Author: Paweł Mirowski

Title: Młotek duchowny w sercach ludzkich tor Chrystusów drelujący

Editio princeps: Gdańsk 1656, Dawid Fryderyk Rhete

Engraver: unknown 

Access: book digitised by Warsaw University Library

The Młotek duchowny (Spiritual Hammer) is a 17th-century translation of De imitatione Christi by Thomas à Kempis, the most popular Catholic handbook on spirituality associated with the late medieval devotio moderna trend. Paweł Mirowski, a member of the cathedral chapter in Włocławek, provided the work with five emblematic engravings, changed its title and added extracts from the writings of the Fathers of the Church. The Spiritual Hammer... calls for the rejection of the world and the inner imitation of the Savior. In the dialogues of the Soul with the Master (Mistrz) he emphasizes the special role of the sacrament of the Eucharist - the key element of the Christian spiritual life.

Two additional engravings from the series were identified in exemplars held in Library of the Metropolitan Seminary of the Archdiocese of Warsaw. Read more here.

AP, AB