Wkład ks. Stanisława Bednarskiego SJ (1896-1942) do Polskiego Słownika Biograficznego = The Contribution of Fr. Stanisław Bednarski SJ (1896-1942) to the Polish Biographical Dictionary - STANISŁAW CIEŚLAK (Autor) (2019)
10.18290/rt.2019.66.4-4
Oryginalny artykuł naukowy
Fr Stanisław Bednarski SJ (1896-1942), a Jesuit priest from the Province of the Małopolska Society of Jesus, enthusiastically and energetically joined the undertaking of Prof. W. Konopczyński to create a national biography – Polish Biographical Dictionary (PSB). He quickly became one of his most active collaborators. On October 2, 1937, he became a member of the PSB Editorial Board. He was aware that he was participating in the creation of a permanent monument of national culture in the form of a collection of biographies of people of various groups and professions, who over the centuries contributed to the founding of the national culture. Outstanding builders of this undertaking were also many of his fellows in the Society of Jesus. In six volumes of PSB, he published 58 biographies of Polish Jesuits, who were active in the lands of the Commonwealth of the Two Nations in the 17th and 18th centuries. In a substantive, impartial, and objective manner, he presented their contribution to national culture. In the biographies, Fr Bednarski used rich archival material collected primarily in the Central Archives of the Society of Jesus in Valkenburg (the Netherlands), Rome, and the Archives of the Province of the Małopolska Society of Jesus in Krakow. Some of his biographies have been published in postwar PSB notebooks. His collaboration with PSB was abruptly halted by the outbreak of World War II. Fr Bednarski died on July 16, 1942 as a result of harassment, exhaustion, hunger and hard work in the German concentration camp at Dachau near Munich.
Keywords: nauki o kulturze i religii