Saint Piva of Warka: Difference between revisions

The town of Warka (pronounced ''<small>VAR</small>-kah''), about 50 km south of Warsaw, is best known for its brewery and the beer that is made there. The modern brewery, opened in 1975, currently belongs to Grupa Żywiec, which is majority-owned by Heineken International. It brews a run-of-the-mill pale lager branded as Warka Jasne Pełne, as well as its stronger, maltier version called Warka Strong.

None of those writing about Warka beer can resist the temptation to cite the old anecdote about how this beverage saved the life of Pope Clement VIII. Let's take the first example that comes to hand and see what Polish Wikipedia has to say on this topic:

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| There is a legend about Warka beer and Papal Nuncio Ippolito Aldobrandini, who would later become Pope Clement VIII. During his stay in Poland he grew very fond the Warka beer. He claimed it "was excellent, piquant, reminiscent in color and flavor of wine." Back in Rome, he fell gravely ill. On his sickbed, he whispered, ".. sancta Piva di Polonia... sancta Biera di Warka..." The clergymen present at his side, assuming he was talking about some obscure saint, proceeded to pray: "Sancta Piva, ora pro nobis" ("Saint Piva, pray for us"). When the sick pope heard it, he burst into laughter. As a result, the ulcer he was suffering from ruptured and Aldobrandini began to recover.

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| It was also said that Pope Clement VIII, who was in Poland in 1588 as a legate of the Holy See, became a great aficionado of the exquisite beer made in Warka. When, as a pope, he fell gravely ill in Rome, he asked, delirious from fever, for Warka beer, calling out, "Piva di Varca". The cardinals gathered around the pope's bed, believing the sick man was invoking some saint for help, immediately began to pray, "Sancta Piva di Varca, ora pro nobis."

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And if we've got two versions of the same legend, then maybe there are more? Let's keep on looking. On the Virtual Warka website we can read the following:

| It's worth recalling here a humorous anecdote about Papal Nuncio Gaetano, who was a great lover of Warka beer. When, back in Rome, he fell seriously ill with a throat ulcer, he whispered on his sickbed, "biera di Warka". The clergymen present at his bed, thinking he was calling an obscure saint, began to pray, "Santa Biera di Warka, ora pro nobis" ("saint beer of Warka, pray for us"). Upon hearing this, the sick prelate burst into laughter and... recovered, as the ulcer he was suffering from finally ruptured.

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So now we've got a riddle to solve: was it Clement or Caetani? Piva or Biera? To find out, we need to dig into somewhat older sources. Let's go back to 1888 and see if it gets any clearer.

| In 1596 Enrico Gaetano, an envoy of Pope Clement VIII, praised the beer of Warka in his diaries, claiming it was excellent, whitish, piquant, reminiscent in color and flavor of wine. About the beer of Warka we once read the following anecdote: Nuncio Saluzzo grew very fond of Warka beer and upon leaving Poland he took with him considerable stock of that beer; but as everything in this world comes to an end, so did the nuncio's barrels eventually run dry. It came to pass that the venerable prelate fell mortally ill, stifled by an enormous ulcer in his throat, and those gathered around him began to recite the litany for the dying. Meanwhile the sick was suffering from great thirst; in the middle of the litany, somewhere between Saints Gervase and Protase, the nuncio recalled his favorite refreshing beer, "Pivo di Varca, Pivo di Varca!" and twice sighed deeply. The priest reciting the prayer, thinking the nuncio remembered one more saint, responded piously, "Sancta Piva di Varca, ora pro nobis!" Hearing this, the nuncio burst cordially into laughter, the ulcer ruptured and with it ended the sickness. This is how the Polish beer of Warka saved a papal nuncio from death.

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Well, then...

| The epithet "saint" or "holy" is used quite often by Italians, whether in anger or in admiration. It comes to them with ease to call an excellent wine vino santo; regarding this topic, it is said that a certain prelate who had been a nuncio in Brussels and who was fond of local beer, being consumed by a violent fever, cried out, santa birra di Bruxelles; and that his assistants, believing he had invoked a certain saint, responded earnestly, ora pro nobis.

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Could it be that some foreigner grew so fond of Warka beer's legend that he began to tell the same story about some swill brewed in Brussels? You could think so, if it wasn't for the next paragraph in the same source:

| This little story is reported by Monsignor Załuski, Bishop of Kiev; as puerile as it is, it proves how excessive Italians are in their expressions.

| źródło=''ibid''.

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And still, if we go back to even older sources, we will see that our original assumption was correct; the Brussels variant was just a modification of an anecdote which was originally about Warka – even if foreigners sometimes misspelled it as Barca.

| The beer of Poland is very light and sweet; they call it Piva. That of Barca is the most esteemed. An Italian cardinal, who had been a papal nuncio in this kingdom, fell gravely ill in Rome; in the ardor of fever he remembered that beer, which he had once enjoyed with so much pleasure. And sighing with regret of not being able to sample again such a fine liquor, he called out suddenly with transport, Ah! Piva di Barca! Upon hearing this, his parents and servants, gathered around his bed, believed that he was invoking a foreign saint in whom he trusted. And so they all fell to their knees and said loudly, with devotion, raising their eyes to heaven, Sancta Piva di Barca, ora pro nobis.

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| There are no Jews [in Warka], but there are many rich burghers who brew the best beer you can get in all of Poland (which doesn't mean much, though). But, as far as this beer is concerned, I should not forget a story which the Poles tell about a cardinal who was once a nuncio in Poland; he had become so accustomed to the beer of Varka, that while dying, he called out for that beverage, as if it was to restore him back to health. He wanted it so bad, that he kept whispering, bière de Varka, bière de Varka. And his assistants, believing it to be some saint from a foreign land, whom the good man was invoking in agony, having just recited the litany of saints, added la sainte bière de Varka, as a new patron saint known only to the dying cardinal.

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The cardinal's name does not appear in this account. It couldn't have been Saluzzo, as he hadn't even been born in 1700. Was it Caetani then? Perhaps, but the puzzle's final solution keeps eluding us.  

{{Nawigacja|poprz=Saint Hyacinth of Pierogi|nast=What has the Battle of Vienna given us?}}