Book review: Winfried M. Wermter, Die Ursprünge der Marienweihe in Polen bis zum Beginn des Pontifikates des hl. Johanes Paul II, Verlag Friedrich Pustet, Regensburg 2022, 184 pp.

Abstract

Winfried M. Wermter, German theologian who stayed in Poland for many years during the pontificate of John Paul II, characterizes and evaluates the Polish Marianity of the post-war era. His monograph is well written and supplemented by some newer literature, a part of his doctoral dissertation, which he wrote at the Academy of Catholic Theology in Warsaw under the supervision of Lucjan Balter. He looks at our Marian piety through the prism of the acts of consecration of Poland, the Church and the world to Mary, repeated as many as five times. He assumes that they played a key role and shaped its specificity. By the decision of the Polish Episcopate, especially
Cardinal Stefan Wyszyński, these acts were not only inscribed within pastoral care, but became its distinguishing feature. For this reason, our author chooses the ‘top-down’ path, focuses on the pastoral program of Polish bishops. In its light, he discovers the theological depth of the acts of consecration to Mary, their religious and social context, and pays close attention to the historical experience of Poles contained therein. His condensed study, reasonably objective and documented, is intended mainly for foreigners who, delighted or critical, want to learn about and understand the phenomenon of Polish Marianity in the years: 1946-1979.