LTReikšminiai žodžiai: Vilniaus vyskupija; Rusijos imperija (Russian Empire); Vilniaus katedros kapitula; Katalikų dvasininkija; Vilnius diocese; Russian Empire; Capitula of Vilnius cathedral; Catholic clergy.
ENThe capitula of Vilnius cathedral retained the structure legitimized in the period of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and the settled numbers as well as proportions (6 prelates and 12 canons) of real members of the cathedral’s capitula until the beginning of the 1840s. On the initiative of the imperial government (a decree of 25 December 1841) after the partitions of the Republic of Both Nations at the end of the 18th century in the territories falling to the Russian Empire, the rule of former Catholic dioceses was radically reorganized: all land holdings of bishops, capitulas of cathedrals, priest seminaries and monasteries were secularized. It was decided to pay the clergy a salary of determined size from the state treasury. In 1842, the structure and organization of cathedrals’ capitulas were made the same on an imperial scale. For all capitulas of former Catholic diocesan cathedrals a staff of 9 members was foreseen for cathedral’s capitula. No attention was paid either to the number of the faithful or the size of the diocese. The capitula of Vilnius diocese’s cathedral was decreased at the expense of its real member canons – out of former 12 staff canons only 3 were retained. The number (6) of prelatures of the capitula of Vilnius diocese cathedral, legitimized in the period of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, remained unchanged. After introducing the positions and salaries of the members of cathedral’s capitula, paid from the imperial treasury, the system of material maintenance of the clergy of diocesan cathedrals’ capitulas, that functioned in the period of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, was abolished. The clergy was equated with civilian officials of the empire. The financial dependence of the members of cathedral’s capitula was one of the means to draw the cathedral’s capitula into the empire’s civilian administration system.The rights of Catholic Church’s hierarchs to shape the corporation of the clergy of cathedrals’ capitulas on the imperial scale were limited even before the reforms carried out in the 1840s. The right of Vilnius bishop to appoint members of the cathedral’s capitula was diminished already in 1803 when the emperor confirmed the status of Vilnius Imperial University. The right to 4 canons of the capitula of Vilnius cathedral was bestowed to the university. After the decision of 1817, the right of nomination of the clergy to places of diocese cathedrals’ prelates and canons on the scale of the empire was reserved for the highest authorities - the Emperor would confirm the candidacy of the members of cathedral’s capitula. In the years of the 1863 revolt, in the capitula of Vilnius diocese’s cathedral such an order became a precondition for the officials of the empire’s local government (Governor General M. Murav’ev) to include into the corporation of capitula’s members the clergy who were loyal to the empire and use them for manipulation. The transfer to the Emperor of the rights for nominating the members of cathedral’s capitula, just as the reform of the structure and financing of the system carried out in the 1840s, granted the imperial government the possibility in the second half of the 19th century to make use of the capitula of Vilnius cathedral for the implementation of anti-Catholic policies. [From the publication]