Kryždirbystė XIX a. Žemaičių vyskupijoje: carinės valdžios diktato akivaizdoje

LTReikšminiai žodžiai: Aleksandras Kazimieras Beresnevičius; Carinė valdžia; Cirkuliaras; Generalgubernatorius; Gubernatorius; Kryždirbystė; Kryžiai; Mečislovas Leonardas Paliulionis; Motiejus Valančius; Žemaitijos vyskupystė; Aleksandras Kazimieras Beresnevičius; Circular; Cross-crafting; Cross-stitching; Crosses; Diosese of Samogitia; Mečislovas Leonardas Paliulionis; Motiejus Valančius; The Governor-General; The governor; Tsarist government.

ENThe erection of crosses in the 16th-18thc. Samogitia is the phenomenon typical of the Catholic world. It can be claimed that the spread of crosses in Samogitia during the 1st half of the 17th century was closely related to the teachings of the post-Trent Church. During that period, various types of crosses such as churchyard, cemetery, roadside, memorial crosses and etc. were highly popular. In the 2nd half of the 17th century, crosses became a customary element of any settlement or journey. Also, most of the traditions connected with the erection, functions and intentions of crosses took shape and root in the 17th century. The customs, the location and meaning of crosses and the images of the saints in the everyday life recorded by ethnographers, ethnologists and folk art researchers during the 1st half of the 20th century and even the beginning of the 215t century had actually crystallized in the 17th century and did not change much afterwards. Samogitian cross erection traditions and customs had to face the dictatorship of the authorities only during the period of Tsarist Russia. Following the three partitions of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, the territory of the Diocese of Samogitia was annexed to Russia; however, for a long time the erection of crosses remained exclusively the matter of the clergy and believers. There is no data as to the interference of the civil authorities with the process. On May 16, 1845, the inhabitants of Vilna Governorateas well as the believers of the Diocese of Vilna were the first ones to face the earliest cross erection restrictions. The first more serious attempts of the Kovno governor to interfere with the cross-crafting tradition can be traced back to 1862.On July 8, 1864, under the bishopric of Maciej Wotonczewski, Governor General Mikhail Muravyov issued the circular for the governors of Northwestern Krai (those of Vilna, Kovno, Minsk and Grodno) ordering them to prohibit the erection of crosses without the permission of the civil authorities as well as their renovation or replacement with new ones. Despite all the prohibitions and restrictions, Bishop Maciej Wotonczewski and the priests he led deserve a merit as thanks to their diplomatic skills they managed to defend and preserve a lively cross erection tradition in the Diocese of Samogitia, which had then covered a bigger part of current Lithuania, while still emphasizing each and every repressive action of the local tsarist officers. During the period when Aleksander Kazimierz Beresniewicz was the bishop of the Diocese of Samogitia, the tsarist officers tended to show more tolerance in terms of the cross erection regulations. On December 1, 1878, the tsar issued the order commanding to stop the persecution of crosses and those village inhabitants who still erected roadside or field crosses or renovated them according to a well established custom. The latter order was interpreted in different ways by both the tsarist officers and the clergy until the 20th century. At the end of the 19th century, the custom to erect crosses developed into an even more widespread phenomenon. Even though the 1890 policy of the tsarist authorities against the Lithuanian Catholic Church became more reactionary, the official instructions of the tsar concerning crosses issued at the end of the 19th century basically governed the erection of brick pillared shrines, shrines and metal crosses. The 1894 circular is the first such document governing the construction of memorial monuments from durable materials.The 1894 circular is the first such document governing the construction of memorial monuments from durable materials. It is highly important from a legal point of view that the 1894 circular allowing the erection of only simple wooden crosses without any inscriptions or fences in the yards, farmsteads, fields or roadsides was acknowledged by the 1897 resolution of the Governing Senate as contradicting the 1878 order and 1896 regulations. On March 14, 1896, the regulations approved by the tsar lifted the ban to construct brick shrines and pillared shrines. The new regulations provided the right conditions for the flourishing of these artworks in the territory of Kovno Governorate. Also, this lifting of the ban encouraged a more intense erection of metal crosses. The lifting of the ban to construct crosses and shrines from durable materials is important because the tsarist authorities realised and acknowledged the continuation of the tradition not only through the erection of wooden but also ofbrickandiron monuments. As stated in the regulations, until 1906, the consistory of the Diocese of Samogitia would submit an application on behalf of a peasant to the Kovno governor, who would then send it to the governor general. The answer would be delivered in the following manner: the governor general - the Kovno governor - the consistory - the applicant. All restrictions as to the cross erection were abolished on February 24, 1906, when the State Senate announced the "Supreme judgement approved by the State Senate as regards the erection of the Roman Catholic crosses and the images of the saints.