At the beginning of 13th century, the main purpose of Dominican and Franciscan mendicant orders rise was to take religious care of people living in the suburbs of fast growing cities in Western Europe. Preachers worked not only in cities, but also in a given monastery’s collection county, their terminus. In the article, the author has tried to describe the situation in the State of Teutonic Knights in Prussia, searching for answers to questions about the role and scale of mendicants’ engagement in the ministry in rural areas in the Middle Ages, especially in the ministry among the indigenous people in Prussia. There were a few phases of mendicant orders participation in the ministry in Prussia. First, they were engaged in missionary activity among the local Prussians (Dominicans, Gdańsk). When towns were located, the first Dominican and Franciscan monasteries were founded as well (Chełmno, Toruń). In 14th century, the third mendicant order, Augustinians hermits, built their monasteries in Prussia. At the end of 14th century, Carmelites, and in the 2nd half of 15th century, Franciscans of very strict rule, Observants, appeared. Apart from working in towns, all mendicants toured around their collection county. Undoubtedly, their activity included preaching, hearing confessions, and other ministry tasks. Church fairs which gathered people from rural areas were very important for the ministry too. The mendicants’ activity was not, however, to replace the activity of rural parishes parsons.

Jean Meslier (1664–1729) was probably the most radical thinker of the French Enlightenment, yet he is relatively little known. He was a modest priest working all his life in a village, and his work – the monumental Le Testament, found only after his death – seems to have been far too radical to be printed in an unabridged version till mid‑19th c. Still, Meslier’s book deserves to be studied closely – as the boldest and most consequent attack on everything religions are, from Catholic Church traditions till the very idea of the divine. The first part of Le Testament contains critique of credibility of the Bible, the miracles related in it, as well as the prophecies made by Hebrew prophets and Jesus Christ and promises given by God to Jews, which, according to Meslier, have remained unfulfilled. The next part is an attack on the contradictions found in the Bible, which uses testimonies of the ancient historians suggesting that the Gospels are not a reliable source of knowledge about events of Christ’s lifetime. The analysis of the behavior of Jesus leads Meslier to call him a madman, and the Christian ethic is presented as unnatural and dysfunctional. Meslier goes on to prove that all religions are lies, originally invented by cynical individuals to support their ambitions to rule their fellow humans. Analyzing critically theology, Meslier convinces his readers that there is no God at all; consequently, all ecclesiastical institutions are useless and actually harmful, because they support tyrannical governments. They should be abolished, and all religious beliefs should be renounced. The famous final part of Testament is a powerful call to a great revolution that would put end to both Christian religion and the political and economic systems supported by the Catholic church.

The aim of the article was to discuss the piece of work by Florian Jaroszewicz The old argument of worldwide wisdom (Lwów 1771). That piece of work refers to the polemics of Catholic Church with representatives of enlightenment reflection, or more widely, to the dispute between traditional, religious model of perception and valuation of reality and the process of intellectual, social and old customs change beginning in 18th century Europe. The piece of work reveals the mechanisms of constructing apologetic or refutable texts as well as continues the post‑Tridentine model of religious culture, so strongly exposing the break between temporal values and Christian perspective of eternal happiness. Jaroszewicz, therefore, defends the traditional model of reality, where categories such as God, the soul and salvation organise man’s self‑understanding and play a decisive role in building social relations.

A big and important economic and cultural centre in northern‑east Europe, enjoying considerable autonomy in the times of the Republic, inhabited by people of different faiths, especially by Lutherans, at the turn of 18th and 19th centuries, Gdansk experienced political and civilisation changes. After the partitions, in 1793, it became part of the Kingdom of Prussia, and in the era of Napoleonic wars 1807–1814, it turned to Free City of Danzig. After numerous tumultuous events, it returned to Prussia. The turn of centuries was the time of the state’s stricter control over and interference into religion, no matter what faith. Church institutions, their people and facilities were treated like objects, just as other secular subjects were. The top‑down secularisation was accompanied by peculiar bottom‑up secularisation: the sphere of profanum entered the sphere of sacrum (eg. concerts), activity of religious fraternities and societies was weakened, individual devotion either vanished or became just a rut. Despite that, churches of all faiths bustled, the press informed about banns or even about the order of services in churches. In extremely difficult times of siege to the city, namely in 1807 and 1813, religious behaviour even intensified. When Gdansk was integrated to Prussia again, which Congress of Vienna in 1815 confirmed, the two tendencies revealed in parallel with each other and were characteristic of the whole 19th century: secularisation and treating people from religious associations like objects by the state on the one hand, and intensified devotion of the faithful in some parts of society on the other.

