Wokół wileńskiego nurtu odrodzeniowego: Stanisław Stomma (1908-2005)

ENStanisław Stomma (1908-2005) is an interesting figure of the generation of Catholic intelligentsia from the Vilnius territories. His achievements, as those of the entire circle, should enter the tradition of Polish political culture of the 20th century. These were young people organized in the Association of Catholic Academic Youth, PAX, and "Odrodzenie", who had their own periodical issued in Vilnius in 1933-1938. A number of authors and young journalists had their debut there, including S. Stomma, A. Gołubiew, J. Turowicz and others, creating the circles of "Tygodnik Powszechny" and "Znak" periodicals after 1944. My intention is to exemplify the problems of the Vilnius youth, facing the complex issues of the crisis of the 1930s, using the example of S. Stomma. These problems concerned social and political issues and the increasing threat of totalitarianism, which required the skills of dialogue, compromise and winning over of the masses of enlightened Catholics. The youth gathered around their periodical, Pax, and designed a program to fight "for the Christian culture of tomorrow". This is evidenced by the analysis of selected texts, mainly that of the so-called Manifesto, published in the issue of January 1934. It reflected the spirit of the Vilnius youth, who undertook to build Christian culture. J. Turowicz outlined the concept, thus joining the polemics around the Manifesto. S. Stomma also designed a program of positive work for his circle in „Odrodzenie”. He went beyond cultural issues. The struggle for the "soul of the nation" involved the tasks a Catholic was responsible to perform with respect to social needs and the offensive of nationalism, Fascism and Communism. A complete analysis of the periodical’s content will allow me to illustrate all the values as well as weaknesses of the Vilnius circle of Catholic youth.Apart from the origin of so-called open Catholicism, it will be necessary to discuss the achievements of the above circle in the post-war period. Only this whole can contribute a significant portion of Polish political culture in the 20th century. We are facing this task for the future.