and were industriously engaged in scattering them among his subjects, he at once took every possible precaution to stop the spread of these mischievous publications. It was enacted at the Diet of Thorn (1520) that no one should have the writings of Luther in his possession. The efforts of Sigismund to preserve the purity of faith in Poland were ably seconded by John Laski, Archbishop of Gnesen († 1531), and Andrew Krzycki, Chancellor to Queen Bona, and subsequently Bishop of Przemysl (1524), both of whom were among the most zealous defenders of Catholic doctrine in that age. A commission was also appointed to make search for and confiscate all heretical books. But, in spite of all these measures, Protestantism found its way into the University of Cracow, where it was introduced by Martin Glossa. It was preached at Posen by John Seclusian, who first published in print a complete translation of the New Testament in the Polish language (1551-1552), and at Danzig by the monk Jacob Knade (1518), through whose exhortations a number of the burghers were led to ask to be formally instructed in the new teachings. Knade, though obliged to flee from the anger of an indignant people, was soon brought back to the city by his partisans. Others of the Lutherans did not fare so well. Some of the more intemperate were put to death, and some received orders to quit the city within a fortnight; while monks and nuns, who had broken their vows and married, were commanded to be away within twenty-four hours. The only effect of these measures was to excite the passions of the inhabitants, who now expressed themselves with so much vehemence in favour of the new teachings that the king, fearing they might rise in revolt and make themselves masters of the city, thought it prudent to adopt more moderate counsels. From Danzig Lutheranism was carried to the cities of Thorn and Elbing. To prevent the further spread of error, it was enacted at the Synod of Petrikau that the followers of Luther should be arrested and brought to trial, and such measures taken against them as would effectually repress the heresy. One of these was a prohibition forbidding anyone to hold public office in Poland who had made his studies at Wittenberg. The decree, however, was never rigorously enforced.

But, in spite of this vigorous opposition, Protestantism, protected and encouraged by a free-thinking nobility, steadily gained ground, and at the death of Sigismund I. had invaded many of the provinces of Poland. To add to the strength and swell the number of the Polish Protestants, in the succeeding reign of Sigismund Augustus II. (1548-1572), a large body of Bohemian Brethren, who had been sent

1 Consult above all the Diocesan Statutes, and the very old collection of them by John Laski, and another by Stanislaus Karnkowski, both of which have been arranged in five books and edited by Wenzyk, Cracow, 1630.

We say advisedly "in print," for even as early as the fourteenth century Polish authors make mention of translations of various portions of the Bible into their language They specify the Psalter, and in fact nearly every book of both the Old and New Testa ments. Cf. Le Long, Bibliotheca sacra in binos syllabos distincta, etc., Paris, 1723, fol., Sectio III., Biblia Polonica, p. 439 sq.

into exile by King Ferdinand, arrived at Posen. But the citizens soon tired of their presence, and the exiles again setting out on their pilgrimage directed their course towards Marienwerder, in West Prussia.

It soon appeared that the new king's opposition to the teachings of Protestantism was vacillating rather than decided, and feeble rather than energetic; and in consequence Poland became the asylum where sectaries of nearly every conceivable shade of opinion sought refuge. Thither flocked Bohemian Brethren and Lutherans, Reformed Christians and Unitarians (Socinians), from Switzerland and Italy. Among these last, the most prominent were the Franciscan, Lismanin, confessor to Queen Bona, and John of Lasko, whose name was well known in England.

Prince Radziwill of Lithuania, a zealous member of the Reformed Christians, following the example of the Lutherans, had a translation of the Bible made into the Polish language, according to the sense of his own sect, and published in 1563.1

In 1555, a "national Synod," composed of delegates from every province, and presided over by the king, was held at Petrikau, when it was determined to arrange for a conference of Catholic bishops and Protestant divines, to which Melanchthon, Lasko, Calvin, and Beza were to be invited, and a symbol of faith drawn up, which should embrace general principles recognized by all, and ignore such teachings as some would not accept.2 The king, strange to say, approved the action of the "Synod," and requested Pope Paul IV. to authorize the Mass to be said in the Polish language, to permit Communion to be taken under both kinds, to give priests leave to marry, to sanction the convocation of a national council, and to abolish the payment of annats. These requests, as might have been foreseen, were denied. The danger which threatened the Catholic Church grew daily more grave and alarming. The Polish nobles, thoroughly rationalistic in principle, and thoroughly Protestant in sympathy, and exercising over the minds of their serfs a supremacy as complete in the spiritual order as that which they exercised over their bodies was in the material, alienated these poor people from the Church, though nothing could have been more unnatural to the Polish heart, or more revolting to Polish instincts, than the principles of the Protestant religion.

