NAUJAS DANGIŠKASIS GLOBĖJAS: KAI KURIE OPINIO SANCTITATIS ASPEKTAI ISTORINIUOSE IR LITERATŪRINIUOSE PAL. JUOZAPATO GYVENIMO ŠALTINIUOSE XVII A.

This article aims to trace how the sound of holiness (odor sanctitatis, opinio sanctitatis), which spread throughout the society following the death of the martyr Josaphat Kuntsevych (the Archbishop of Polotsk Uniates), reverberates in the written tradition and is transformed into the "canonical" hagiographical and artistic literary form of the description of a life. One of the most important moments in this transformation comes in the form of the appearance and spread of the public and communal function of the heavenly patron and the manifestations of the ulterior protection of the saint. Prior to beatification taking place, some witnesses had confirmed him by choosing to venerate him as their personal patron or even the patron of their congregation or army. The analysis's conclusions are made promising by the relatively intact state of the surviving sources for St. Josaphat's beatification (which took place in 1648), the process of canonization, and the literary and other texts devoted to the Saint. The article makes reference to 17th century writing devoted to Josaphat Kuntsevych. Texts by Juozapas Velaminas Rutskis, Rapolas Korsakas, Joachim Morochowski, Jakub Susza and Andrzej Młodzianowski and others are given wider discussion, as are the documentary witnesses of 1628 and the records of the completed processes in 1637. These sources help us to reveal the prehistory of some "emblematic" moments from St. Josaphat's life and the history of their "crystallization" in hagiography and literature. Of prime importance are those moments that are related to the miracles. These were the moments that were watched most closely by the society because such miracles were witness to the heavenly and protective effect of the Saint Archbishop after his martyrdom. Looking back upon the history of St. Josaphat's cult, we can see that the relics and the practises relating to their "usage" were an obvious signs of the spread of opinio sanctitatis and its effect in the Baroque society of the 17th century's GDL. The remaining texts (especially the surveys of witnesses) allow us to trace St. Josaphat's personal features and the tradition concerning the depiction of his life, which reaches back to the primary narratives recorded by the witnesses who saw them. In some cases a path reveals itself, beginning with the historical event itself and the personal and public interpretation of it, continuing through to the reception and later consideration and depiction of it in various literary forms. Those forms involve a biographical narration, homiletics, poems, and the combination of an emblem with the genre of elogium as has been discussed in the work by Andrzej Młodzianowski Icones symbolicae vitae et mortis B. Iosaphat (1675). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]