Anniversary of the birth of 1 of the traitors of Poland and the Catholic Church, Michał Poniatowski.
Today in our calendar we will look at the life and activities of the younger brother of King Stanisław August Poniatowski – Michał.
The Poniatian arbitraryly assigned Michael to a spiritual state, which in itself was rather a pathology. He was educated at the Warsaw School of Teatin Priests. In 1754, he left for Rome, where he studied theology for 2 years. He was not an urgent student and never received a doctorate.
He was more curious in traveling. He visited not only Italy but besides France. In 1756 he joined the seminary of the clergy, accepted priestly ordination and became a Kraków canon. The flash career was due to the support of the Familia Party. The future king of Poland himself sought bishopric for him, writing to Catherine's Tsar. This shows the degree to which the Polish Church of that time was infiltrated, since the cast of bishoprics could be decided by the head of a abroad state.
In 1759 Poniatowski moved to France. There he represented the Familia Party, which sought support for its candidate in the monarch's election after the anticipated imminent death of August III. He began his political career officially in 1761 erstwhile he sat in the Crown Court. He took part in discussing with Repnin the plan of placing his brother Stanisław on the Polish throne. After the success of the elective operation, he gained quite a few congratulations and distinctions. He became a commanding abbot of Red, a bachelor of the Order of the White Eagle and the Order of St. Stanislaus.
He attended the meetings of the Royal Council and helped manage the kingdoms. Repnin took him into account during the cast of the Polish Primate title, but yet elected Gabriel Podoski. He most likely feared besides much strengthening of the Poniatowski family. Personally, the future primate was a very haughty and two-faced man. He had a fewer lovers. With Maria Maleszewski he had a boy of Peter, and with Petronel Oborska Kazimierz.
He was besides an open traitor. He publically criticized the Bar confederation and advocated a strict alliance with Russia. The holding of the throne and the Russian embassy gave him the position of Secretary of the large Crown. In 1773 he was appointed Bishop of Pock. To this ministry he had a akin attitude as Podoski to primacy. He appeared in his diocese only once. He was more occupied by the large politician in Warsaw salons. He participated in the organisation of the Committee on National Education and the Continuing Council, which he became a associate of.
In 1775, he was appointed a co-ordinator of the Krakow bishopric. So he was guaranteed his takeover after Kajetan Sołtyk died. He was 1 of the main supporters of the Confederacy of Parliament led by St. Petersburg from 1776.
As a royal advisor, he supported all of his office and bureaucratic ideas. He even opposed tourist trips of nobility abroad, as in his opinion it depleted the amount of home cash. He defended the model of the economy centrally planned, which he introduced in the Lithuanian kingdoms Antoni Tyzenhauz.
As president of the Committee on National Education, he swept under the carpet financial machinations and facilitated the institution's receipt of parliamentary financial absolutaries. He was the patron of Hugo Kolłataj's career. He recommended it to the Association of simple Books and commissioned the improvement of the Cracow Academy. He took an active part in an intrigue to free himself of the hostile KEN and Kołłataj bishop of Sołtyk. Along with his supporters from the Kraków Chapter, he stated that Sołtyk was mentally ill.
With the support of the capital, an unruly arrest of an unruly clergyman was made. shortly he was deprived of all ecclesiastical functions, the ability to exercise liturgy and manage his property. The admin of the Krakow bishopric was Poniatowski himself, of course, so he rapidly got rich. In addition, the removal of Sołtyka made it easier for Vienna to take full control of the part of this ecclesiastical state that they seized (Soltyk was completely opposed to the division of the diocese into the Polish and Austrian parts).
In 1784, with the support of the King and the Russians, Michał became Archbishop of Gniezno and Primate of Poland. In 1786, he covered up the case of his protégé Joseph Bogucicki, who gave a lecture at the Krakow Academy in the presence of the king attacking the Church and defending heretics like John Hus.
In the second half of the 1980s he took care of . He carried out respective reforms in the spirit of enlightenment, for example, strengthened the position of deans. He besides banned the baptism of judaic children and advised against organizing public nativity scenes. He sought to make religion a private matter, and the church institutions wanted to join the state in serving as a Protestant.
During the large Sejm, he supported any of the reforms, but consistently defended the Continuing Council and alliance with Russia, not Prussia. He besides protested against the simplification of KEN funds and the usage of them to strengthen the military.
Few listened to his opinion. Over time, he became little and little popular in the patriotic camp and considered as a brake change, most likely a Russian juggler. Finally, he went out of the country for the sake of saving the strained health, following the words of Stanisław August. He went to Italy and then France, England and the Netherlands. In 1791, he became an honorary associate of The Society of Antiquaries in London, which was an outbuilding The large Lodge of England.
He's had relationships with secret organizations before. Among others, he held in his residence in Jabłonna a gathering of rożocrużców and had unclear relations with the Warsaw, German-speaking lodge Göttin von Eleusis. For the remainder of his life, he maintained a affirmative attitude towards free-growing and did absolutely nothing to hinder its improvement in Poland.
In the second half of 1791, he urged the Saxon elector to adopt the Polish crown in accordance with the provisions of the Constitution of 3 May. Returning to the country, he spoke negatively about the sharp course of reformers against the Jawny Potocki. At the critical minute of the Polish-Russian war, he opposed the king's departure to the military camp in order to strengthen the morale of the army. Then, like Kolłataj, he insisted that he join the Targowice Confederation. Sam besides volunteered to join her.
As a naive man, he did not full believe in the anticipation of fresh cutting. erstwhile the marketers dissolved the Committee on National Education, he went to opposition to their governments. At the Grodno Sejm, he successfully sought to resurrect a unified state education system. He besides entered the renewed Continuing Council.
After the outbreak of the Kościuszko Revolution, he and the king issued a manifesto against the uprising and brought his leaders a trial for treason of the state. Fearing arrest by rebels, he moved to the royal castle. After mastering the capital, he was interned. He feared sharing the destiny of another villains who lost their lives during the celebrated Warsaw hangings.
He died in not entirely clear circumstances on 12 August 1794. According to the authoritative version, death occurred as a consequence of illness. However, any accounts point to the alleged transmission of information to Prusai about weak points of Polish fortification around the capital. The case was to come out and scandalized, and the king’s urged primate discreetly took the poison. We'll most likely never know the real circumstances of his death again.
Michał Poniatowski is another character who has damaged the Polish and Catholic origin for a number of years. This man broke and corrupted the Church from within. On his trips abroad, he took the illegitimate boy of Piotr Maleszewski (a note of bene a associate of the masonry) and caused considerable mischief. He consistently preached the pro-Russian political line and willingly worked with Tsaric diplomacy. Even if he did not give the Prusai plans for the capital fortifications, the feats of earlier feats are adequate to recognise him as a traitor to the Homeland.
Previous entry from our calendar is available Here.
