Droga ks. prof. Jana Fijałka do uniwersyteckiej katedry

Rev. Prof. Jan Fijalek (1864-1936) is considered to be one of the most outstanding Polish historians of the Church. There are already several scientific studies on his work as a professor although we are still waiting for its complete study. This text attempts to present his path to the professorship. First, in the years 1871-75 he attended the elementary school in Bochnia, then from 1875 to 1879 to the lower gymnasium in Bochnia, and then, between 1879 and 1883, to the St. Anna Gymnasium in Krakow. The gymnasiums in Bochnia and Krakow issued many famous Polish scientists. After graduating from high school, he entered the Theological Seminary and the Faculty of Theology of the Jagiellonian University, where he chose a scientific seminar on the history of the Church, conducted by Rev. Prof. Wladyslaw Chotkowski. He received his priestly ordination in 1887, and afterwards went to Rome, where he studied law at the Gregorian University. He also graduated from the Palaeographic School at the Vatican. Soon he established cooperation with the research center of the Krakow Academy of Arts and Sciences in Rome under the supervision of prof. Stanislaw Smolka. In 1891 he obtained his doctorate and began lecturing at the Faculty of Theology of the Jagiellonian University. He habilitated at the age of 29 on the basis of his achievements and thesis entitled „The life and customs of the clergy in medieval Poland in the context of synodal legislation” (1893). When in 1896 the Church History Department at the Faculty of Theology at the University of Lviv became vacant, he entered the competition and won it. He became an associate professor at the age of 32. At every stage of his education, attention was paid to his extraordinary diligence, which remained his special trait for the next 40 years as a professor.