A Sea Adventure of Polish Pilgrims: Account and Allegory (Vita maior sancti Stanislai, caput 49)

Abstract

This article presents the narrative strategy employed by Wincenty z Kielc (Kielczy) in Vita maior sancti Stanislai, a text written shortly after the canonization of St. Stanisław. Its aim was to strengthen the cult of the Kraków bishop; the tales of miracles performed by the holy martyr were supposed to sound credible. They were also intended to incline readers (listeners) to pious reflection of a more general kind. At the hands oWincenty, a realistic tale of the dangers of a journey by sea undertaken by Piotr, a relative of the hagiographer, is transformed into allegory. The author, well‑versed in Dominican sermonizing, aims to convince readers that in what seem banal events, the „power and greatness of God” are manifested. God works through the mediation of St. Stanisław in what was for contemporary Poles the exotic circumstances of a maritime disaster.