Eustachy Wołłowicz

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Eustachy Wołłowicz
Diocese of Vilnius
Installed18 May 1616
Term ended9 January 1630
PredecessorBenedykt Woyna
SuccessorAbraham Woyna
Orders
Ordination1597
Consecration9 October 1616
Personal details
Born1572
Grand Duchy of Lithuania
Died9 January 1630
Verkiai, Grand Duchy of Lithuania
BuriedVilnius Cathedral
DenominationRoman Catholic
ParentsIvan Wołłowicz
Alma materVilnius University
Pontifical Gregorian University

Eustachy Wołłowicz (Lithuanian: Eustachijus Valavičius; 1572–1630) was Bishop of Vilnius in 1616–1630. He was one of the more accomplished bishops of Vilnius in the 17th century.[1]

A son of the Protestant father and Eastern Orthodox mother, Wołłowicz became a Catholic and was educated at the

religious orders and helped them establish new monasteries. He personally invited Canons Regular of the Lateran to Antakalnis, a suburb of Vilnius. In a 1625 report to the pope, he claimed that during his nine-year tenure as bishop, there were more than 40 new Catholic churches and 27 new monasteries established in the diocese. Despite his reputation of a sincerely religious man, he was known for his tolerant attitude towards the Protestants and support of the Ruthenian Uniate Church
.

During his ad limina visit to Rome in 1620–1621, Wołłowicz obtained papal approval for the feast of Saint Casimir and discussed the proposed new faculties of law and medicine at the Jesuit Academy of Vilnius. He swapped his chapel at Vilnius Cathedral with that of the royal family so that the new Chapel of Saint Casimir could be built. He redecorated the old royal chapel and it is still known as the Wołłowicz Chapel. He was also known for his taste in art and made donations to several Catholic churches and monasteries, including Vilnius Cathedral, Church of the Visitation of the Blessed Virgin Mary in Trakai, Benedictine abbey in Lubiń, Benedictine Monastery in Tytuvėnai.

Early life and education

Wołłowicz was born to a noble

Odelsk and a canon of the Vilnius cathedral chapter.[6]

Shortly after, he departed to Italy to study at several universities. In Rome, he studied at the

Archbishop of Gniezno.[8] In December 1595, during the ceremony establishing the Union of Brest (whereby Ruthenian Orthodox Church dioceses in the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth placed themselves under the papal authority), Wołłowicz as an interpreter read a Ruthenian letter sent by the bishops to Pope Clement VIII.[9] Wołłowicz received the title protonotary apostolic.[10] His contemporaries testified that Wołłowicz also studied at the universities of Siena, Padua, Perugia, and even in Germany and France. But that information is fragmentary and lacks specifics.[11] Only Jan Gostomski [pl] specified that Wołłowicz studied canon law at Perugia.[12] Nevertheless, Wołłowicz earned a reputation as one of the best educated members of the clergy in the Grand Duchy.[11]

Government official

Engraving of Wołłowicz by Lucas Kilian (1604)

In May 1599, after about six years, Wołłowicz returned to Poland–Lithuania.

Lithuanian nobles protested his appointment as Deputy Chancellor as he was a member of the clergy and traditionally clergymen were not elevated to chancellors which were automatically entitled to a seat in the Polish–Lithuanian Senate.[14]

Preoccupied with the duties at the royal court, Wołłowicz rarely visited Vilnius and rarely participated in the affairs of the cathedral chapter, but was delegated by the chapter to the

Our Lady of Trakai. He also established the Fellowship of the Rosary at the church in 1610–1612.[16]

In 1607, Wołłowicz was sent on two diplomatic missions. In spring 1607, he traveled to

Jędrzejów to negotiate with the Zebrzydowski rebels.[17] While peace was not achieved, he was sent in fall 1607 to Tyniec where rebellious Benedictines refused to accept new abbot appointed by the king.[18] Accompanied by soldiers, Wołłowicz surrounded the monastery. He feigned a retreat, but returned in the morning when monks were still sleeping after a celebration of their "victory" the night before. Wołłowicz's soldiers broke into the abbey and the monks were forced to accept the king-appointed abbot.[19]

