The Ląd abbot Constantine Iłowiecki and his commemorative plaques

Constantine Iłowiecki, who derived from the Ostoja coat of arts, was born in Iłowiec (currently Iłówiec near Śrem) on 17 March 1709 and died on 20 February 1777 in Ląd. After studying at the Academy of Poznan, he entered the Cistercian Monastery in Ląd in 1727. He was ordained in 1732 and in 1733 Antoni Łukomski, the abbot of Ląd, appointed him as his successor and as the prior of the Ląd Monastery. Following Łukomski’s death on 8 May 1750, Constantine Iłowiecki became the abbot of the Ląd Monastery. In the church in Ląd, he issued a stucco tombstone for his predecessor and in the artwork, he posted his initials: ‘C I’ (fig. 1). In 1760, he began the construction of the parish church in Ląd, where his portrait is preserved (fig. 2). In 1752, he became commissioner and inspector general of the Cistercian monasteries of the Polish province, an office which he held for three terms. He authored textbooks on logics, metaphysics, and the philosophy of nature, which are preserved in the Abbey library in Mogiła. The Ląd Monastery features two plaques of cast iron with decoratively composed initials of Abbot Constantine Iłowiecki. These were created after 1752 (figs. 3, 5) and were funded in 1767 by Iłowiecki himself (figs. 4, 6). The plaques commemorate his election as General Commissar of the Cistercian Province and the anniversary of his ordination and entrance into the order