Vilniaus vyskupo Konstantino Kazimiero Bžostovskio poveikis Kauno benediktinių veiklai

LTReikšminiai žodžiai: Konstantinas Kazimieras Bžostovskis; Kauno benediktinių vienuolynas; Konstantin Kazimierz Brzostowski; Kaunas Benedictine convent.

ENLithuanian historians have paid most of their attention to his political activities, especially stressing his conflict with one of the greatest politicians of that time, the grand hetman of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania Kazimieras Jonas Sapiega (Kazimierz Jan Sapieha). As a bishop, who was engaged in Church’s and spiritual activities, however, he has been discussed only in the works of historians Wincenty Przyałgowski and Jan Kurczewski of the 19th and the beginning of the 20th century. The article discusses the relations between Vilnius bishop Bžostovskis and the Kaunas nunnery of St Benedict, which was founded in 1624. It reveals bishop’s contribution to spiritual matters, administrative issues and the material situation of the nunnery. The main sources of this research – visitation act of 1700, documents on the nuns’ professions, judicial acts, etc. – have not been published yet and are being stored in various Lithuanian and Polish archives. Kaunas nunnery of St Benedict was subjected to Vilnius bishops. They were responsible for spiritual and material life at the nunnery. Without the permission of the bishop, nuns were not allowed to elect new abbesses, to take eternal vows or to deal with material issues, e.g. to sell or to buy land. Only the bishop was allowed to consecrate nuns during a specific procedure of the consecration. In general, the bishop determined the resolution of most important problems of the nunnery. Bžostovskis visited Kaunas nunnery of St Benedict in 1688 and in 1700. It is very probable that he considerably contributed to the decision of the pope Alexander VIII (made on December 8, 1689) to present the Benedictine nuns with the indulgence days on St Benedict, St Scholastic, St Maria Magdalena, St Placid, St Mauro and on the day of all the saints of the St Benedict Order. Vilnius bishop influenced the edition of legislative norms for female monasteries of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania in 1710.It is supposed that Bžostovskis made Elžbieta Iluminata Sesickaitė (Elzbieta Iluminata Siesicka), a nun from the Vilnius nunnery of St Benedict, to be elected as a new abbess of the Kaunas nunnery in 1710. Theoretically, the invitation of an abbess from another convent was a legal act, but such type of an event has occurred only once during the whole history of almost 400 years of Kaunas nunnery. Perhaps, the bishop aimed at making some changes in Kaunas nunnery. During the administration period of Sesickaitė, some new forms of everyday life were introduced in Kaunas nunnery; the habits of nuns became more similar to those of the other Polish-Lithuanian commonwealth nunneries of St Benedict. Nuns of Kaunas began using a new form of eternal vows, the same one that had existed in Poland. From that period of time, parsons of Kaunas parochial church instead of Kaunas Dominican monks became the main guardians of nuns’ souls. This last reform was introduced, most probably, due to political reasons. Dominicans supported Kazimieras Jonas Sapiega’s side because of his big donations to the Dominican order. Therefore, Dominicans did not obey the bishop who was in an open conflict with Sapiega. The situation was complicated, because nuns of Kaunas were in conflicts over materials with the parson of Kaunas. [From the publication]

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