DOCUMENTS ABOUT THE FRANCISCAN ORDER
ACTIVITIES IN RUSSIA, BYELORUSSIA, LITHUANIA AND UKRAINE
LATE XVIII-EARLY XX CENTURY, IN RUSSIAN STATE HISTORICAL ARCHIVE.
THE DIRECTORY OF ARCHIVE FILES.
Compiler: S. G. Kozlov. Moscow.
Moscow Franciscan Conventual Brothers publishers. 2002.
INTRODUCTION
The history of the Catholic institutes and structures in Russia (the history of the Orders of the Catholic Church in particular) can be called «terra incognita» for the majority of people in this country and sometimes for the Russian Catholic community as well. Until today a considerable (and even the largest) part of articles appear in different magazines and periodical editions (both scientific and eccle siastical). Furthermore the history of Catholic convents in the former Russian Empire is not studied enough and Polish, Lithuanian and partly Byelorussian and Ukrainian scientific circles show more in terest in such studies. However appearing historical issues are ei ther greatly incomplete (corresponding archives are unavailable), or scholars' interest is limited by certain geographical bounds. It seems that the history of the Order of St. Francis (Franciscans, Bernardines, Capuchins and Reformats) on the territory of the former Russian Empire hasn't found its full reflection in historical literature yet.
As a matter of fact convents of Minor Friars appeared on the lands of the Russian Federation only several dozens of years after the Church's official approval of Rule of St. Francis. As far back as 1258 Pope Alexander IV gave special privileges to the Franciscan missions in Russia. The Sarai custody (it was a part of the Aquilon vicarage) appeared in the south of Russia and in the Volga River district in the same century. The custody united about 20 convents in the Azov Coastal plain, the North Caucasus, Transcaucasia, and the Volga River district (the convent in Sarai Batu was founded before 1287). The Aquilon vicarage was destroyed after the Turkish invasion in 147520.
The first record of Minorites' possible attempt to preach in Karelia dates back to the XIII century. The convent of «Grey Friars» (the Franciscans) was founded in Viborg at the turn of the XIV-XV centuries and it is possible that the friars worked in the neighbouring Euryapyaya parish for some time. The history of this convent ended in 1541 because of the Royal Reformation in Sweden which began in 152721. The input of the Order of St. Francis into the development of the ecclesiastical structures on the lands of the Teutonic Order shouldn't be underestimated and in our days part of that land lies within the borders of the Kaliningrad district. During the time of Peter the Great and the subsequent governments in Moscow, St. Petersburg and Astrakhan22 the Capuchins, the Reformats and the Conventual Franciscans also kept on serving. In St. Petersburg the Capuchins replaced the Jesuits who were de ported from the country in 1719 and the Conventual Franciscans served the French community and occasionally the parish church. Only St. Francis's Friars were trusted with care of St. Petersburg's parish by Catherine the Great («Regulations», 1769). In truth they were later replaced with the secular clergy, and in 1801 the Jesuits returned. In 1766, according to Catherine the Great's Edict (accepting Jerome a Paulo's offer, a prior in the Catholic church in St. Petersburg), newly formed Saratov missions were given to the Reformats who were invited from German principalities. In 1771 the Conventual Franciscans replaced the Jesuits in the mission in Sokolniky (in the suburb of Velikiye Luki, Pskov district). The convent
was closed in 1832 The Decree of the Russian government23. The Bernardines (including exiles) became the founders of parishes and builders of churches in many towns of Russia such as Irkutsk, Petrozavodsk, Krasnoyarsk, Velikiye Luki etc. In 1907-1947 Catholics of South Sakhalin were served by the Observantes (in 1938-1940 the Apostolic Prefecture was led by one of the friars24).
At the same time the net of convents and missions of several branches of the Order of St. Francis came into existence in Lithuania and Poland, which later united and in 1569 formed the Republic of Two Nations. After three consecutive allotments of the Polish Crown and the Great Principality of Lithuania, Byelorussian, Ukrainian, Lithuanian and partly Latvian lands came under the scepter of Russian monarchs. The Empire inherited part of the Order's structures and a great number of convents belonging to 30 different religious institutes and Orders, including convents of the Conventual Franciscans, the Bernardines, the Capuchins, the Reformats and the Bernardine nunneries. In 1815 convents and nunneries of the Kingdom of Poland were added25. In 1772 the Empress' Edict ordered to preserve «status quo» in the government and structural arrange ment of the Catholic Church on the recently annexed lands. This regulation was observed apart from the Decree dating 14(25).12.1772 which placed all Catholic religious communities under the authority of the Byelorussian bishop. Later on a sweeping authority of the Roman Catholic metropolitan was canonized.
