Wzorzec opata w panegiryku witowskiego duchownego Pochodni dwanaście. To jest dwanaście Błogosławionych Świętych Pańskich Zakonu Norberta Świętego (1741)

Abstract

The subject of the article is the poetic structure of the twelve images of Premon stratensian saints and blessed (Norbert, Godfrey, Otto, Gilbert, Frederick, Herman Jose ph, Gerlach, Isfrid, Adrian and Jacob, Gertrude, Hugo, Evermode, Syard and Ludovic), presented in the rhymed biographies by a monk from Witów and jointly entitled “Twelve torches. These are twelve Blessed Saints from the Order of St. Norbert …” (1741). The publication introduces the theoretical and literary reflection on the role model and literary tradition demonstrated in the biographies of Polish Saints. The attention is focused on the symbolic title of the work and on its structure. The collection is arranged in calendar order, the saints’ biographies are assigned to individual months, thanks to which individual compositional elements of the panegyric have a functionalised character, and each of them serves didactic and parenetic purposes. The article reveals that the heroes’ stories encouraged to imitate their conduct and actions, they were also supposed to praise and protect the Order.