wiedzy o jezuitach na ziemiach Polski i Litwy 1564-1995. Ed. L. Grzebień. Cracow 1996.
- Grzebień L.: Organizacja bibliotek jezuickich w Polsce od XVI do XVIII wieku. "Archiwa, Biblioteki i Muzea Kościelne" 1975 no 30, s. 223-278; 1975 no 31, p. 225-281.
- Kosmanowa B.: Książka i jej czytelnicy w dawnej Polsce. Warszawa 1981.
- Wydawnictwo Apostolstwa Modlitwy 1872-1972. Cracow 1972.
Translated by Dorota Jaglarz
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