Losy o. Wilhelma Ulawskiego oraz dzieje skasowanego opactwa cystersów w Jędrzejowie w latach 1835-1855

Fr Wilhelm Ulawski, professed monk at the Cistercian Monastery in Koprzywnica, spent the last years of his life in the former Cistercian Monastery in Jędrzejow as a superior of the suppressed community. By 1851 all his fellow monks were dead and he spent the last four years of his life alone in the monastery. He died on 21 January 1855. The discovery of a copy of his testament and an inventory of his possessions started preliminary research. Documents discovered in its course – which form part of the correspondence of the general consistories of the Diocese of Kielce and Cracow, and Diocese of Sandomierz acting as intermediaries between the authorities and the superiors of the Jędrzejow Cistercians – have shed some light on Fr Ulawski’s life and work as well as the last few years of the congregation “left to die” in the abbey dissolved in 1819. An extensive annex contains 51 documents some of which concern Fr Ulawski, beginning with a copy of his baptism certificate, documents illustrating his monastic life before the arrival in Jędrzejow, and ending with his testament and documents dealing with his legacy. The remaining documents illustrate the life of the dying community. They include requests for granting or payment of salaries owed to the monks and funds for building repair; there are also reports concerning important events or problems successive superiors had to face.