Korespondencja ks. dr. Jana Kwolka z ks. prof. Janem Fijałkiem za lata 1919–1936
Authors: Wołczański Józef 
Published: December 2021

[The correspondence between Rev. Prof. Jan Fijałek and Rev. Dr Jan Kwolek in the years 1919–1936]

This paper presents a collection of a few dozen letters written between 1919 and 1938. Their authors were two eminent representatives of the humanities and of the Polish Catholic Church at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries. One of them, Reverend Professor Jan Nepomucen Fijałek, represented the Kraków Archdiocese, though professionally he was associated with the University of Lviv and the Jagiellonian University. As an outstanding scholar and expert on sources to the history of medieval Church and spiritual culture of Poland, as well as a distinguished pedagogue, he enjoyed great renown in the world of science. The other correspondent, Reverend Doctor Jan Kwolek, a lawyer, lecturer at the Theological Institute of the Latin rite in Przemyśl, chancellor of the Episcopal Curia, organizer and director of a Diocesan Archive, a model for the whole country, unceasingly developed his interests in canon studies, history of the Church, and showed great concern for preserving the archive heritage of the Przemyśl Diocese. The majority of the letters were written by Rev. Kwolek, though they are not complete; the addressee had collected them meticulously, sometimes adding brief commentaries. The Przemyśl priest must not have attached a lot of weight to collecting the letters of the Kraków mentor, as only over a dozen of them have been preserved. The sources present very interesting material. The “supplicant” here is definitely Rev. Kwolek, seeking in the unquestionable scientific authority of Rev. Fijałek advice on organizing the Przemyśl archive but also methodological and factual guidelines for archive research and publications. In the course of time the distance between the two scholars was gradually decreasing, though it never crossed accepted social boundaries. What confirms that is the elaborate titles both correspondents addressed each other with. The subject matter of the letters is rather diverse and includes several themes. The dominant one is Rev. Kwolek’s requests to be recommended relevant literature necessary to complete a reference library needed in research and scholarly work. Quite a lot of space is also devoted to the Przemyśl priest’s reports on the progressing work on completing and organizing the archive of the Episcopal Curia in Przemyśl. Rev. Prof. Fijałek, apparently did not hide his sincere appreciation of the activity of the junior priest, indefatigable archive fanatic, encouraging him, providing him with expert instruction and warning him against naïve faith in the patronage of successive bishops. Another extensive motif is common and readily produced by church circles gossip on different Church dignitaries in Kraków and Przemyśl, as well as expectations of personal reshuffles and new careers with the start of every new pontificate. Without a doubt, the presented material deserves publication, as it shows the effort of creating and then preserving pioneer initiatives on scholarly and religious ground, particularly in Przemyśl in the first half of the 20th century.