VILNA
433
VILNA
erned the diocese as vicar patriarchal. In 1890
Anthony Francis Audziewicz, a canon of St. Peters-
burg and a learned theologian, was appointed Bishop
of Vilna. He died in 189.5; the diocese was then
governed by Louis Zdanowicz, titular Bishop of Dio-
nysias. In 1897 Canon Stephen Alexander Zwerowicz
succeeded, and was transferred in 1902 to the See of
Sandomir. His place was taken by Baron Edward
Ropp, who set about organizing the Catholic move-
ment in the dioce.se, thereby incurring the hostility of
tne Russian Government. Bishop Ropp having been
banished to Pskov, the diocese was entrusted to Casi-
mir Nicholas Michalkiewicz as administrator Apos-
tolic.
The bishops of Vilna, presiding over a vast diocese and being senators of Lithuania, could not give all their attention to the spiritual necessities of their flock: hence, from the fifteenth century they had coad- jutors or suffragans. Many of these, particularly in the sixteenth and .seventeenth centuries, were titular bishops of Mcthone (Peloponnesus). Among the most famous may be mentioned George Casimir Ancuta (d. 1737), author of "Jus plenum rehgionis catholicEe in regno Polonia;", showing that the Prot- estants and Orthodox had not the same riglits as the Catholics. Beginning from the seventeenth century there were also suffragans for Belorusi. In 1798 Pius VI recognized the ancient See of Brest as suffragan of Vilna. So also the ancient Diocese of Livonia, sup- pressed in 1797, had become suffragan to Vilna, and in 1798 had for its first bishop Adam Kossiafkowski (d. 1828); in 1848, however, it was annexed to the t)iocese of Samogitia or Kovno.
Synods.— The flourishing Catholic life of the Dio- cese of Vilna is attested by the large number of synods held there. The first of these was in 1.502, under Bishop Tabor. Then followed the synods of 1526, for the reform of manners and the organization of the parochial schools; those of 1.528, to collect funds for the restoration of the cathedral; of 155.5, to oppose the spread of Lutheranisni; of 1.582; of 1607, which made many regulations for the administration of the sacra- ments and the (lisoii)line of the clergy; of 16.30, which regulated the administration of ecclesiastical property; of 1654, to aid the state with new imposts; of 1669, with its disciplinary regulations; of 16S5, with ordi- nances relating to the administration of the sacra- ments and the life of the clergy; of 1744, with regula- tions in regard to the catechism, mi.xed marriages, and spiritual exercises, .\fter the synod of 1744, under Bishop Michael Zicnkowicz, no others were held, but the bishops addressed to their clergy pastoral letters, some of them of notable import.
Churches. — -The diocese possesses splendid churches and venerable sanctuaries. Of the former the largest and most beautiful are at \'ilna, ahhough many, violently wrested from the Catholics, have become Russian Orthodox churches. The cathedral, dedi- cated to the Blessed Trinity, St. Stanislaus, and St. Wladislaus, wa.serectpdin virtue of a Bull of 12 March, 1387. Burned down in 1399, it was rebuilt in the Gothic style in 1399 by Grand Duke Witold. .-^gain destroyed in 1531 and 1662, its restoration was begun in 1769 and finished in 1801. It contains .splendid chapels, especially those of St. Casimir and of the Immaculate Conception. Other important churches are those of the Holy Cross, founded in the fourteenth century on the .spot where, in 1366, fourteen Francis- cans were martyred by the pagans; the Church of St. Martin, founded by Jagiello in 1380 on the ruins of an ancient pagan temple; St. .Anne, founded for the Germ.ans by .Anna, the consort of Witold, in 1392; St. John the F.vangelist, foumled in 1386 and enriched with privileges by Leo X; Corpus Domini, founded by the .\rchconfraternity of the Blessed ."^jierament in 1573; and the Church of the Guardian .Angels. To these must be added the numerous churches of the XV.— 28
religious orders, which flourished in Lithuania, but of
which few traces remain. The Dominicans, who in
the fifteenth centurv had a church dedicated to the
Holy Spirit, built in 1679-88 another, which in 1844
was given up by them and transformed into a parish
church. The Bernardines undertook at Vilna, in
1469, the construction of a wooden church, rebuilt in
stone in 1500; it was burnt down in 1794 and restored
in 1900. This order was forced to leave the diocese in
1864. The Church of Sts. Peter and Paul was given
to the Lateran Canons in 1638; they abandoned it in
1864. St. Casimir, with the annexed Jesuit college,
founded in 1604, was turned into an Orthodox church
in 1832. St. Ignatius Loyola, founded by the Jesuits
in 1622, is now the club of the officials. The Carmel-
ite Church of St. Teresa has a miraculous image of
the Madonna. The Augustinians, Trinitarians, Brig-
ittines, Carmehte Sisters, Piarists, Visitandines, and
others also had churches, to which must be added
numerous chapels. After the Polish Revolutions of
1863, the diocese saw all its rehgious violently expelled.
