Holy Cross Sermons

The Holy Cross Sermons (Polish: Kazania świętokrzyskie) are the oldest extant prose text in the Polish language, dating probably from the late 13th, or from the early 14th century. The documents are named after the place where they were originally housed – the Holy Cross Monastery () in Poland's Holy Cross Mountains (Polish: Góry Świętokrzyskie). They were discovered in striped parchment pieces in 1890 by Aleksander Brückner, in the binding of a Latin language codex, which contained the Acts of the Apostles and the Apocalypse. The sermons were first published in 1891, in a "Philological Works" ("Prace Filologiczne") magazine. In 1934, facsimiles of the text were published by the Polish Academy of Learning, and in 2009, new, full edition of the sermons was issued, prepared by professor Pawel Stepien.

Even though Aleksander Bruckner claimed that the text was originally housed at the Holy Cross Monastery, this hypothesis has been criticized by some scholars. According to historian Wladyslaw Semkowicz, the codex, already strengthened with parchment stripes, was delivered to a Benedictine monastery at Leżajsk, in circa 1459. The Leżajsk monastery, however, was not the location where the sermons were written. Language analysis, carried out by Polish experts proved that the text was probably written in a monastery in Miechów, which was famous for its sermons and library, and which cooperated with the Leżajsk monastery. On the other hand, if sermons were written in the 13th century, then their Miechów origins are dubious. At that time, this monastery was made of monks of Czech and German origin, who either did not speak Polish, or spoke it poorly, and who were unable to write down the complicated text.

Some time in the 15th century, the sermons were cut into strips, which were used to strengthen the binding of a Latin language codex. Most likely, other parts of the sermons were used in bindings of other books. This practice was common at the time, as parchment was both durable and expensive, so publications regarded as unnecessary or unimportant were frequently used to strengthen other, more precious books.

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