Only Polish uprisings of 1831 and 1863 led to an unprecedented catastrophic reduction in the number of cloisters. It is necessary to mention that as far back as 1764, Catherine the Great issued the Manifesto about secularization depriving convents of their self-dependency and cutting down the permissible number of religiouss, nuns and cloisters. The same misfortune overtook a lot of Orthodox monasteries, so that in the Vologodskaya diocese alone 27 convents were closed26. The Decrees of Nicholas I (dating 11.03.1832; 19.07.1832; 26.08.1833) the Catholic clergy was limited in its activities. First in Zhmudz lands and then all over the Empire 202 Catholic convents were closed. The Decree of 25.12.1841 the Catholic clergy and convents were deprived of their lands, the Decree of 01.01.1842 once again liquidated a great number of cloisters, the Decree dating 15.08.1845 established quotas of Catholic and Orthodox parishes (though many of them were served by the regular clergy) in provinces of the Empire. In 11.07.1864 governor-general of Vilna M. N. Muraviev issued an order limiting the number of novices in the Catholic convents on the territory within his jurisdiction. By 1847 there had remained only 72 Catholic convents and 34 nunneries in Russia (compared to 304 and 80 respectively in 180127). Only from 1905 on, after the publication of the well-known Manifesto, the situation gradually (and rather slowly) began improving.
In Soviet's time on the territory of the UDSSR there were legal and illegal priests and brothers of the Franciscan Order. In Soviet Union also existed communities which statute was based on the Rule of the third Order.
Many documents which can throw light on history of the Order of St. Francis during the XVIII-XX centuries are predominantly kept in the Russian State Historical Archives (RSHA) in St. Petersburg28. The Russian State Historical Archives is one of the largest scientific research institutions keeping documents generated in the process of activities of the Supreme Federal government bodies of the Russian Empire in the XIX-XX centuries. It was initiated on 1 June 1918 when documents of the State Institutions of the former Empire, archives of public and private organisations of the pre-Revolutionary period, patrimonial and personal archives that were in St. Petersburg at that time, formed the Common State Archives Depository.
Today the RSHA contains more than 6,5 million files that reflect economical, political, and cultural life of Russia in the period of the XVIII-XX centuries. Documents concerning history of organisation, management, abolition of the Roman Catholic parishes and convents, legislative acts that regulated the status of the Church in the Russian Empire and in the Kingdom of Poland are represented therell.
And yet, up to now the only edition aiming to put all these materials in a systematic order is the reference guide-book «A history of the Roman Catholic Church in the Russian Empire (XVIII-XX centuries) in the documents of the Russian State Historical Archives» which was published in 1999. That edition was prepared by a group of authors, the editor-in-chief was the dean of the parish at St. Stanislav in St. Petersburg priest Kshishtof Pozharsky. Unfortunately this book contains a number of significant errors and it can be used only as a guide to a considerable part of inventories, containing files on the history of the Catholic Church in Russia. But this is one of the issues of that kind, that could be useful. It is necessary to mention that a separate volume, issued in Polish, includes inventory 12, depository 822. Tere are also publications regarding depositories of ministry of Spiritual affairs of foreign confessions of the Ministry of foreign affairs, issued in Polish and Russian languages.29
We call historians' (both Russian and foreign) attention to the fact that the present publication sets a more modest task. Its aim is to summarize and catalog files, relating to the history of the Order of St. Francis and its congregations on the territory of the Russian Empire creating the most comprehensive list of these documents.
This reference book points out files illustrating economic, legislative aspects and the financial status of convents of the Bernardines, the Conventual Franciscans, the Capuchins, the Reformats. Only two files contain documents related to the community of Franciscan sisters-missionaries of Virgin Mary). There were documents discovered and included in the present volume about building, repairing and the closing of churches and convents belonging to different Orders and religious institutions.
It is also interesting that inventories of convents and monastic churches (depository 822, inventory 12), compiled during canonical visits in different dioceses of the Catholic Church of the former Russian Empire. They usually contain brief historical information about every visited cloister, the list of friars of the convent and clergy, a description of the convent buildings, the church interior decoration, the number of parishioners served and data about the state of charitable and educational activities of cloisters.
The following structural principles were used to make a list: file numbers are arranged in increasing order (as a rule also in chronological order) and are classified Their corresponding depositories. The numbers of depositories are arranged in ascending order too (except depositories containing separate isolated files and inventory 12 depository 822, because of its particular importance previously mentioned).
The following data are certainly to be indicated: the number of depositories and inventories (sometimes with the addition of short necessary information concerning the system of clerical work, for example: part 2 or bureau 2, Department 3, etc.); the number of the file (which may have an additional letter), the name of the file (often abbreviated), the year when the file was opened, the number of pages in the file (if possible). Additional information about the language of the documents is not listed except the indication on two files in depository 822. Most of the files contain documents in Russian and Polish, sometimes in Latin, French or German and inventories of canonical visits are made in Polish.
The compiler and the publishers hope that the present publication will stand historians of the development of the Order of St. Francis in Russia in good stead. It may also be useful for those engaged in the history of the Catholic Church in the Russian Empire. Nevertheless the compiler and the publishers firmly ask all those who will use this reference book to send their observations, more precise definitions, and corrections to the address of the publishing house.
In the future we are going to prepare some additions to this publication (it will include indications for files in those depositories that were not looked through during the preparation of the present volume).
Acknowledgement
I would like to thank everybody whose help made it possible to prepare this volume. I am grateful to the head-clerk of the reading hall of RSHA S. I. Varyekhova, to a research worker of RSHA I. V. Mulina for practical recommendations, to V.N. Kornyev, A. O. Koromyslov, V. Y. Mastioukin, G.A. Mastioukin and M.M. Mnatsakanyan for their help and type-setting of this text.
S. Kozlov
