SKARGA Peter - Lives of the Saints of the Old and New Order, for every day throughout the year, selected from serious writers and...

SKARGA Peter - Lives of the Saints of the Old and New Order, for every day throughout the year, selected from the serious writers and doctors of the Church, whose names are above set forth, Part One, to which are appended some spiritual spins and teachings against hangovers; at the same time short sermons for those feasts which have a certain day in the month. By ... collected, translated into Polish, and during the life of the author nine times, and after his demise reprinted in Vilna in the royal printing house at the academy, year p. 1780, and now again. Vienna 1843. księg. At the O. Mechytaristes. 4, pp. [8], 608. half leather binding of the period. stained trim.
Missing part 2, which was published in 1842, and 3 uncounted pages before the main text. Binding rubbed, soiling of the backstrip and last few pages, traces of moisture in the upper margin on the first dozen or so pages, otherwise good condition. Part one covers lives up to June 30.
Lives of the Saints of the Old and New Orders - a legendary, hagiographic work (with elements of preaching and postillography) written by Polish Jesuit Piotr Skarga in 1577 (published two years later in 1579) in Polish. It enjoyed great readership and acclaim consistently from its publication until the mid-20th century. It is probably the most popular (in terms of percentage of the literate population in society) Polish book of all time. The author dedicated it to the then queen of Poland, Anna Jagiellonka.
The work was published in two volumes of more than a thousand pages. Skarga was inspired by similar works, including those by Lawrence Surius (lat. Laurentius Surius). It is estimated that about 80% of the content of the Lives of ... (1610 edition) was a compilation from Surius' work De probatis Sanctorum historiis.... Skarga's goal was to create a readable work for Catholics - an alternative to Scripture, the reading of which the Catholic authorities at the time did not support, which distinguished them from Protestants.
Lives... became an extremely popular book, one of the most widely read Polish books of its era. The first edition of 1579 was out of print as early as 1583, and twelve editions of the work appeared by 1644. Subsequent editions did not appear until after 1700, as a result of market saturation and the emergence of competitive alternatives. The book was compulsory reading in Jesuit colleges and some parochial schools (until the reform period of the Commission on National Education).
In addition to its moral qualities, one of the elements of the book's popularity for the average reader may have been its detailed descriptions of torture and torment; others were court politics, international politics and descriptions of exotic countries.
Skarga's works have been praised for their linguistic qualities since the Enlightenment period. Lives... was highly regarded by Adam Mickiewicz, who called it "the most poetic Polish work." It was popular reading not only among educated people, for with the increase in the readership of young people and poorer strata, the "Lives" became part of the folk canon, read as fiction "introducing to the world of books" by Wincenty Witos, Stanisław Pigoń, Franciszek Bujak, Władysław Korfanty and Władysław Orkan, among others. As one of the most popular books in the Polish language read "by the masses." Janusz Tazbir notes that it was a significant work in terms of maintaining Polishness in the territories of Silesia, Mazury and Pomerania. (Wikipedia).