In 1608, Wołłowicz was appointed commendatory abbot of the Benedictine abbey in Lubiń near Krzywiń. It was a rare occurrence for a Lithuanian noble to become an abbot in Poland; only four other Bishops of Vilnius were granted such benefices.[20] Wołłowicz took an active role in administering the monastery and visited it several times. A manuscript produced by a monk records his good deeds: he constructed the dormitory, commissioned the main altar with a tabernacle, gifted expensive church vestments and liturgical objects, transferred abbot's house in Poznań to the abbey, ordered repairs to monastery buildings, improved discipline, paid salary to an official tasked with resolving monastery's lawsuits, appointed visitators to oversee monks and provosts living outside the abbey, etc. One of the key accomplishments was obtaining papal approval to clearly segregate monastery's and abbot's income and property.[21]

Surviving correspondence shows that Wołłowicz corresponded and collaborated with various

Polish nobles.[24] In turn, Wołłowicz supported several lesser nobles, including the Jesuit poet Maciej Kazimierz Sarbiewski (who dedicated several poems to Wołłowicz),[25] his distant relative and the first Lithuanian missionary to China Andrius Rudamina,[26] distant relative and future bishop of Samogitia and Vilnius Jerzy Tyszkiewicz, auxiliary bishop of Vilnius and titular bishop of Methone Stanisław Nieborski [pl].[27]

Bishop

Official duties and trip to Rome

Gold medal with portrait of Wołłowicz (1626)[28]

After the death of Benedykt Woyna [pl] in October 1615, Wołłowicz was nominated for Bishop of Vilnius without much opposition. The papal approval was granted on 18 May 1616 and Wołłowicz was consecrated on 9 October 1616 in Warsaw.[29] After becoming bishop, he gave up only the office of the custodian of church property (custos) at Vilnius cathedral chapter, and continued as provost of Trakai and abbot of Lubiń. He continued as Deputy Chancellor of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania until February 1618 and thus was little visible as bishop.[30] After his resignation in 1618, he organized a diocesan synod, visited churches in Vilnius, created Archdeaconry of White Ruthenia usually governed by the dean of Aboĺcy [be], and initiated construction of a house for retired clergy.[31]

In 1620–1621, he made ad limina visit to Rome which interrupted his work in the diocese.[30] During the trip, Wołłowicz petitioned the pope to add the feast of Saint Casimir, patron Saint of Lithuania, to the Roman Breviary and Roman Missal.[32] The Sacred Congregation of Rites agreed, but classified the feast at the lowest simplex level. Wołłowicz resubmitted the petition and this time it was granted higher semiduplex status on 3 March 1621. It was the same status as of the feast day of Saint Stanislaus of Szczepanów, patron saint of Poland.[32] Wołłowicz also obtained papal approvals to increase the number of confessors who could grant absolution for heresy (this was needed for people converting from Eastern Orthodoxy or Protestantism to Catholicism) as well as the right for seven churches in Vilnius to grant same indulgences as granted by seven churches in Rome.[33] There are hints that Wołłowicz also had diplomatic tasks related to the struggle against the Ottoman Empire, but there is no evidence that anything was achieved.[19] Suffering from gout, Wołłowicz spent some time improving his health in hot springs of Padua where his ill second cousin Mikołaj Pac [pl], former Bishop of Samogitia, resided.[34]

After his return from Rome, Wołłowicz became more sedentary living mostly in Vilnius and

Polish–Muscovite War (1605–1618). It was the only time in history that Bishop of Vilnius acted almost like the Primate of Lithuania and an equal to Primate of Poland.[37]