In the eighties of 19th century, two pilgrims of different social status, education and wealth went to the Holy Land. They were Adam Sierakowski, a count from Waplewo, and Paweł Orzechowski from Warsaw. The accounts of the journeys are the source material for the article. In the spell of a year, both pilgrims visited the same holy places, taking part in liturgical ceremonies. Differences in social background, wealth and education influenced their perception of Jerusalem. In his descriptions, Sierakowski made historical remarks, which Orzechowski could not have known. The pilgrims had different attitude to Jews and Arabs they met in the Holy Land: Sierakowski received them through the prism of classical racial stereotypes, while Orzechowski related to all religious people with sympathy. Both pilgrims, however, treated the holy places with the same respect. Sierakowski and Orzechowski were dedicated Catholics, that is why the emotional holy mass in the Basilica of the Holy Sepulchre was the most important part of their pilgrimages. The published accounts of their pilgrimages fit into the whole literature slowly flourishing in Polish lands of 2nd half of 19th century, literature popularising pilgrimages to Jerusalem.

In the second period of Free City Danzing, social, political and church life was very much similar to what happened in Germany. The Evangelic Union Church, accumulating 60% inhabitants, was also connected with German Church, that is why the secular daily press informed the citizens of Free City Danzing about what happened in it. In the rule of NSDAP, the press’ aim was not to inform people fairly, the news about Church in Reich was tenden‑ tious and limited, because the real plans of the totalitarian state concerning the Evangelic Church were to remain hidden. The press tried to create the impression that the pro ‑ Hitler Movement of German Christians was the main and most important church stream, consis‑ tent with the spirit of Reformation and Christian faith. They either did not inform at all, or only in a very limited and tendentious way about the activity of the oppositional Confess‑ ing Church. The press informed about the state’s interference in church life, which was very destructive, and about repressive actions against the Church, untruthfully justifying their actions with the state’s concern about the Church. True information was published only in oppositional press, but that appeared only till 1936. Analysis of press reports from the years 1933–1939 shows that the state’s main aim was not real interest in church or faith matters as such but deceitful propaganda to create the image of authority who are with God, authority so much concerned about the good of Church and religion. The totalitarian system took care about creating its good image also beyond the borders of Free City Danzing. At the same time, they tried to endear themselves to Church to have it on their side.

Many scientists have analysed the genesis and conditions of functioning of Bolesław Piasecki group in Poland after 1945. The monograph Socpax realism allowed to fill the gap in research on Polish literature between 1949–1956, connected with the literary current, developing then around the weekly PAX journal Today and Tomorrow, which was a peculiar realisation of social realism subroutine. The monograph ascertains that, in the frame of the model of literary life of the time, the literary circle tried to dissect a new formula of creativity, which was to reflect the nominal catholic writers’ declarations of engagement in building socialism and to serve to propagate the attitude of cooperation of Church members with Marxists. Scientific response on this matter allowed the article to reflect on the character and function of references to Christian and sacral elements in socpax realism current. In the frame of three strategies, they were instrumentally involved in ideological and political discourse, serving to legitimise socialism and institutionalise the privileged position of Piasecki group striving for authority. Reflection on the paradoxical integration of ‘catholic’ literature with Stalin’s atheistic vision of reality, where fight with political opponents (including Church and religion) was a constant element, allows to reveal the sources and features of the mechanism of camouflage connected with the hybrid worldview propounded by PAX.

Co‑creators of the community concentrated around Cracow editorial offices of “Tygodnik Powszechny” (“The Weekly Common”) and “Znak” (“The Sign”) came from the generation of new catholic wave known also as open catholic formation, which was shaped in the twenties and thirties of 20th century. Facing the end of war as well as new geo‑political reality, they took the risk of publishing catholic magazines spreading ideas of dynamic Catholicism and propagating universalism and theocentric humanism from which personalistic vision of man emerged. For them, moral values and patterns of Catholicism were the basis of the programme of European culture revival. The community suggested revision of to date European tradition achievements and creation of new synthesis of European Christian culture. Publicists saw the sense of the presence of Church and Catholicism in the world after Second Vatican Council in the dialogue of cultures, which was to help understand various conditions of reality as well as to alleviate conflicts and inconsistencies in the contemporary world.

The paper Saving Polish Souls in Ordinary Time: Catholic Evangelization and Poland’s Transformation, 1975–1981 showed both the lived experience of pastoral ministry evangelization during a time of revolutionary transformation in Poland as well as the failure of party‑state elites to understand or address the threat of the first flowering of Catholic evangelization in the 1970s. Much of the scholarship on Catholicism in Poland identifies the sources of the Church’s power (and the party‑state’s animus toward religion) in the intersection of historical traditions and national‑religious identity. This conception, in part rooted in important aspects of Poland’s religious experience, but also dependent upon secularist readings of Polish religious life, too often ignores the changes that key sectors of the Catholic Church in Poland underwent after the Second Vatican Council. From then on, many Poles – especially those involved in pastoral practice (in Polish, duszpasterstwo, literally “the care of souls”) – brought about a revolution in grass‑roots religious practice by creating new and popular approaches to ministry that focused on religious formation and evangelization.

