ENThe article analyses why the nobility of Podlasie willingly entered the Franciscan monastery at Drohiczyn from the second half of the eighteenth to the beginning of the nineteenth century based on data from the Vilnius Franciscan journal of records (Memorial). To some extent, it shows the importance of the monks from this region to the Lithuanian Franciscan province. The article seeks an answer to why the nobility of Podlasie accounted for as much as 39 per cent of the members of the Conventual Franciscan Order in the Lithuanian province between the second half of the eighteenth and the early nineteenth century. Several factors caused this phenomenon. Firstly, the pastoral, pedagogical activities and charisma of the Franciscans of the Drohiczyn monastery attracted to the order many young people, mainly from among the petty nobility. Secondly, horizontal ties, i.e. colligations with the local nobility, made it possible to recruit more candidates from among their ranks. Thirdly, one monk in the family attracted two to five other men from the same family. Thus, a phenomenon in the form of the ‘Franciscan’ family dynasties in the monastery emerged, and hence a system that ensured many novices. This large group of monks from Podlasie included the architect Fr Kazimierz Kamieński, the historiographer of the order Fr Antoni Niewiarowski, and the writer Fr Karol Żera. This allowed for the formation of one of the important centres of the Lithuanian Franciscan Province and its recognition in the second half of the eighteenth and the early nineteenth century. Keywords: Conventual Franciscans, memoria (journals of records), monastery, family, Podlasie, nobility. [From the publication]