Religious policies

Wołłowicz organized three

Protestants, in Kėdainiai (1627) and in Deltuva (1628).[40] Overall, Wołłowicz was tolerant towards the Protestants and worked with Calvinist supporters Krzysztof Radziwiłł and Janusz Radziwiłł to find peaceful solutions and avoid violent clashes. For such policies, Wołłowicz even earned a nickname "heretic bishop".[41] He was also supportive of the Ruthenian Uniate Church which was established by the Union of Brest in 1595. He allowed the uniates to keep their liturgical calendar, participated in the first uniate synod in Kobryn, and was tasked to pursue beatification of Josaphat Kuntsevych who was murdered by an anti-union mob in 1623.[42] He was less tolerant towards Eastern Orthodoxs – he forbade the construction of the Orthodox Church of the Holy Spirit in Vilnius in 1625 and 1628 even though land for the church was donated by his relatives.[42]

Wołłowicz was very supportive of different Catholic religious orders and their monasteries. In 1625, he claimed that 27 new monasteries were established in Lithuania during his nine-year tenure as bishop. The following year, he claimed 40 new monasteries.[43] During his tenure, Discalced Carmelites and Canons Regular of the Lateran first established their presence in Lithuania.[43] He invited Canons Regular to Antakalnis, then suburb of Vilnius, but did not provide them with a benefice. They survived in Antakalnis only with the help of Wołłowicz's successor Abraham Woyna as well as donations from Józef Korsak and Michał Kazimierz Pac.[44] Wołłowicz was particularly supportive of the women Benedictines and helped them establish their monastery in Vilnius and take over the Church of Saint Nicholas in Kaunas.[45] He also translated and supplemented the Rule of Saint Benedict adopting it to Lithuanian realities. These rules were first published in 1884 and were still used until the early 20th century. Some traditions still practiced by the Benedictines in Lithuania can be traced to Wołłowicz's rules.[46] For some reason, Wołłowicz was not supportive of the Dominican Order and on a couple occasions delayed or denied his approval for their monasteries.[47]

His relationship with the cathedral chapter became more tense in 1628–1629. The chapter claimed that the bishop did not provide enough funds for the upkeep of Vilnius Cathedral while Wołłowicz wanted to introduce new position of a chancellor to the chapter. His death in early 1630 left the conflict unresolved.[48]

Interior of the Wołłowicz Chapel in Vilnius Cathedral

Wołłowicz was well educated and valued education. Together with his brother

Superior General Mutio Vitelleschi approved the faculties as an exception in early 1623.[49] However, the faculties were not established at this time – Kazimierz Leon Sapieha funded the law faculty in 1641 and it opened in 1644.[50] Wołłowicz also collected books – some of them bear inscriptions that they were gifts by the authors, such as Matthew Rader or Justus Lipsius.[51][52] Surviving copies are kept at the Vilnius University Library.[53] He also sponsored a Latin translations of a religious work by Pietro Giustinelli (published twice in 1624 and 1629) that was intended for the Lithuanian clergy. Konstantinas Sirvydas dedicated his collection of Lithuanian-language sermons Punktai Sakymų to Wołłowicz.[54] A religious booklet with prayers and recollections about Jesus Christ was published by a Franciscan friar in Padua in 1620 and was also dedicated to Wołłowicz.[55] He also sponsored the publication of two non-religious books – a Polish-language sermon delivered by Mateusz Bembus [pl] during the funeral of the royal secretary Andrzej Bobola [pl] (published in 1629) and a Polish translation of a work by Marco Antonio de Dominis explaining his reasons for leaving England.[56]

The bishop was also known for his taste in art.