The monasteries were converted into barracks, the
churches given to the Orthodox or the secular clergy,
the libraries dispersed, the possessions of the rehgious
confiscated. In 1910 there remained only one mon-
astery of Benedictine Sisters (connected with the
Church of St. Catherine at Vilna) with six septua-
genarian nuns, a Bernardine convent at Slonim with
four septuagenarian nuns, a Franciscan monastery at
Grodno with a single friar, and, in the same city, a
convent of Brigittine Sisters with two rehgious. The
efforts made since 1905 by the various orders to
re-establish themselves in the diocese have been
fruitless.
Statistics. — The Diocese of Vikia contains 1,420,000 faithful distributed among 23 rural deaneries aa follows: Bialv.stok, 20 pjirishes and stations, 101,- 761 souls; Bielsk, 20 parishes, 66,135 souls; Brest, 3 parishes, 14,212 souls; Dzisna, 15 parishes, 66,.536 souls; Giedrojee, 13 parishes, 58,813 souls; Grodno, 20 parishes, 58,116 souls; Kobryn, 2 parishes, 7925 souls; Lida, 14 parishes, 65,100 souls; Merecz, 20 pari.shes, 82,948 souls; Nad%vilejski, 8 parishes, 41,0.53 souls; Oszmiana, 11 parishes, 61,032 souls; Prwjany, 7 parishes, 11,648 souls; Radun, 15 pari.shes, 83,451 souls; Slonim, 7 parishes, .30,337 souls; Sokolka, 14 parishes, 75,709 souls; Swienciang, 19 parishes, 93,716 souls; Swir, 11 parishes, 48,266 souls; Troki, 20 parishes, 88,856 souls; Vilna (city), .30 churches and chapels, 141,104 souls; Vilna (district) 9 parishes, 52,690 souls; Wilejka, 10 pari.shes, 35,783 souls; Wiszniew, 15 parishes, 83,900 souls; Wolkowysk, 16 parishes, 58,825 souls. Besides the cathedral parish the city of Vilna contains those of St. John Baptist, the Holy Spirit, St. Teresa, Sts. Philip and James, St. Raphael the Archangel, St. Francis of Assisi, All Saints, the Holy Apostles Peter and Paul. The Catholic population of the city is 96,000 .souls. Dependent upon the parish of St. Teresa is the chapel of the miraculous image of Our Lady of Ostrohrama, the centre of many pilgrimages in Lithuania, and venerated also by the Orthodox. The chapel con- taining the miraculous image standsupon an arch, and the street which passes under this arch is occupied at all hours of the d.ay by a crowd of prostrate .suppliants; no one passing under the arch — not even the Hebrews — will neglect to uncover the head in token of rever- ence.
The secular clergy number about 440 priests. The cathedr.al chapter compri-^es 5 prelates and 3 canons. The secular clergy are educated in the seminary, which has 15 professors .and 160 students. Its foun- dal ion dates from 1.582; it w.as closed in 1862; reopened in 1S72, and had but two students, but their number gradually increased. At Brest there was a petit seminaire, which was clo.sed in 18,30; the seminary at Bialystok was closed in 1842. The clergy has always
