History of Oliwa (; Òlëwa or Òléwa, Latin and German: Oliva) is full of interesting events. The oldest document related to the monastery in Oliwa is the foundation document issued on 18 March 1186 by the son of Subisław Sambor I. From that time on, for seven centuries, the development of Oliwa was closely connected with the Cistercian Order. Cistercian monasteries were important centers of culture, science and medicine in the Middle Ages, the monks also introduced a new agrarian culture and enormous technical progress in crafts and agriculture. The unquestionable contribution of the Cistercians to the development of Oliwa and the richness of their cultural and material heritage creates an opportunity to draw an analogy between such a rich, colourful history and today’s dynamic development of a new place for the inhabitants of Gdańsk and the inhabitants of the metropolis, and to combine them into one creative story. We are connected by Oliwa and its history, tradition and culture.

“Olivia’s name day” is a new cultural and social initiative undertaken by Olivia Business Centre, which will take place on 12 June 2016 in the Oliwa Archcathedral (Mass at 1.00 p.m.) and on the Square in front of the Cathedral (from 9.00 a.m. to 4.00 p.m.), in cooperation with the Parish of the Archcathedral in Oliwa and the Marshal’s Office, which is preparing the 10th edition of the Pomeranian Traditional Product Festival, organized by the Marshal’s Office of the Pomeranian Voivodeship.

Our goal is to celebrate the name day of the patron saint of the Oliwa district – St. Olivia. It is thanks to the Cistercians that St. Olive oil*. We want this event, in a place important for all residents and guests – in the Cathedral and on the Cathedral Square, to contribute to the preservation of the memory of such a historically important figure associated with our district. We feel that we are continuators of the multi-layered economic, cultural and social tradition of Oliwa and the Cistercian Order, which is why we want to refer to it creatively.

A 11. June on Saturday at 12.00-16.00 we also invite you to the Olivia Business Centre stand as part of the VIVA OLIVA event, the Oliwa Festival at the War Invalids Square and Jacek Rybiński.

OLIWIA’S NAME PROGRAM:

12.06.2016 | SUNDAY – 9.00 -16.00

Olivia Business Cen tre standat the 10th Pomeranian Traditional Product Festival in front of the Cathedral in Oliwa. At the stands of Olivia Business Centre: sweets, balloons, photo wall/monidło

13.00 – 14.00 Holy Mass with artistic setting – Ewelina Wojciechowska (soprano)

Moreover:

Guided walks, “Lazy in Oliwa”, iBedeker (Ewa Kowalska) and Arkadiusz Zygmunt (history enthusiast and orator) invite you!

Three walks “Lazy around Oliwa” (all of them will lead along the same route), led by Arkadiusz Zygmunt, will start at 10:00 a.m. 3.00 p.m. – 4.15 p.m. – 5.30 p.m. on the square in front of the entrance to the Oliwa Cathedral. Cicerone will invite guests to the Old Market Square in Oliwa, under the parish church of Our Lady Queen of the Polish Crown at 131 Polanki Street, he will tell where the Cistercians of Oliwa have gone, he will lead the group along Polanki Street to show the modern face of Oliwa at the end.

We cordially invite you to celebrate the name day of the patron saint of the Oliwa district! We invite you to the Oliwa Cathedral and the Cathedral Square!

*Our Patroness – St. Anagni Olive Oil

In Poland, on June 15, we celebrate Olivia’s name day, which name comes from Latin, where it was alternately used as Olivia or Oliva, and most likely its genesis is the olive tree.

For centuries, Oliwa was associated primarily with the Cistercian Abbey, which existed here continuously for 643 years, until 1831. And it was thanks to the Cistercians that St. Anagni Olive Oil (known as St. Olivia of Anagni according to some sources).

About St. Many facts cannot be found in Oliwa. To this day, it is speculated that she lived between the 5th and 6th centuries, in the Italian town of Anagni, located about 70 kilometers from Rome. One version says that she was a nun in a Benedictine monastery who gave her life fully to God. The second is that she lived in a hermitage inhabited by “holy virgins.”

What is known for sure is that she was very pious and modest from her childhood. She lived on the sidelines, in seclusion. She treated her own home like a hermitage – despite the fact that she came from a wealthy family, she avoided a lavish life. Moreover, when her parents found a suitable husband for her, she ran away from home because she believed she was already married to God. She died on 3 June, which is why she is commemorated on that day in the Catholic Church.

How did a local saint, venerated since the 12th century in several Italian towns, become the patron saint of Oliwa? First of all, thanks to the efforts of Abbot Michał Antoni Hacki, who at the beginning of the eighteenth century decided to bring the “dove of peace”, as St. Olivia, to the convent. The main cause was the Third Northern War in Pomerania. The abbot received permission from the then pope, Clement XI, to bring the relics (part of the arm) and celebrate the indulgence of St. Paul. Olive oil from Anagni, however, died several days before her arrival. It happened in 1703, when the relics were laid to rest in the church of St. Jacob.

However, this was not yet the moment of introducing the cult of St. Olive oil. This happened only after the end of the War of Succession to the Polish throne, between Stanisław Leszczyński and Augustus III of Saxony, which broke out in 1733. Oliwa was in favour of Saxon, while Gdańsk was in favour of the former. The war was eventually won by Augustus III. In gratitude for the fact that the hostilities bypassed Oliwa and the abbey, finally in June 1739, after Abbot Jacek Rybiński and Prior Iwo Roweder obtained permission from the Cistercian authorities, the cult of St. Olivia was introduced, and her relics transferred to the monastery church.

With the fall of the abbey, the relics of St. The oil was lost. Her cult also disappeared, but it was never officially abolished. 182 years after the dissolution of the abbey, Archbishop Sławoj Leszek Głódź sent a letter to the Bishop of Anagni, with another request to hand over the relics, which was granted. As of today, the relics of St. Anagni oils are stored in the post-Cistercian Marian Sanctuary in Łęgów, near Gdańsk, from where they were brought in 2013.