Catholicism and enlightenment in Poland-Lithuania
ENInterest in a “Catholic Enlightenment” among Polish ecclesiastical and intellectual historians dates from the Second Vatican Council.1 Research has been concentrated in two main areas. The first encompasses the reform of the schools and seminaries run by some of the religious orders, and the further development of those reforms under the Commission for National Education after 1773. The second has focused on bishops’ efforts to improve the pastoral care of souls. Significantly fewer historians have examined the religious and confessional aspects of state policy and public discourse. Overall, the attention devoted to the “Catholic Enlightenment” in Poland-Lithuania falls behind that conducted on the Holy Roman Empire and the Habsburg Monarchy. The reasons for this gap deserve an excursus, before we survey the field.
