Moterų vienuolynų tinklas buvusios Lietuvos Didžiosios Kunigaikštystės žemėse XVIII a. pabaigoje – XX a. pradžioje
LTReikšminiai žodžiai: Benediktinės; Bernardinės; Brigitietės; Cistersės; Dominikonės; Karmelitės; Katalikų bažnyčia; Kotrynietės; Lietuvos Didžioji Kunigaikštystė (LDK; Grand Duchy of Lithuania; GDL); 19 amžius; Marijavitės; Moterų vienuolynai; Vienuolijos; Vienuolynai; Vienuolynas; Vilniaus vyskupija; Šaritės; Žemaičių vyskupija; Benedictine nuns; Bernardine nuns; Carmelite nuns; Catholic Church; Cistercian nuns; Convents; Dominican nuns; Lithuanian XIX c. history; Mariae Vitae nuns; Merciful Sisters; Monastery; Monkhood; Nuns of St Bridget of Sweden; Nuns of St Catherine of Siena; Samogitian diocese; Vilnius diocese; Womens Convents.
ENThe article deals with the network of women’s convents in the Vilnius and Samogitian dioceses. Taking into account all the changes in the borders of the Vilnius and Samogitian dioceses, one can state that in both dioceses in 1798–1915 there were 29 convents. The Merciful Sisters (šaritės) had the most convents, a total of eight, of which four were in Vilnius. The Benedictines and Bernardines had six convents each. In addition to these convents there were also the Barefoot Carmelite, Bridgettine, Cistercian, Dominican, Catherinite, Mariae Vitae and Visitation convents. From 1831 the convents were closed by the Russian authorities and at the end of the 19th c. – beginning of the 20th c. five convents remained active: three in the Vilnius diocese and two in the Samogitian diocese. At the end of the 19th c. – beginning of the 20th c. secret women’s convents began to be founded. According to the available archival data, in the 19th c. nuns in terms of their social background were of noble birth. At the end of the 19th c. – beginning of the 20th c. in the Benedictine and Catherinite convents in Kaunas and Krakės, respectively, in addition to the noblewomen, there were already nuns originating from townsfolk and the peasantry. Until the confiscations of the convents’ property most of them owned considerable land holdings and financial capital. After the confiscations of property, convents were divided into staff and supernumerary convents, the staff into three classes. The assignment of payments depended on the class of the convent. The convents in the most difficult situation were those that were attributed to the supernumerary group.Not all the convents had libraries. The Vilnius Visitation and Grodno Bridgettine convents had larger libraries. The convents often had schools where, either for fees or without payment, girls were taught reading, writing, the fundamentals of arithmetic, catechism, sacred history, geography, needlework, sometimes the French language or to play musical instruments. Most often the convents did not have foundations for charitable purposes, but some of the convents sustained poor women from mercy or fed the poor that came. [From the publication]
- The Last decades of the existence of the Kaunas Bernardine nuns (1842-1864) / Vaida Kamuntavičienė. Lithuanian Historical Studies. 2021, vol. 25, p. 31-58.
- Why Catholics rebel: tsarist confessional policy as a catalyst of grassroots opposition in the western borderlands / Darius Staliūnas. Canadian Slavonic Papers. 2022, 64, 1, p. 64-88.
