SKARGA, PIOTR. - Preacher, b. at Grojec (Masovia) in February 1536, d. at Kraków 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 to devote himself to the defense of Catholicism, of which, together with Cardinal Hosius, he was one of the most valiant supporters. Provincial of Poland (1579), rector of the new college of Polotsk (1580), first rector of the Academy of Vilnius (1583), he was called in 1588 by Sigismund III as preacher to the court of Kraków and remained there until his death.
His principal works, all in Polish, are: The Unity of the Church of God under a single shepherd (Vilnius 1577), which greatly served the Union of the Ruthenians (1596); The Lives of the Saints (2 vols., ibid. 1579; 25th ed. Lwów 1883-84), one of the most widely read books; Sermons for Sundays and Feasts (Kraków 1595); Sermons on the Seven Sacraments (ibid. 1600); Sermons for Various Occasions (ibid. 1610). Of singular importance are the writings in which he deals with Polish politics: Sermons to the Diet (Warsaw 1562); Trial of the Confederation (ibid. 1595), in which he reveals the ills of the fatherland and sternly exhorts the magnates to desist from their errors, foreseeing the disasters which in fact occurred more than a century after his death. The warmth of his word, the picturesque imagery, the sense of poetry that pervades Skarga's writings make him a great prose writer of Polish literature. And his figure is still remembered and discussed in our own day.
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Marina Bersano Begey