Holy Cross Sermons

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The Holy Cross Sermons (Polish: Kazania świętokrzyskie), so called after the Holy Cross Monastery in Poland's Holy Cross Mountains (Polish: Góry Świętokrzyskie) where they had originally been housed: dating from the 14th century, they are the oldest extant manuscripts of fine prose in the Polish language.

The sermons, on the occasions of six Church holy days, comprise fragments of five texts and one complete sermon (for St. Catherine's Day). They had been taken to St. Petersburg, Russia, where they were accidentally discovered in 1890 by the renowned professor of Polish language, Aleksander Brückner.

The sermons, written on parchment, had been cut into thin strips and used to reinforce the binding of a 15th-century Latin manuscript. During World War II the Holy Cross Sermons were taken for safekeeping to Canada. They are now preserved at the National Library in Warsaw, Poland.