SKARGA, PIOTR. – Preacher, born at Grojec (Masovia) in February 1536, died at Cracow on 27 September 1612. He was one of the noblest figures in the religious and political history of Poland.
Already a priest, he entered the Society of Jesus in 1569 in order to devote himself to the defense of Catholicism, of which he was, together with Cardinal Hosius, one of the most effective supporters. Provincial of Poland (1579), rector of the new college at Polock (1580), and first rector of the Academy of Vilna (1583), in 1588 he was summoned by Sigismund III as preacher to the court at Cracow, and remained there until his death.
His principal works, all in Polish, are: The Unity of the Church of God under One Shepherd (Vilna 1577), which greatly contributed to the Union of the Ruthenians (1596); The Lives of the Saints (2 vols., ibid. 1579; 25th ed., Lviv 1883–84), one of the most widely read books; Sermons for Sundays and Feasts (Cracow 1595); Sermons on the Seven Sacraments (ibid. 1600); Sermons for Various Occasions (ibid. 1610). Of particular importance are the writings in which he deals with Polish politics: Sermons to the Diet (Warsaw 1562); The Trial of the Confederation (ibid. 1595), in which he reveals the evils of his homeland and sternly urges the magnates to abandon their errors, foreseeing the calamities that in fact occurred more than a century after his death. The warmth of his language, the picturesque imagery, and the poetic sensibility pervading S.’s writings make him a great prose writer of Polish literature. His figure is still remembered and discussed in our own day.