Four Certificates of Holy Orders Taken by Clerics from the Krakow Diocese

Abstract

There are few records showing the practice of the holy orders taken by local clergy in medieval Krakow diocese. With the exception of two short lists of acolytes ordained by bishop Jan Rzeszowski, we do not have any name lists of clergymen ordained by local ordinaries and suffragans. Consequently, studies on the holy orders of clergy from the diocese should refer to certificates of the holy orders bestowed upon individual clerics identified in studies to date. The archival search, performed in bishops’ files and consistory books from several dioceses belonging to late medieval Polish church organization, led to the retrieval of certificates of three clergymen from the Krakow diocese from the years 1460–1531: Andrzej (probably from MęcinaMała), Grzegorz from Olkusz and Jan from Jakimowice. The content of the certificates is of significance for studies on the prosopography of the Krakow clergy in 15th and mid-16th century.

Keywords

• certificate
• holy orders
• Krakow diocese
• 15–16 th century