Przekład i kontemplacja. Prace literackie Elżbiety z Potockich Szczuczyny

This article presents an overview of the person and translation work of Elżbieta née Potocka Szczuczyna (ca. 1700–1766), previously known only for her translation of Jean Crasset’s La douce et sainte mort. Through closer research, it was possible to reconstruct her biography and determine that during her widowhood she also translated three other extensive works, including Henri-Marie Boudon’s Les saintes voies de la Croix, Jerome Gonnelieu’s De la présence de Dieu qui renferme tous les principes de la vie intérieure, as well as Thomas de Andrada’s Os trabalhos de Jesus. Additionally, Szczuczyna edited the sermons of two of her confessors (Jakub Filipowicz and Kasper Balsam) and wrote her own spiritual journal, fragments of which can be found in the biography written by the Jesuit Józef Płochocki on the occasion of her death anniversary. As can be seen from Szczuczyna’s literary interests, she was greatly influenced by the French school of spirituality and the Jesuit confessors. Her literary activities are particularly noteworthy as an example of women’s active participation in the Jesuit apostolate in Poland-Lithuania.