Krakių kotryniečių vienuolijos sudėtis XVII-XVIII a.
LTReikšminiai žodžiai: Katalikų bažnyčia; Kotrynietės; Kotryniečių vienuolija; Krakių kotryniečių vienuolynas; Krakės; Lietuvos Didžiosios Kunigaikštijos moterų vienuolija, XVII–XVIII a.; 17 amžius; 18 amžius; Moterų vienuolijos; Catholic Church; Convent of the Order of St Catherine Virgin and Martyr in Krakės; Female monkhood of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, 17th – 18th century; Krakės; Lithuanian XVII-XVIII c. history; Order of St. Catherine; Order of St. Catherine virgin; Sisters monkhood.
ENOfficially St. Catherine’s sisters settled in Krakės in 1645, when the Samogitian bishop Jurgis Tiškevičius invited them to Krakės. However, the origins of their community in this parish can be found in the beginning of the 17th century. With the help of the King of Poland and the Grand Duke of Lithuania Jonas Kazimieras Vaza, Samogitian bishops and parishioners, material and spiritual bases were created for the sisters. Girls travelled to the convent of St. Catherine from all over the Grand Duchy of Lithuania – from Biržai, Varniai, Upytė, Josvainiai, Tendžiogala, Vilkmergė, Didieji Dirvėnai, Raseiniai, Rietavas, Viešvilė, Kražiai, Vilkaviškis, Trakai, Breslauja, Ašmena, Telšiai, Ariogala, Pajūralis, and Veliuona. During the 17th–18th centuries there were a total 64 girls, who took the threefold vows of poverty, chastity and obedience and became community members of the Sisters of St. Catherinein Krakės. The sisters engaged in charitable work, nursing the sick, producing herbal products, supporting the elderly and orphaned children, helping poor and suffering people and teaching girls. St. Catherine’s Congregation continued existing after partitions of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth. However, its relationship with the center of Braunsberg was discontinued and officials of the Russian Empire interfered in monastic life. But it still managed to productively operate until the middle of the 20th century. [From the publication]
