Dignitas Humana and Humanitas Christiana in Diego de Estella’s Meditation Guide O wzgardzie świata i próżności jego translated by Augustyn Kochański (1611)

The subject of study is human dignity and humanitas christiana interpreted by a Spanish Franciscan
Diego de Estella (1524–1578) in his work O wzgardzie świata i próżności jego translated into Polish by
another Franciscian Augustyn Kochański (1568–1632). The book is a meditation guide. In spite of the
ascetic character of the recommended meditations and Medieval origin of their central idea being de
contemptu mundi, the image of the world presented in the book conveys the Renaissance humanitas
propagating the rebirth of the humanity through Jesus Christ (humanitas christiana). Spiritual rebirth
of a human being is hereby identified with improving oneself by means of asceticism. The most noble
humanitas and the most perfect form of human dignity is revealed through love for God, through the
divine element within the human soul. A human having been given a universal mind is capable of fully
developing his or her humanitas, in this way establishing union with God, achieving spiritual perfection
and eluding inferior forms of life infected by sin.
The analysis is made within a relatively broad comparative context. It includes Mateusz Kuligowski’s
translation of the work by M. P. Besse Heraklita chrześcijańskiego albo grzesznie pokutującego lamenta
(1694); Wojciech Pakostensis Półgęskowic’s translation of a Spanish Jesuit and teologist Francisco Arias’
work entitled Traktat o duchowym postępku (1610); St. Augustine’s Confessions, as well as Thomas à
Kempis’ The Imitation of Christ. The study proves that in the times when the Church stressed the futility
of life and scorned the vanities of the world, the intellectuals of Renaissance and Baroque put a lot of
effort in creating the theory of human dignity and humanitatis by propagating the idea of human rebirth
through Christ. Humans having been bestowed with reason and dignity coming from God should turn
away from the world’s vanities and follow the imitationis Christi way.