GNESNA (GNIEZNO). – A city in Poland elevated to an archdiocese and metropolitan see around the year 1000 by Otto III. First archbishop: Radym-Gaudenty, brother of St Adalbert. Since 1419 the archbishop of G. has been Primate of Poland, and since 1668 Primate of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. The Primate, vicarius regni generalis, primus princeps Poloniae, acted as interrex during royal interregna. In the Senate he occupied the first place. By the bull of Leo X: Pro excellenti, of 1515, the Primate is legatus natus. The metropolitan see of G. was united with Poznań from 1821 until 10 May 1946, when it was separated and for this occasion united with Warsaw.
Suffragan dioceses: Włocławek (Włocławia), Chełmno (Chełmna). The diocese of G. has a surface area of 8,300 km². Catholics: 732,000. Parishes: 272. Churches: 424, of which: parish churches 243, subsidiary churches 63, convent churches 10, chapels 108. Diocesan priests: 240, including 2 bishops, 170 parish priests and administrators, 31 vicars, 20 catechists (in the dioceses of Lwów, Łuck, Pińsk, Vilnius, occupied by the Soviets, and in other dioceses: secular priests 49, regulars 52). Religious: 570. Religious houses: male 10, female 71. Major seminaries: 77. Institutes of charity, assistance and care: 36 with 1,419 beds. War losses: churches destroyed 15, damaged 77, permanently closed 314, among which 9 of high historical value. Diocesan priests who died during the war: 180 (48.8%). Pilgrimage centres: Gniezno, Dabrówka Kościelna, Górka Klasztorna. Gothic cathedral of the 14th century on the site of the first cathedral of the 10th century, with some parts from the 18th century; bronze doors of the 12th century, a gift of King Bolesław Krzywousty. Near the cathedral is the church of St George, the first Christian temple in Poland. Other notable churches: St John’s of the 13th century, the parish church of the Holy Trinity of the 14th century. It was in G. that Mieszko I, the first historically attested ruler of Poland, was baptised in 966. Until the 14th century G. was the city of royal coronations. Saints: St Adalbert (c. 956–997), patron of Poland, whose relics are in the cathedral; five Polish Camaldolese (John, Benedict, Isaac, Matthew, Christopher), martyred in 1005. Eminent archbishops: Jakub ze Żnina, died 1148; Jakub Świnka, died 1313; Mikołaj Trąba (1358–1422), first Primate of Poland, delegate to the Council of Constance; Fryderyk Jagiellończyk (1468–1503), also bishop of Kraków, cardinal; Jan Łaski (1455–1531), first legatus natus, great statesman; Bernard Maciejowski (1548–1608), cardinal; Maciej Łubieński (1572–1652); Andrzej Olszowski (1621–1677); Michał Radziejowski (1641–1705), cardinal; Ignacy Krasicki (1735–1801), writer and poet; Mieczysław Halka Ledóchowski (1823–1902), cardinal, prefect of the Congregation for the Propagation of the Faith, imprisoned during the Kulturkampf; August Hlond (1881–1948), cardinal.