The Lithuanian Province of the Dominicans and the Religious Policy of the Russian Empire in the 19th Century

Abstract

The aim of this article is to look at the situation of priories and friars of the Lithuanian Province of the Dominican Order under Russian rule. In particular, it shows the path to the complete destruction of Dominican life in the Russian Empire in the 19th century. On the one hand, it was revenge by the state authorities for the participation of friars in national and patriotic movements opposing the occupying power, and on the other, it was the planned liquidation of all religious life in Tsarist Russia. The article shows how a large and very dynamic Dominican province was brought to complete annihilation through the dissolution of convents (beginning in 1832), the ban on accepting candidates into the order, and the condemnation of priories to gradual extinction, as well as through the repression by the Russian authorities of friars, especially those who were in any way involved in the national uprisings of 1830–1831 and 1863. They were sent to Siberia or forced into exile, and two friars even were killed. The example of the Dominicans of the Lithuanian province shows what the tsarist policy towards the Catholic Church looked like.