Predylekcje polityczne a formy oporu pomorskiego duchowieństwa wobec obchodów imienin Marszałka Józefa Piłsudskiego w latach 1933-1935

The Pomeranian Catholic clergy rejected the official celebration of the Marshal’s feast on the 19th March because this is one of the major solemnities in the Church, namely the Commemoration of St Joseph. However, some of the priests who maintained a much more favorable attitude towards Piłsudski’s name-day celebrations followed the example of the Church hierarchy and were taking part in it. Numerous priests (especially those whose political predilections were with the National Party) decided to protest against the spread of the official ‘cult’ and the legendary portrayal of the Marshal on his name day. Some of them, trying to sidestep the embarrassing situations, transferred the liturgical Commemoration of Saint Joseph to another day. There were many Pomeranian priests who did their best to prevent the Catholic youth from taking part in the official meetings. In some parishes where the pastors were political adversaries of Piłsudski the celebrations in memorial of Joseph Wrycza and Joseph Haller had a very ostentatious form. Numerous parish priests rejected the requests to celebrate the Holy Mass for the intention of the Marshal. This may be explained by the fact that the vast majority of pastors opted for the anti-Piłsudski political opposition. Some of the clergy, like Józef Wrycza or Paweł Konitzer, were even active supporters of the National Party.