But the fierce quarrels, which here as elsewhere broke out among the Protestant sects directly on their securing the ascendancy, alarmed the country; and thoughtful people began to foresee that if the principles of Protestantism became active in the national life, the unity of

The first printed edition of the New Testament published by Catholics was brought out, in 1556, at Cracow, by Scharfenberger. A complete translation of the Bible (by John Leopolita) appeared at Cracow in 1561. The translation by the Jesuit, John Wujek, was issued between the years 1593 and 1599, and was accompanied with the Hebrew and Greek texts, and supplemented with commentaries intended to elucidate difficult passages and to furnish arguments for the defence of the Catholic faith against the attacks of heretics. • Lukaszewicz, Hist. of the Ref. Chunch in Lithuania, Lps., 1848, 1 Vol.

Poland would be shattered, and its very existence as a kingdom threatened. To avert so great a disaster, the Protestant sects, each differing from and antagonistic to all the rest, but all harmonising in their rancorous hostility to the Catholic Church, met in council at Sandomirin 1570, and drew up and signed a symbol, couched in terms so general and indefinite that each might accept its articles and yet have the fullest liberty to believe what they liked. Deriving a fictitious strength from this union, they were able, during the interregnum which followed the death of Sigismund Augustus, to conclude a religious peace, called the Peace of the Dissidents (Pax dissidentium, 1573), which set forth that Catholics and Dissidents were to remain for ever at peace with each other, and both to enjoy equal civil rights. Henry of Valois, the newly-elected king, was compelled to take oath that he would maintain the conditions of this peace. He shortly returned to France, and Stephen Bathory, Prince of Transylvania (1575-1586), was chosen in his room. Among the intimate friends of this prince were many Catholics of ability and learning, who exercised no little influence upon his mind. But while manifesting a more commendable zeal in the Catholic cause than any of his immediate predecessors had done, he yet refused to take any definite and decided step, feeling himself bound to respect the secret treaty (1557) of Sigismund Augustus, granting freedom of conscience and worship to three cities of Danzig, Thorn, and Elbing, whose inhabitants were long known to be favourably disposed towards Protestantism. But a severer trial and more threatening danger were yet to come upon the Polish Church. James Uchanski, Archbishop of Gnesen and Primate of Poland, publicly favoured Protestantism, and exerted himself to bring about a rupture with Rome. This attempt to alienate the Court of Rome and the Polish nation, had it been completely successful, would have been followed by consequences the most disastrous, and rendered the stay of the Papal Legates, Lippomani (since 1556) and Commendone, in the country extremely difficult.

The hopes of the Catholic party were revived, and their influence among the nobles augmented, by the accession of Sigismund III., heir to the crown of Sweden, to the throne of Poland (1587-1632); and, as a consequence, a very decided reaction set in against Protestantism. Moreover, God raised up to Himself at this time priests eminent alike for their piety, their learning, and their zeal, such as Stanislaus Hosius,2 Bishop of Ermeland (†1579), through whose energetic resistance the ravages of heresy were stayed, and through whose purity of faith and holiness of life the Poles were encouraged and strengthened to cling to

' Jablonski, Hist. consensus Sendomirensis, cui subjicitur ipse Consensus, Berol, 1731, 4to.

Stan. Hosii, Cardin. Major. Poenit. et episcopi Varm., vita auctore Stan. Rescio, Roin. 687. His principal work is Confessio fidei-verse chr. Catholicæque doctrinæ solida propugnatio ctr. Brentium (1557). Cf. †Eichhorn, Cardinal Hosius, Bishop of Ermeland, Mentz, 1854, 2 vols. Constitutiones Synodales diœceseos Varmiensis, Brunsbergi, 1612,

the belief of their fathers. The learning, the conflicts, and the triumphs of this holy bishop were such that his name was held in honour by the Universal Church, and he was selected, after he had become cardinal, to preside for a time over the Council of Trent, where he was acknowledged to be one of the ablest of the great theologians who constituted that body. His polemical writings are among the very best of that age, and his exalted virtues and apostolic zeal are still gratefully commemorated at the Lyceum Hosianum of Braunsberg, which bears his honoured name.

Another Catholic champion, equally distinguished for learning, eloquence, and living, energetic faith, was Stanislaus Karrkowski († 1603), Archbishop of Gnesen and Primate of Poland,' who, with the frankness of a saint and the fearlessness of an apostle, wrote in the following words to Sigismund Augustus: "Emulate the example of thy father and the piety of thy ancestors in preserving inviolate in thy kingdom, no less than in thy own heart, the old faith, the ancient Catholic religion."

