WŁOCŁAWEK (Cujavia-Kalisz), Diocese of. - City and diocese in Poland, with residence at Włocławek.

It has an area of 11,500 sq km with a population of 1,109,000 inhabitants, of whom 1,000,000 are Catholics, distributed in 249 parishes, served by 350 diocesan priests and 75 regulars; it has two seminaries, 22 male religious communities and 62 female ones (Ann. Pont. 1933: 15, 455).

The first episcopal see was at Kruszwica, whose first eight bishops are uncertain. The first certain one is Swidger, d. in 1133. Eugene III, by a bull of 1148, established the boundaries of the diocese of W., which bore the name of Cujavia and Kalisz; then from 1159 the episcopal see was transferred to W. Eminent bishops were: Gervard (1300-23); Maciej z Galanczewa (d. in 1368), who began to build the Cathedral; Krzesław z Kurozwek (1494-1503); Wincenty Przerębski (1503-13); Stanisław Karnkowski, transferred to Gniezno from 1581; Hieronim Rozdrażewski (1555-1600), buried in Rome in the church of the Gesù; Stanisław Sarnowski, d. in 1680; Antoni Sebastian Dembowski (1682-1763); Andrzej Wólowicz (d. at Kalisz in 1822), first bishop of Cujavia and Kalisz. From 1576 the bishops of W. replaced the Primates of Poland during a vacant see; in the Senate they occupied the second place; from the 14th century there were also auxiliary bishoprics. The Chapter is known from the 11th century. The primitive Cathedral was destroyed by the Crociferi in 1329; the present one, dedicated to the Assumption of the B. V., Gothic, dates from 1340-1411, but was rebuilt between 1690 and 1720; it is a minor basilica. St. John the Baptist is from 1538; the church of All Saints is from 1640; St. Vitalis from 1330. W. was the property of the bishops until 1796; their residence was in the castle, rebuilt in the 14th century and then in the 18th century. The Seminary, founded in 1569, was the first in Poland. At Kruszwica is the church of Sts. Peter and Paul from the 12th century, first a collegiate church and then a cathedral; there the relics of St. Vitalis are venerated, brought from Corvey in Saxony. At Kalisz the church of St. Nicholas from 1220 is notable; the collegiate church of the B. Virgin is from 1459 and was rebuilt in 1790.

Bibliography17 works

BIBL.: A. Theiner, Vetera monumenta Poloniae et Lithuaniae, I, Rome 1860, pp. 16, 52, 83, 84, 178-79, 268, 302, 366, 398; II, ibid. 1860, pp. 207-208; III, ibid. 1860, pp. 8-9, 347; A. Bielowski, Monumenta Poloniae historica, I, Lwów 1872, pp. 367-71; II, ibid. 1872, pp. 12-14, 76, 482, 744; III, ibid. 1872, pp. 204-12; IV, ibid. 1872, pp. 16-30, 818; V, ibid. 1872, pp. 562-84, 994-95; VI, ibid. 1872, pp. 141-42, 376, 382; J. Dlugosz, Opera omnia, Kraków 1863-87, I, 521-44; II, 46, 101-102, 259-60, 352-54; III, 43, 392; IV, 116-22, 185, 421; Codex diplomaticus Poloniae, I, Warsaw 1847, pp. 31-36, 67-69, 131-35; II, ibid. 1847, pp. 1-4, 13, 47-48, 390-91; Codex diplomaticus Maioris Poloniae, I, Poznań 1877, pp. 3-5, 80-81, 488-89, 568-70; II, ibid. 1877, pp. 317-18, 517-23.

Adam Macieliński

@incollection{ec12_wladislavia_wloclawek_cujavia, author = {Macielinski, Adam}, title = {Wladislavia (WŁOcŁAwek, cujavia-kalisz)}, booktitle = {Enciclopedia Cattolica}, volume = {XII}, pages = {1708--1709}, note = {Cited by column}, publisher = {Ente per l’Enciclopedia Cattolica e per il Libro Cattolico}, address = {Città del Vaticano}, year = {1954}, url = {https://azioneromana.com/article/wladislavia-wloclawek-cujavia-kalisz} }

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Włocławek (Cujavia-Kalisz), Diocese of

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