Recepcja encykliki "Rerum Novarum" w Galicji (1891-1918)
- Year of publication: 2002
- Source: Show
- Pages: 243-254
- DOI Address: http://dx.doi.org/10.15804/ksm200219
- PDF: ksm/06/ksm200219.pdf
The reception of the encyclical Rerum Novarum on the Galician territory (1891-1918)
The subject of the paper is the doctrinal reception of the encyclical Rerum Novarum on the Galician territory until 1918. In the lands annexed by Austria, the reception of the encyclical less warm, and realization of its lines very limited. The reception was rather organizational than doctrinal; it was characterized by paternalism and conservatism. The autor has taken account four Polish dioceses in the Austrian sector. In the period 1891-1918 the bishops announced pastorał letters and appeals devoted to the social questions. The pastorał letters. following the line of the encyclical, severely criticized liberalism and socialism. Much attention, however, has devoted to the evaluation results of liberalism. After 1905, its popularization starts growing intensively, as well as development of organizations referring to it. Archbp. J . Bilczewski writes about the decline of morality, abysmal poverty of the working people, splitting of families and practical materialism. The bishops put forward a lot of postulates of the social reform. They touched upon the problem of family wages, the protection of women's and children's labour, holiday rest, duration of a working day and problem of accommodation. The significance of the encyclical Rerum Novarum mainly consists in that it added to the creation of the christian social movement and the start of the modem social thought in Galicia.