The Archconfraternity of the Rosary in the Dominican Churches of Kraków. Piety and Patronage of the Arts

Abstract

The essay deals with the artistic milieu of the Archconfraternity of the Rosary at the Dominican Holy Trinity Church in Kraków. Dominicans were zealous promoters of the rosary, and numerous Rosary brotherhoods were established, typically affiliated with Dominican churches. Therefore, it seems almost certain that in Kraków, as early as the 15th century, the Dominican Order of Preachers encouraged the formation of such a confraternity. Indirect evidence of this is preserved in the Convent’s Archive in Kraków, in documents concerning the Dominican Confraternities of the Rosary, issued by Pope Innocent VIII in 1484 and by
the General of the Order, Augustine Recuperati, in 1539. In any case, in 1600, the Kraków-based confraternity—at that time already existing “ab immemorabilis tempore”— was reformed by Fr. Abraham Bzowski, who elaborated and published an extensive book on this occasion: Rosary of the Virgin Mary, now reformed anew in Kraków at the Holy Trinity (Kraków 1600 and 1606). Already at that time, the confraternity was referred to as an archconfraternity. The fact that the archconfraternity was given one of the earliest and most important copies in the former Polish Republic of Our Lady of the Snows, a miracle-working image in the Roman basilica of S. Maria Maggiore that was considered a palladium of the Eternal City, was of great importance to
its development and extraordinary influence. The essay discusses the Polish icon’s veneration, decoration, and the new architectural space it received in 1688.