Neris River, and decorated the palace interior with 84 religious inscriptions.[64] The reconstruction was described in a Latin poem by Franciscus Sitański (Sitanius) published in 1626.[65]

He organized construction of a house for retired and ill clergy; it was eventually built near the

Saint Mary from Augsburg to Vilnius Cathedral.[68]

References

  1. ^ Jovaiša 2018, p. 369.
  2. ^ Jovaiša 2018, p. 84.
  3. ^ Jovaiša 2018, pp. 85–86.
  4. ^ Jovaiša 2018, p. 87.
  5. ^ Jovaiša 2018, p. 89.
  6. ^ Jovaiša 2018, p. 88.
  7. ^ Jovaiša 2018, pp. 89, 92.
  8. ^ Jovaiša 2018, p. 91.
  9. ^ Palmieri 1912.
  10. ^ a b c Jovaiša 2018, p. 93.
  11. ^ a b Jovaiša 2018, p. 90.
  12. ^ Jovaiša 2018, p. 92.
  13. ^ a b Jovaiša 2018, p. 95.
  14. ^ Jovaiša 2018, p. 98.
  15. ^ Jovaiša 2018, pp. 93–94.
  16. ^ a b Jovaiša 2018, p. 94.
  17. ^ Jovaiša 2018, p. 96.
  18. ^ Jovaiša 2018, pp. 96–97.
  19. ^ a b Jovaiša 2018, p. 97.
  20. ^ Jovaiša 2018, p. 105.
  21. ^ Jovaiša 2018, pp. 106–107.
  22. ^ Jovaiša 2018, p. 102.
  23. ^ Jovaiša 2018, pp. 137–139.
  24. ^ Jovaiša 2018, p. 103.
  25. ^ Jovaiša 2018, p. 131.
  26. ^ Jovaiša 2018, p. 153.
  27. ^ Jovaiša 2018, pp. 158–159.
  28. ^ Jovaiša 2018, pp. 150–151.
  29. ^ Jovaiša 2018, p. 110.
  30. ^ a b c Jovaiša 2018, p. 111.
  31. ^ Jovaiša 2018, pp. 111–112.
  32. ^ a b Jovaiša 2018, pp. 97–98.
  33. ^ Jovaiša 2018, pp. 115, 117–118.
  34. ^ Jovaiša 2018, p. 140.
  35. ^ Jovaiša 2018, p. 160.
  36. ^ Jovaiša 2018, pp. 100–101.
  37. ^ Jovaiša 2018, p. 101.
  38. ^ a b Jovaiša 2018, p. 112.
  39. ^ Jovaiša 2018, pp. 113–114.
  40. ^ Jovaiša 2018, p. 118.
  41. ^ Jovaiša 2018, p. 119.
  42. ^ a b Jovaiša 2018, pp. 120–121.
  43. ^ a b Jovaiša 2018, p. 122.
  44. ^ Jovaiša 2018, p. 123.
  45. ^ Jovaiša 2018, p. 125.
  46. ^ Kamuntavičienė 2014, pp. 123, 130, 133.
  47. ^ Jovaiša 2018, p. 135.
  48. ^ Jovaiša 2018, pp. 116–117.
  49. ^ Jovaiša 2018, p. 130.
  50. ^ Jovaiša 2018, pp. 140–141.
  51. ^ Jovaiša 2018, p. 141.
  52. ^ Grinčalaitis 2018, pp. 244–245.
  53. ^ Jovaiša 2018, p. 142.
  54. ^ Jovaiša 2018, pp. 142–143.
  55. ^ Jovaiša 2018, pp. 143, 145.
  56. ^ Jovaiša 2018, p. 143.
  57. ^ Jovaiša 2018, pp. 136, 145.
  58. ^ a b c Jovaiša 2018, p. 145.
  59. ^ Jovaiša 2018, pp. 146–147.
  60. ^ Jovaiša 2018, pp. 133–134.
  61. ^ Vaineikis, Kaupienė & Derkintis 2008, p. 148.
  62. ^ Rėklaitis 1958.
  63. ^ Jovaiša 2018, p. 146.
  64. ^ Jovaiša 2018, pp. 151–152.
  65. ^ Vitkauskienė 2009, pp. 26–29.
  66. ^ Jovaiša 2018, pp. 114–115.
  67. ^ Jovaiša 2018, p. 115.
  68. ^ Jovaiša 2018, pp. 115–116.

Bibliography

Catholic Church titles
Preceded by Bishop of Vilnius
1616–1630 		Succeeded by
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