Piotr Skarga

Piotr Skarga ( real name Piotr Powęski; born February 2, 1536 Grójec; † September 27, 1612 in Kraków ) was a Polish Jesuit, preacher, hagiographer, polemicist, and leading figure of the Counter-Reformation in the Polish-Lithuanian Rzeczpospolita of the late 16th century.

Because of his oratorical skills Skarga is also called the " Polish Bossuet ". He was appointed in 1579 to the office of the Rector of Vilnius University, Jakub Wujek after. From 1588 he became a preacher at the court of Sigismund III. Vasa active, hence he sometimes preached in the Polish parliament, the Sejm. The Polish nobility wrote him great influence on King Sigismund ( Skarga was a proponent of strong royal power in the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth ). Among his writings the lives of the saints are ( Żywoty Swietych, 1579 ), his famous Sejm sermons ( Kazania sejmowe, 1597 ) and the moral letter, which require the model of the Polish knight, until today still remarkable how well worth reading.

Skarga is seen in Poland as energetic advocate for reform of state administration of Poland-Lithuania and critics of the nobility republican government aristocracy. He advocated the strengthening of royal power at the expense of the Sejm, the magnates and the szlachta. He established and enlarged many Catholic charitable societies and Jesuit schools, and was one of the creators of the Church Union of Brest.

On the occasion of the 400th anniversary of the death Skarga 2011, the Sejm, the Polish Parliament decided by a large majority, to honor Skarga as Person of the Year in 2012.