Antique books in the library of the Roman Catholic parish in Kumów

Włodzimierz Bielak

Abstract

The Roman Catholic parish was established in Kumów in 1434. Like all parishes, it had its own library, which always contained liturgical books. A number of parish libraries also held books which were helpful in pastoral work, such as sermon collections. During the Trent reforms there were more and more books, primarily thanks to the Jesuits who dealt with theological writing and publishing activity. In the seventeenth and eighteeenth centuries, the number of books also increased in parish libraries, including the Kumów collection. We do not know much about the parish collection from the Old Polish period as its inventory has not survived. All the information we have is included in the reports of the bishop’s visits; we do not, however, find sufficient detail to help us separate the books belonging to the Church from the private ones whose owners were individual parish priests. Only some of the books can be identified as those belonging to the parish, because they are mentioned several times in the reports of the visitors.  The collection of antique books grew in the second half of the eighteenth century due to the bequests of two parish priests: Rev. Antoni Borowski and Rev. Antoni Wołoszyński. 25 antique books survived; they were kept in the basement of the presbytery for many years, deteriorating in unfavourable conditions.

This article presents a valuable contribution to research on the hitherto unknown parish libraries in the archdiocese of Lublin. Research into this area is worth undertaking, as the libraries are cultural sites frequently hiding rare books, which may otherwise be irretrievably lost.