Szpitale i szkoły parafialne diecezji wileńskiej i żmudzkiej w drugiej połowie XVII wieku według danych akt wizytacyjnych Kościoła katolickiego

ENThe article intends to investigate the distribution of parochial hospices and schools in the two main dioceses of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, Vilnius and Samogitia, during the second half of the seventeenth century, and to characterise these two institutions of parochial life. Schools and hospices were organised in parishes according to the decrees of the Catholic synods of the two dioceses, which regulated these institutions in accordance with the instructions issued by Bernard Maciejowski, the Archbishop of Gniezno. It was required that all the parishes have hospices and schools of their own, but in practice the decrees were never implemented. Data provided by visitations carried out in the Vilnius diocese show that in 1653-1654 the number of hospices and schools was almost equal: 22% of the parishes had hospices and 22,5% — schools. Fifteen years later, in 1668-1669, these numbers differed: hospitals existed in 43% of the parishes and schools were found in 30,7% of the parishes. This state of things was determined by wars with Sweden and Russia, as well as the ensuing occupation which devastated the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and increased the need for charity. Nevertheless, the general number of schools and hospices grew due to the more extensive activity of the Catholic Church.As a result of the wars, the number of endowed hospices fell from 59% in 1653-1654 to 35% in 1668-1669. Other hospices were forced to beg in order to win subsistence. In 1675-1677, only 32% of the parishes in the diocese of Samogitia had hospices (47% of which received endowment), and only 19% of the parishes financed schools. The schools and hospices were usually wooden buildings with 2-3 heated rooms (hypocaustum) in the hospices, and 1-2 such rooms in the schools. Upon occasions, a single building contained both the hospice and the school, or the children were taught in the parsonage. Frequently, the pupils were instructed by a choir master or an organist. The children, whose number as a rule oscillated from 10 to 20, learned the basics of the faith and reading. Hospices dominating in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania were usually small (housing approximately seven paupers), and those wards who were able to work, helped in the assorted tasks of the parish. Parish schools and hospices were the most numerous institutions in a state which offered only basic welfare and provided for the poor during the second half of the seventeenth century.