From the Father to the Son. The Pierocki Family (Pirocki) from the Brest Vicinity as the Example of Priestly Functions Inheritance in the Uniate Church (XVII–XIX c.)

Abstract

One of the features of the Uniate Church was the presence of families in which the function of the priest was treated as a profession, inherited from father to son. As long as this problem is well-known in the scientific literature and often mentioned, there have been almost no studies showing this phenomenon on specific examples. Due to the poor state of primary sources we are often unable to unequivocally confirm the kinship between individuals, despite assumptions. This article is an attempt to show this phenomenon on a specific example of Pierocki family (Pirocki), coming from the Brest region. The first representatives of the family performing the function of Uniate priests appear in the middle of the 17th century. In total, until 1837, when the last representative of the family acting as a priest was mentioned, this profession was performed by as many as 17 of its representatives.