These confessors of the faith were ably seconded in their labours by the Jesuits, whose Order had spread rapidly, and was now firmly established in Poland, and under whose direction a large number of colleges had already passed. Among the Polish Jesuits, whose names came most prominently forward during the conflict against Protestantism, James Wujek (Vangroviecensis) deserves special mention for his zeal, ability, and untiring activity. Having completed his philological and scientific struggles at the universities of Cracow and Vienna, and taught mathematics for a time at Rome, he entered the Society of Jesus in the year 1565. In after years he passed much of his time in the Colleges of Posen, Clausburg, and Cracow, and acquired no little celebrity as a preacher and controversial writer. His translation of the Bible into the Polish language, which he made at the request and under the patronage of Stanislaus Karnskowski, Archbishop of Gnesen, is a work of great merit, and even at this day enjoys the special distinction of being the only one approved by the Church of Poland († June 27, 1597).

2

There were also three others belonging to religious orders who played a prominent part in the religious affairs of Poland during these years. The first was Peter Skarga, a Jesuit. He was a good theologian, possessed a clear, well-trained, and vigorous mind, and was solidly erudite. He was, moreover, a skilful, eloquent, and powerful speaker, and as his dogmatical and controversial sermons,

1 His exertions to have the Roman Catechism translated into Polish are worthy of all commendation. Apart from his Diocesan Statutes, his fame rests chiefly upon his sermons on the Eucharist and the Messiah; the former published at Cracow in 1602, and the latter at the same place in 1597.

Postilla major, and minor (in Polish). De missa et Deitate Verbi divini contra consens. Sendomir. Vita et doctrina Salvatoris ex quatuor evangel. De ecclesia cathol.-Hymni.

• Sermons, new edit., Lps. 1843. Extracts from Baronius, Rocyne-dzieje koscielne, etc., Cracow, 1603, fol., continued from 1198 to 1645, by Kwiatkiewicz, Kalisz, 1695, fol. Lives of the Saints; on the reunion of the Latin and Greek Churches (in Polish); libb. III. dissertationum de Eucharistia.

replete with patristic lore, amply attest, the greatest preacher whom Poland has ever produced († 1612). The next was Fabian Birkowski,' a Dominican, and Skarga's successor as preacher to the Court of Cracow. He is remembered chiefly by his sermons for Sundays and holidays, which are quite numerous, and portions of which are not unfrequently quoted as models of impassioned eloquence († 1636). The third was Martin Bialobrzeski, abbot of the convent of Mogilno and suffragan bishop of Cracow, who, through his homilies, modelled after those of St. John Chrysostom, became the great popular preacher of Poland. He was also the author of a Complete Catechism, which is a masterpiece of its kind, and did much to foster among the clergy a taste for imparting Christian instruction, of which the young are always in so much need, and by which they profit so largely († 1585.) In the meantime, the Protestants of Poland, who had been treated with unusual kindness, incited by theologians at home and princes abroad, carried themselves with all the insolence of superiors and the haughtiness of conquerors, and have left upon record very exaggerated accounts of the cruelties they claim to have endured, of the measures taken against them by Sigismund III., and of the policy pursued by the Jesuits, which, it must be admitted, sometimes bordered on severity. The rupture between the Catholics and Dissidents finally became complete and irreparable. These dissensions were deplored by Ladislaus IV. (1632-1648), one of the most worthy princes of his age, with the keen grief of a father sorrowing over the alienation of different members of his own family. He appealed, but in vain, to the Poles to come together at the Religious Conference of Thorn (1644), and there_devise measures which might make them once more a united people. His motives were misconstrued; and even had his words been listened to and acted upon, they could hardly have averted from Poland the disasters with which that country was threatened.3

§ 326. Protestantism in Livonia, Courland, Esthonia, Hungary, and Transylvania.

Under the Grand Master, Walter of Plettenberg (1521), Livonia severed its connection with the Teutonic Order. In order to escape the authority of the Archbishop of Riga, who showed a stubborn constancy in defending the prerogatives of his office and maintaining the rights of the Catholic Church, Walter embraced Protestantism, thinking this the surest way to a triumph over the archbishop and his clergy. This was the origin of the Protestant communes of Riga (1523), Dorpat, and Reval, all of which joined the Schmalkaldic League. When at length William, Margrave of Brandenburg, and brother to the Duke of Prussia, became Archbishop of Riga, the whole of Livonia

1 Sermons for the Sunday and Feast days, in two series, 1620 and 1628.

' Postilla orthodoxa, 1581, 2 vols., shortly after translated into German. Catechismus, Cracoviæ. 1666, 4to (387 pages). These two works are written in Polish.

Cf. & 354