First seminaries in Poland – reception of Council of Trent decree on seminaries

Abstract

The establishment of the seminaries by Council of Trent, by the decree Cum adolescentium aetas, was a need of the hour and necessary for the existence, activity and development of the Church. At the same time it became a turning point and a landmark in the history of education, training and preparing candidates for the priesthood and it also created new, more optimal and more favorable conditions than ever before for training and education of candidates for the priesthood. Tridentinum decision caused that the former, completely ad hoc and random way of recruiting candidates for the priesthood was abandoned and the planned and compulsory one was introduced, according to which future priests will be prepared together, in closed and organized institutions.

The implementation of the Council decree on seminaries in Poland found a very fertile ground and it resulted in the foundation and the erection of many seminaries soon after the Council of Trent, and even during its deliberations, long before the formal adoption of the Trent resolutions by the Church in Poland at the Synod of Piotrków in 1577.

Polish bishops decided to establish the seminaries at the Provincial Synod in Warsaw in 1561, two years before the decree of the council, on the initiative of Cardinal John Przerembski, which better than ever would fulfill the task of preparing candidates for the priesthood. Thanks to the efforts of the bishops and understanding of the concept and importance of the Council decree on seminaries and Church needs, we can say that the Church in Poland, joined in the work of reformation and renewal of training and education of candidates for the priesthood. Polish bishops made a profound reorganization of the formation of candidates for the priesthood, in the spirit of the Council of Trent, through these procedures and work, effort and funds for the functioning of the organization of seminaries, recognizing the great shortcomings in the human, spiritual and intellectual formation of the candidates for the priesthood and priests themselves.