Russia has invariably been associated with the Orthodox Church. Yet, on the territory of this huge country, as well as the empire which was built by its sovereigns, other movements of Christianity were also evolving. Throughout history various groups were emerging, most often called “sects” by those who wrote about them, but they had little or nothing in common with the Orthodox Church or even Christianity. They may have resulted, as it is sometimes assumed, from bogoiskatelstvo, the term to describe the characteristic of the Russians searching for God everywhere and in different ways.

The cult of Saint Vitus is an unusual phenomenon due to its genesis, the number of patrocinia (more than 1300 in medieval Europe), and the position of the saint in German, Polish, Czech, Serbian and, first of all, Italian folk culture. Nowadays, in Italy the cult of saint Vitus is extremely active, very spectacular and strongly connected with the local culture. Lack of knowledge about the life and martyrdom of the Saint did not disturb the development of the cult. The record on Vitus in Martyrologium Hieronimianum (5th/6th centuries) was very crucial and made Vitus a historical character, suffering from persecution of Christians in Mazzara del Vallo in Sicily. In the middle of 6th century, his bones were translated to Italian Peninsula, although even earlier, Saint Vitus partocinia note down places near Grado, Akwilea, and Poligiano. Most probably, in 8th century the Saint goes from Rome to St. Denis, and in 9th century from there to Old Korbea in Saxony. Translation to Saxony turned out to be a mile stone in the development of the cult, with powerful German rulers as its promoters. In late Middle Ages, cults of the first martyrs face natural crisis, giving way to Marian and Christological cult. Saint Vitus also loses his place in the main altars and church preliminaries, but quickly regains his former importance in folk culture as one of the fourteen assistants in various needs. As it is today, in Italy he cured those bitten by dogs, in Germany he healed dancers and those suffering from chorea, in Poland and Czech Republic he took care of young corn and told spring and summer time. As scientists presume, the popularity and reception of the cult of Saint Vitus (Saint Vida) in Serbia was caused by phonetic similarity of his name to the Slavic god’s name Svantevit. Back in 18th century, Saint Vida was associated with the defeat of Serbs in Kosovo Polje in 1389 as well as with the Turkish enslavement. At the end of 19th century, during increased fights for freedom, Saint Vida was incorporated into the pantheon of Orthodox saints. In contemporary Serbia, 28 June is a public holiday, known as Vidovdan, when tribute is paid to those who lost their lives fighting for the homeland. In Serbian folk culture, Vid is the patron of good sight, predicting future and the ability to profoundly see political and everyday life matters.

Basing on local ethnographic research, the article touches on organisational hinterland of patron feasts in Oaxaca Central Valleys (South Mexico) in three local communities. In these communities, the cult of Saints not only is very important in religious life, but also plays an important social and political role. The author interprets relations between organisers of feasts and Saint Patrons after the miracule sensitivity concept, analyses organisation of feasts in the context of prestige, authority, self‑agency and gender, and points at social changes which can be examined on the above basis. Finally, she reflects on catholic and non‑catholic critique of feasts based on the attitude to Saint Patrons.

The article presents the concept of God in Bergson’s thought. Conclusions which he drew from Aristotle’s physics and metaphysics were totally different from the ones which inspired the philosophy and theology of Thomas Aquinas. The Catholic Church fiercely reacted to Bergson’s Creative evolution, and in 1914 put it on the List of Prohibited Books. In Creative evolution, God is shown as internal impetus of life, which, thanks to its power of creative bounce and overmastering the resistance of matter, wants to pour in matter as much ‘indeterminacy and freedom’ as possible. Only in his next book About two sources of morality and religion, Bergson points at God as the root of all life activity of universe. Personal God is only love. The article also mentions the ideas which were the source of Bergson’s concept of God as impetus of life and its reception by 20th century philosophy and theology.

The article tries to conceptualise contemporary devotion from postmodernist discourse perspective. Postmodernist narration is not integrative but distributional, it shows disparate and unexpected sides of seemingly known and stable phenomena, and introduces man to a new situation of axiological inchoateness, relativity and uncertainty. At the same time, postmodernism encourages the full bloom of new forms of devotion, proving their existential or bio‑psychical genesis. However, the postmodern discourse also reveals the foregoing domineeringness, greediness and shallowness of ideologies hidden under the facade of universalism, thus making a sensible interpersonal and cross‑cultural dialogue impossible. The author tries to prove that to create a real platform of understanding, it is necessary to begin with re‑defining foregoing concepts of religion, devotion, spirituality, and atheism, and treat them as ways of afresh self‑definition of culture and individual, not only by emphasising inconsistencies but also trusting in real, multi‑dimensional dialogue.