LTReikšminiai žodžiai: Gardino dekanatas; Parapijos istorija; Klebonas; Sielovada; 17 amžius; Grodno deanery; Parish history; Parson; Pastoral care; 17th century.
ENIn the second half of the 17th century Grodno deanery of Vilnius diocese was comprised of 21 Catholic churches (Odelsk, Hoża, Dąbrowa, Ejsmonty, Jeziory, Grodno, Indura, Krasnybór, Krynki, Kundzin, Kuźnica, Kwasówka, Lipsk, Brzostowica Mała, Nowy Dwór, Przewałka, Różanystok, Sokolany, Sokółka, Szudziałow, Zalesie). These churches were founded at various time periods, from the beginning of the 15th century, i.e. times of the grand duke of Lithuania Vytautas (Grodno parish), until the end of the 17th century. Most of the churches established their existence during the ruling of Sigismund III Vasa (the junction of the 16th and 17th centuries), the patron of most of them being the sovereign. Ejsmonty and Brzostowica Mała churches were founded the latest, respectively in 1695 and 1663 after the war between the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth and Russia in the middle of the 17th century. Based on visitation and inventories related materials of the deanery in various Lithuanian and Polish manuscripts it was stated that there were only two brick parish churches in the deanery (Grodno, Zalesie), and Nowy Dwór church was half brick, half wooden. All other churches were wooden, although some of them were splendid and spacious (e.g. Kwasówka, Sokółka, Dąbrowa, Odelsk). Roofs of wooden churches were usually covered in wooden tiles; they were decorated with little towers with crosses. However, churches of average and even small size dominated in the deanery, most of them were hardly restored after the occupation, robberies by the Russian army and arsons. Visitators demanded to reconstruct the churches, to repair the altars, to install ciboria for proper holding of the Blessed Sacrament, liturgical material, etc. Four of the reconstructed churches were consecrated by titular bishop of Gratianopoli Nicolaus Słupski during his visitation in 1674. In Indura a new church was built instead of a burned one only in 1689.These churches usually had three altars, the most altars were built in Grodno (9) and Odelsk (7) churches, but some churches had only one altar (for example, Hoża). Composite church titles were common: typically, churches were consecrated for Holy Trinity, Jesus Christ (the Transfiguration of Christ was a popular subject) or Blessed Virgin Mary (the Virgin Birth, the Visitation, and most usually – the Assumption), and the second part of a title was comprised of various saints’ names, commonly according to the names of foundators, donators or patrons of the churches. For example, Nicolaus and Elena Tarla built a church in Indura, therefore, it was consecrated not only with titles of the Holy Trinity, the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary, the guardian of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, but also with titles of St. Nicolaus and St. Elena. Information from available documents was collected about 76 clergymen who worked in parishes of the deanery. The list of clergymen is presented in a table. In 1662 the average age for clergymen was about 50; visitators recorded that some of them were negligent; they did not avoid alcohol, did not wear priestly clothing and got involved in conflicts. However, there were good shepherds who showed good example for others (Bartholomew Chrzanowski, Matthew Dierzgowski). There were little ecclesiastical brotherhoods operating in the deanery (in 1662 only pictures of brotherhoods in Dąbrowa church were mentioned), and most of the information was found about those, that were operating since the junction of the 17th–18th centuries (Sokółka, Indura). But, comparing to other deaneries of the Vilnius diocese, there were more unofficial cases of the homage to miraculous paintings (recorded even in 6 parishes) in the second half of the 17th century. [...]. [From the publication]