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Piotr Skarga (less often, Piotr Powęski; 2 February 1536 – 27 September 1612) was a Polish Jesuit, preacher, hagiographer, polemicist, and leading figure of the Counter-Reformation in the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. Due to his oratorical gifts, he has been called "the Polish Bossuet".〔 Skarga is remembered by Poles as a vigorous early advocate of reforms to the Polish-Lithuanian polity, and as a critic of the Commonwealth's governing classes, as well as of its religious tolerance policies. He advocated strengthening the monarch's power at the expense of parliament (the ''Sejm'') and of the nobility (the ''szlachta''). He was a professor at the Kraków Academy and in 1579 he became the first rector of the Wilno Academy. Later, he served in the Jesuit College at Kraków. He was also a prolific writer, and his ''Lives of the Saints'' (''Żywoty świętych'', 1579) was for several centuries one of the most popular books in the Polish language. His other important work was the ''Sejm Sermons'' (''Kazania Sejmowe'', 1597), a political treatise, which became popular in the second half of the 19th century, when he was seen as the "patriotic seer" who predicted the partitions of Poland. ==Life== Skarga was born on 2 February 1536, north of Grójec, in the small ''folwark'' (manor) of Powęszczyzna (also known as Skargowzczyzna or Skargowo).〔 His family are often described as lesser landless ''szlachta'' (gentry, or nobility), but it seems likely most of his ancestors had been peasants, later townsfolk who had only recently become minor nobility.〔 He was reared at the family estate, and lost his parents when he was young; his mother died when he was eight years old, and his father, Michał Skarga, four years later. Thereafter he was supported by his brothers, one of whom, Stanisław Skarga, was a priest.〔 Piotr started his education at a parochial school in Grójec before moving to Kraków, where in 1552 he enrolled at the Kraków Academy, precursor to Jagiellonian University.〔 His teachers included the priests Marcin Glicjusz and Jan Leopolida.〔 He finished his studies in 1555.〔 Immediately after he finished his education, he served for two years as rector of the collegiate school at St. John's Church in Warsaw.〔 From October 1557 he tutored Jan Tęczyński, son of magnate Andrzej Tęczyński, and visited Vienna with his pupil, where he likely became closely acquainted with the Society of Jesus, a key order of the counter-reformation.〔〔 He then returned to Poland, which emerged as one of the main terrains of struggle between the Protestant Reformation movement and the Catholic Church's counter-reformation. From 1562 he served as a parson in Rohatyn,〔 and around 1564 he took holy orders.〔 That year he became a canon, and the following year he also served as chancellor of the Lwów chapter.〔 From 1566 to 1567 he was chaplain at the court of castellan Jan Krzysztof Tarnowski (the royal secretary to King Sigismund II Augustus); after Tarnowski's death he returned to Lwów, taking up the position of the cathedral preacher.〔 In 1568 he departed for Rome, arriving in 1569 and joining the Society of Jesus.〔 In 1571 he returned to Poland,〔 and preached successively at Pułtusk, Lwów, Jarosław, Warsaw (where he delivered a sermon before the ''Sejm'') and Płock, where he visited the court of Queen Anna Jagiellon, who would become one of his patrons.〔 A leading proponent of counter-reformation, Skarga commonly preached against non-Catholic denominations and helped secure funds and privileges for the Society of Jesus.〔 In 1573 he was rector of the Wilno Jesuit College, precursor to the Wilno Academy (Vilnius University).〔 In 1577 he became a professor at the Kraków Academy.〔 That year he also finished one of his most important works, ''The Lives of the Saints'' (''Żywoty świętych''), which was published two years later.〔 In 1579 he became the first rector of the Wilno Academy.〔 In 1576 he published ''Pro Sacratissima Eucharistia contra haeresim Zwinglianam, ad Andream Volanum'' (''For the Most Sacred Eucharist, against the Zwinglian Heresy, to Andrzej Wolan'').〔 In 1582 he published ''Artes duodecim Sacramentariorum, sive Zwinglio-calvinistarum'' (''The Seven Pillars on Which Stands Catholic Doctrine on the Most Sacred Sacrament of the Altar'').〔 Both these works formed part of Skarga's dialogue with the Calvinist author Andrzej Wolan, which took the form of a series of rival polemics over a number of years.〔〔 Wolan was a notable figure in the Commonwealth politics—not only a publicist, but a royal secretary, diplomat and Sejm deputy.〔 In 1584 Skarga was transferred to the new Jesuit College at Kraków.〔 On 26 March 1587 he founded the Polish version of the Mount of Piety, a pawnbroker run as a charity and called in Polish the ''Bank Pobożny'' (lit. the Pious Bank).〔 In 1588 the newly elected King Sigismund III Vasa established the new post of court preacher, and Skarga became the first priest to hold it.〔 Skarga became a valued adviser to the King, and Sigismund became so fond of him that when the priest considered retirement, Sigismund rejected this, requesting that he remain at court for as long as possible.〔 As part of his Counter-Reformation policies, Skarga was also a major proponent of the Union of Brest,〔 a merger between the Roman Catholic Church and a faction of the Eastern Orthodox Church. His influence on King Sigismund, whom he supported (or encouraged) in opposing religious tolerance and seeking to strengthen royal power, was a factor that has been cited as a cause of the civil war—the (ultimately unsuccessful) Zebrzydowski Rebellion of 1606—in which the royal faction confronted a popular movement among the nobility, led by the Zebrzydowski family, who sought to depose Sigismund.〔 Some critics referred to Skarga as "the principal mischief-maker of the Kingdom" (in the Latin, "''pracecipuus turbator Regnii''").〔 In 1611 he delivered his final sermon before the ''Sejm'' and published his final work, an ideological testament, ''Wzywanie do jednej zbawiennej wiary'' (''A Call for One Redeeming Faith'').〔 He remained Sigismund's court preacher until April 1612, four months before his death.〔 Skarga died on 27 September 1612 and was buried in the Saints Peter and Paul Church in Kraków.〔 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Piotr Skarga」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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