Kauno benediktinių vienuolynas 1655-1696 m.
LTReikšminiai žodžiai: Benediktinai; Benediktinės; Katalikų bažnyčia; Kaunas; Kauno benediktinių vienuolynas; Lietuvos Didžiosios Kunigaikštijos moterų vienuolija, XVII–XVIII a.; 17 amžius; Moterų vienuolijos; Moterų vienuolynas; Benedicine; Benedictine; Catholic Church; Convent of the Benedictine Sisters in Kaunas; Female monkhood of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, 17th – 18th century; Kaunas; Lithuanian XVII c. history; Sisters monhood; Women's monastery.
ENThis article gives a description of the life of the Benedictine Sisters in Kaunas in the second half of the 17th century: we look at the impact of the Russian occupation from 1655 to 1661 on the convent, present the sisters who had given their eternal vows, reveal the traditions of spirituality that were dominant at that time, and describe the material circumstances and the sisters’ relations with society. The main sources for this study were inventories of the convent’s domains, notes, testaments, receipts, legal case files, acts of the eternal vows and similar documents, kept in various Lithuanian archives and manuscript departments. The research showed that the circumstances of the Kaunas Benedictine Sisters could be divided into two periods in the second half of the 17th century, with 1670 being the symbolic year of distinction between the two. In the first stage, the Benedictine convent had to go through the horrors of war and occupation. With the liberation of Kaunas in 1661, it was several years before the convent property was at least minimally re-established and before some sort of order was put in place in the Benedictine convent itself. The sisters gradually returned from the poliwarks [manor estates] where they had hidden from the treacheries of war, novices started being admitted, the system of two superiors was abolished and Sofija Viktorija Masalskytė was confirmed as the abbess.In 1670–1696, when the convent was under the leadership of Sofija Viktorija Masalskytė and Judita Ukolskytė, at least 19 sisters took their eternal vows (papers for the eternal vows of 18 sisters have survived), most of them hailing from the Trakai Voivodeship’s Kaunas powiat [administrative unit]. This number included two sisters from the Skorulskis family, representing the family who funded the convent. Teklė Eufemija Skorulskytė was the grand-daughter of the patron, Andriejus Skorulskis. The tradition of giving sisters monastic names, typical of the Benedictine order in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, was fostered at this Kaunas convent as well, with Eufemija being the most honourable name one could receive. The Kaunas Benedictine Sisters maintained particularly close ties with the Dominican Brothers in Kaunas, who served as their chaplains and confessioners. In the second half of the 17th century, the sisters inherited not just the internal order of how the convent was run, but its economic problems as well: disagreements with the Kaunas municipal office continued over the jurisdiction of Raginė, whilst management of the Sudvoiškiai, Paštuva and Petrašiūnai estates was made more difficult due to conflicts with the neighbouring land owners over the boundaries of the domains, grass that was left untended, livestock that was stolen, over workers found bashed, and so on. [From the publication]
