Kristina Poniatowská (1610 – 6 December 1644) was a Polish noblewoman and visionary.
Poniatowská was born in 1610 in
Łasin
Łasin () is a town in Grudziądz County, Kuyavian-Pomeranian Voivodeship, in northern Poland, with 3,271 inhabitants (2004). It is the seat of the gmina (administrative district) called Gmina Łasin. It lies approximately east of Grudziądz and ...
, Western
Prussia
Prussia (; ; Old Prussian: ''Prūsija'') was a Germans, German state centred on the North European Plain that originated from the 1525 secularization of the Prussia (region), Prussian part of the State of the Teutonic Order. For centuries, ...
. Her father, Julian Poniatowa, was a Polish gentleman who, having escaped from a monastery and embraced
Protestantism
Protestantism is a branch of Christianity that emphasizes Justification (theology), justification of sinners Sola fide, through faith alone, the teaching that Salvation in Christianity, salvation comes by unmerited Grace in Christianity, divin ...
, was at first minister at
Duchnick, in
Bohemia
Bohemia ( ; ; ) is the westernmost and largest historical region of the Czech Republic. In a narrow, geographic sense, it roughly encompasses the territories of present-day Czechia that fall within the Elbe River's drainage basin, but historic ...
, then librarian of a nobleman. He probably brought up his daughter in mystical ideas, for he is said to be himself the author of a Latin dissertation on the knowledge which the angels may have of God. Christine had been entrusted to the care of the baroness of Zelking, who had taken a liking to her, when, on 12 November 1627, after severe pains, she fell into a trance, attended with visions and prophetic utterances relating to the future of the
Reformed Church
Reformed Christianity, also called Calvinism, is a major branch of Protestantism that began during the 16th-century Protestant Reformation. In the modern day, it is largely represented by the Continental Reformed Christian, Presbyterian, ...
. This strange state returned at regular intervals for a whole year, always attended with the same phenomena, and a number of people testified to its genuineness. 27 January 1629, the young visionary fell into so heavy a lethargy that she passed for dead, but when she finally recovered her senses she declared that her mission was fulfilled, and that she should thenceforth have no more visions. In 1632 she was married to a
Moravian minister,
Daniel Strejc-Vetterus, and died on 6 December 1644, at
Leszno
Leszno (, , ) is a historic city in western Poland, seat of Leszno County within the Greater Poland Voivodeship. It is the seventh-largest city in the province with an estimated population of 62,200, as of 2021.
Leszno is a former residential cit ...
, near
Posen. Her revelations, written by herself, were translated into Latin, and published by
John Amos Comenius
John Amos Comenius (; ; ; ; Latinized: ''Ioannes Amos Comenius''; 28 March 1592 – 15 November 1670) was a Czech philosopher, pedagogue and theologian who is considered the father of modern education. He served as the last bishop of the Unit ...
, with those of
Christopher Kotter and
Nicolas Drabicki, under the title ''Lux in Tenebris'' (1657, 1659, 1665). They were retranslated into German by
Benedict Balmsen (Amsterdam, 1664).
{{DEFAULTSORT:Poniatowska, Kristina
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1610 births
1644 deaths
People from Grudziądz County