Sozon Wadyński OSBM (1749-1815)

Abstract

SOZON WADYŃSKI OSBM (1749-1815): A BIOGRAPHICAL CONTRIBUTIONThis text is devoted to the life and activities of Sozon Wadyński OSBM (1749-1815), a Basilian from Podolia in the then Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. Lecyk recreates Wadyński’s biography, verifying known information and subjecting previously unused source materials to historical analysis. The author has tried to present the subsequent stages of the monk’s life against the background of the functioning of the Basilian Order and the political changes that took place in the Church after 1772 in the Austrian partition, where Wadyński stayed from the early 1780s. Lecyk describes the subsequent stages of his education and also discusses the conditions under which the monk developed his career in the structures of the order’s authorities, the eparchy and the bishop of Przemyśl. He explains why it finally broke down and answers the question of why Wadyński became the parish priest of a rural parish in Sośnica, located near Przemyśl. Thanks to materials obtained in particular from the State Archives in Przemyśl and the Central State Historical Archives of Ukraine in Lviv, it has been possible to present this previously unknown stage of the priest’s life and career. It has also allowed us to show the living and working conditions of the parish priest, to answer the question of his financial situation and what problems he had to struggle with in his pastoral work. The article also shows how a well-educated monk, whose life path destined him for a completely different role, coped with the role of a village parish priest. The text fills the gap in regional research and is also a contribution to the history of Greek Catholic parishes in Galicia in the first half of the 19th century.