To fight, or not to fight : Piotr Skarga, the catholic ideal of christian soldier, and the reformation of Polish nobility (around 1600)

LTReikšminiai žodžiai: Abiejų Tautų Respublika (ATR; Rzeczpospolita Obojga Narodów; Žečpospolita; Sandrauga; Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth); Antonijus Posevinas; Antonio Possevino; Jėzaus draugija; Jėzuitų ordinas; Kariniai kapelionai; Katekizmai kariams; Katekizmas kareiviams; Lenkų didikai; Osmanų karai; Petras Skarga; Zigmantas Vaza, 1566-1632 (Zygmunt III Vaza; Sigismund); Zigmantas Vaza, 1566-1632 (Zygmunt III Vaza; Sigismund); Antonio Possevino; Catechisms for; Catechisms for Soldiers; Military chaplains; Ottoman wars; Piotr Skarga; Polish nobility; Sigismund Vasa; Society of Jesus; Soldiers.

ENPiotr Skarga was the leading Jesuit in Poland–Lithuania around 1600. In 1606, he published a catechism for soldiers: Żołnierskie nabożeństwo (The soldier’s piety), a book which is commonly said to have been inspired by a catechism by another Jesuit, Antonio Possevino’s Il soldato christiano (1569). The aim of this article is to compare the two books and to address the following questions: to what extent and in what way was Possevino’s view of soldiers adaptable to Polish-Lithuanian realities? Can we identify a common discourse on soldiers and war in both texts, although they were not written at the same time nor in the same cultural and social context? Or did the strategy of accommodation lead to major differences between the texts, making it difficult to speak of a common Jesuit view on soldiers and war?. [From the publication]