Valerian Kalinka
Encyclopedia
Valerian Kalinka (1826–1886) was a Polish priest and historian.
Kalinka was born near Cracow, but fled from Poland in 1846 on account of political entanglements and his involvement in the Krakow Uprising
. Kalinka was the founder of the Polish branch of the Resurrectionist Order
. He worked on the "Czas" newspaper in 1848, but finally took refuge in Paris, where his first work was written -- Galicia und Cracoio, an historical and social picture of the country from 1772 to 1850. He afterwards thought of writing a history of Polish emigration, but eventually chose to edit a weekly periodical entitled "Political Polish News", the principal contributors to which were himself and Julian Klaczko
. Though forbidden everywhere but in Posen
, it existed for four years, and dealt with every aspect of Polish national life. Kalinka's articles show an acquaintance with law, administration, history, and statistics, and had mostly to do with the inner life of Poland. He became an activist in the Hôtel Lambert
group.
After 1863, when searching for documents for a life of Prince Adam Czartoryski
, he stumbled on important papers which he published in two volumes as The Last Years of Stanislaus Augustus (1787–95). This work placed him at once in the first rank of Polish writers. Poland had not yet had such an historian, especially in the province of diplomacy and foreign politics. Józef Szujski
, though unknown to Kalinka, was at the same time working in the same direction. Both were accused of undermining patriotic self-respect, of lowering Poland in foreign eyes, and of destroying veneration for the past. In the preface to this work, Kalinka had already answered these charges. A Pole, he said, is not less a Pole when he learns from past errors how to serve his country better.
About this time Kalinka entered the novitiate
of the Resurrection Fathers in Rome, where, save for a few visits to Galicia, he subsequently resided until in 1877, after a visit to the Catholic missions in Bulgaria, he became chaplain of a convent in Jarosław. Here in 1880 appeared the first volume of his Sejmczteroletni (The Four Years Diet). To the criticism it received, Kalinka replied: "History calls first for truth; nor can truth harm patriotism." The second volume, appeared in 1886, the end of the thirty years he spent writing. He died in Jarosław.
Kalinka was born near Cracow, but fled from Poland in 1846 on account of political entanglements and his involvement in the Krakow Uprising
Kraków Uprising
The Kraków Uprising of February 1846 was an attempt, led by Edward Dembowski, to incite a Polish fight for national independence. Even though most of Poland was part of the Russian Empire, the Polish risings were conducted mainly in Prussia and in the Austrian Empire.-History:Most of the...
. Kalinka was the founder of the Polish branch of the Resurrectionist Order
Resurrectionist Order
The Congregation of the Resurrection of Our Lord Jesus Christ is an international Institute of Consecrated Life of men within the Roman Catholic Church, founded in 1836 by three men, Bogdan Jański, Peter Semenenko and Hieronim Kajsiewicz in Paris on the heels of the Polish Great Emigration...
. He worked on the "Czas" newspaper in 1848, but finally took refuge in Paris, where his first work was written -- Galicia und Cracoio, an historical and social picture of the country from 1772 to 1850. He afterwards thought of writing a history of Polish emigration, but eventually chose to edit a weekly periodical entitled "Political Polish News", the principal contributors to which were himself and Julian Klaczko
Julian Klaczko
Julian Klaczko was a Polish author.Born Jehuda Lejb into a wealthy Jewish family, he studied in Vilna and Königsberg. In 1847, he took PhD title...
. Though forbidden everywhere but in Posen
Poznan
Poznań is a city on the Warta river in west-central Poland, with a population of 556,022 in June 2009. It is among the oldest cities in Poland, and was one of the most important centres in the early Polish state, whose first rulers were buried at Poznań's cathedral. It is sometimes claimed to be...
, it existed for four years, and dealt with every aspect of Polish national life. Kalinka's articles show an acquaintance with law, administration, history, and statistics, and had mostly to do with the inner life of Poland. He became an activist in the Hôtel Lambert
Hôtel Lambert
Hôtel Lambert is a hôtel particulier, a grand mansion townhouse, on the Quai Anjou on the eastern tip of the Île Saint-Louis, Paris IVème; the name, Hôtel Lambert, was a sobriquet that designated a 19th-century political faction of Polish exiles, who gathered there.-Architectural history:The house...
group.
After 1863, when searching for documents for a life of Prince Adam Czartoryski
Adam Jerzy Czartoryski
Prince Adam Jerzy Czartoryski was a Polish-Lithuanian noble, statesman and author. He was the son of Prince Adam Kazimierz Czartoryski and Izabela Fleming....
, he stumbled on important papers which he published in two volumes as The Last Years of Stanislaus Augustus (1787–95). This work placed him at once in the first rank of Polish writers. Poland had not yet had such an historian, especially in the province of diplomacy and foreign politics. Józef Szujski
Józef Szujski
Józef Szujski was a Polish politician, historian, poet and professor of the Jagiellonian University....
, though unknown to Kalinka, was at the same time working in the same direction. Both were accused of undermining patriotic self-respect, of lowering Poland in foreign eyes, and of destroying veneration for the past. In the preface to this work, Kalinka had already answered these charges. A Pole, he said, is not less a Pole when he learns from past errors how to serve his country better.
About this time Kalinka entered the novitiate
Novitiate
Novitiate, alt. noviciate, is the period of training and preparation that a novice monastic or member of a religious order undergoes prior to taking vows in order to discern whether they are called to the religious life....
of the Resurrection Fathers in Rome, where, save for a few visits to Galicia, he subsequently resided until in 1877, after a visit to the Catholic missions in Bulgaria, he became chaplain of a convent in Jarosław. Here in 1880 appeared the first volume of his Sejmczteroletni (The Four Years Diet). To the criticism it received, Kalinka replied: "History calls first for truth; nor can truth harm patriotism." The second volume, appeared in 1886, the end of the thirty years he spent writing. He died in Jarosław.
Works
- Galicja i Kraków pod panowaniem austriackim, 1853
- Przegrana Francji i przyszłość Europy
- Hugo Kołłątaj
- Nasze zadania i uchybienia
- Ostatnie lata panowania Stanisława Augusta
- O Dziejach Polski prof. M.Bobrzyńskiego
- O znaczeniu obchodu 3 Maja
- Przegrana Francji i przyszłość Europy
- Względy Polskie w sprawie władzy świeckiej papieża
- Żale Polaków na Zachód