Jesuit “Missye Katolickie” (1882-1891) – the initial period of the operation of the first Polish missionary journal: its development, shaping, subject matter and publishing functions

Abstract

The first mission magazines in the world: “Les Annales de la Propagation de la Foi” and “Les Missions Catholiques” have been published since 1822. Sixty years later the Jesuits began publishing the title: “Missye Katolickie” by the Jesuits. It was the first Polish-language periodical that was created when Poland was under partitions.

It was created thanks to the publication of Leo XIII's encyclical “Santa Dei civitas” (1880), encouraging broad involvement in the missions ad gentes of the Ecclesia, and on the other hand, thanks to the political change and the signing of a concordat between the Holy See and Austria (1885). Until now, it has not been the subject of wider press and missions studies. Due to the length of 59 publishing years, the research period was limited to the first decade of publishing for the purposes of the study.

In the course of the conducted research, the genesis of the journal, its assumptions, subject matter, manner of communication and the implementation of publishing functions by the editors were indicated. As it has been shown, the Jesuit monthly, due to the fact that it was a precursor of missionary media in the Polish language, became, in many areas indicated in the research, a paradigmatic model for the subsequent editing of mission journals.