164 KOSCIOLdistinct fractions - the 'Old Catholic Mariavites' at Plock, and the stricter
'Catholic Mariavites' at Felicjanow. Eighty years after its foundation, it still
claimed a nominal establishment of 63 parishes.^15
In the twentieth century, the Roman Catholic Church in Poland failed to reap
the reward which many of its leaders believed to be its due. It never achieved the
status of a national Established Church. In the Second Republic between 1918
and 1939, it had to compete with a wide variety of religions and denominations,
and its political influence was restricted by the markedly anticlerical temper of
the ruling elite. In the Second World War, it was mutilated no less than other
Polish institutions. Although no effort was made to close the churches com-
pletely, the Nazi and Soviet Terror fell indiscriminately on believers and on
unbelievers, on the clergy and the laity alike. Several bishops, and over three
thousand priests, lost their lives. Gestures of defiance, such as that of Cardinal
Adam Sapieha, who pointedly served Governor Hans Frank a plate of cold por-
ridge, or of the Blessed Maksymilian Kolbe (1894-1943), who voluntarily
entered the starvation bunker of Auschwitz,^16 were not forgotten. By the time of
the 'Liberation', most of the old suspicions about the Church's 'unpatriotic' or
'collaborationist' tendencies had been dispelled.
The outstanding qualities of Roman Catholicism in contemporary Poland dis-
play a complicated blend of the old and the new. On the one hand, traditional
devotionalism was still very strong, especially among the peasant masses. Church-
going was normal. The entire population of the villages, and of working-class
districts in the towns, walked to Mass, and knelt submissively for long periods.
The singing was rich and lusty. Religious processions were scrupulously observed.
On Catholic feast days, fields and factories were deserted. Annual Pilgrimages, to
Czestochowa or to Kalwaria Zebrzydowska, attracted hundreds of thousands, if
not millions. The Marian Cult flourished as never before. In almost every home,
the image of the Holy Mother, Queen of Poland, hung above or beside the crucifix;
the rosary was counted, and the Pasterka recited. Traditional authoritarianism
was also strong. The parish priest, 'God's deputy', enjoyed great social prestige.
He both expected, and was expected, to make clear pronouncements on all issues
of public concern. The Hierarchy demanded absolute obedience, and was not free
from a touch of theatricality. On the other hand, the clergy was well educated, and
was fully conversant with modern conditions. Catholic intellectuals played a
prominent part in all debates. Most innovatorily, the Church found itself pos-
sessed of a monopoly in religious belief unparalleled in previous Polish history.
According to Korzon, in 1791 Roman Catholics formed 54 per cent of the popula-
tion of the old Republic. In 1931, in the Second Republic, they represented perhaps
65 per cent; in 1946, in the People's Republic, 96.6 per cent. This provided the
Church with an unrivalled platform from which, in the absence of all political
opposition, to assert itself as the chief moral arbiter of the nation, the principal
popular counterweight to an unpopular communist regime. It is an odd state of
affairs, but in 'People's Poland', in the heart of the Soviet bloc, the Roman Catholic
Church emerged as prosperous, as confident, and as secure as never before.