Franciszek Kareu

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Franciszek Kareu (1731-1802)

Franciszek Kareu, SJ (10 December 1731,

Society of Jesus in Russia from 1799 to 1801. His careful management of this precarious institutional challenge facilitated a transition leading to the universal restoration of the order in the early 19th-century.[2]

Early years and formation

Born of a noble

Orsza (in present day Belarus), before joining the Jesuit order. As all candidates of the time, Kareu joined the Jesuits in Vilnius, where he completed two years of novitiate (1754–56).[3] There followed a spell of teaching at Kražiai College (1756–58) and theological studies in Pinsk (1759–63), where he was ordained priest
in 1762.

Career

Against the background of tumultuous political events, the

Nieswiez, and Slutsk, Kareu arrived in Polotsk in 1768 where he studied architecture under the guidance of the Jesuit architect, Gabriel Lenkiewicz, along with teaching philosophy and mathematics at the Jesuit College in Polotsk (1769–72). Being close to Stanislaus Czerniewicz and Lenkiewicz, he helped them in their efforts to keep the Society of Jesus going in expanding Russia. He was made Rector of the High School of Orsza in 1782 and took part in the Regional Congregations of 1782 and 1785 which elected successively Cerniewicz and Lenkiewicz, Temporary Vicars General in Russia. After 1785, Kareu was made Rector of what had been the most prestigious Jesuit College in Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, Polotsk. In this period, he funded the purchase of a printing press from which, school manuals, philosophical and theological treatises and devotional books were produced.[4]

Regional Congregation III

Main article: Suppression of the Society of Jesus § Russian resistance to suppression

On 12 February 1799, in the first ballot, Kareu was elected

Emperor Alexander I
was far less friendly towards the Society and finally expelled it in 1820.

Superior General

Through the establishment of the Jesuits in the

Duchy of Parma in 1793, and the letter of endorsement from Emperor Paul I of Russia, the Pope, Pius VII began ecclesiastical mechanisms that eventually resulted in the universal approval of the existence of the Society in 1814. However, in 1801 strong political opposition towards the existence of the Society was launched by Charles IV of Spain which led Pope Pius VII
to qualify his acceptance of the Society by limiting it to the Russian Empire. He expressed this on 7 March 1801, in the Papal brief Catholicae fidei, through which Franciszek Kareu was made 'Superior General for Russia'.

After 1801, contact with ex-Jesuits increased, thanks to the efforts of his able Assistant Gabriel Gruber, and future successor as 'Superior General for Russia'.[2] In this period, the Rector of Stonyhurst (England) asked if the School might be allowed to affiliate itself with the Society in Russia. Negotiations also began for a union with the 'Paccanarist' priests. The Patriarch of Constantinople also asked for the Jesuits to serve in his patriarchate. During Kareu's vicariate of the Society in Russia, the universal restoration of the Society by the Catholic Church, became a distinct possibility.[2]

Death

Since the beginning of 1801, Kareu had suffered from asthma. When he realised that his health had become a liability, he appointed an assistant, the Viennese, Gabriel Gruber who was himself later elected Vicar General. Kareu died in Polotsk on 11 August 1802.

See also

References

  1. ISBN 83-7006-437-X
    .
  2. ^ a b c Inglot, Marek (2017). "The Catholic order Teaching in the tsarist state (1772–1802)". SPI. Pontifical Gregorian University, Articles and dissertations. download › SPI.2019.4.003 PDF. Retrieved 11 December 2023.
  3. ^ Pacevičius, Arvydas. "Cultural Relations between Dünaburg and Vilnius in the Second Half of the 18th Century - Beginning of the 19th Century: the case of Jesuit book collections" (PDF). Etalpykla.lituanistika: 287. Retrieved 11 December 2023.
  4. ^ Inglot, Marek. La Compagnia di Gesù nell'Impero Russo (1772-1820), Roma, 1997. (in Italian)

Bibliography

  • Inglot, M. "How the Jesuits survived their Suppression…", Saint Joseph's University Press, Philadelphia, 2015.
  • INGLOT, M., La Compagnia di Gesù nell'Impero Russo (1772–1820), Roma, 1997.
  • ZALENSKI, S., Les Jésuites de la Russie Blanche, (2 vol.), Paris, 1886.
  • ROUET de JOURNEL, M.J., La Compagnie de Jésus en Russie: un collège de Jésuites à Saint Pétersbourg (1800–16), Paris, 1922.
Preceded by
Temporary Vicar General of the Society of Jesus

1799 – 1801 		Succeeded by
approval
Preceded by
suppression
Superior General of the Society of Jesus in Exile (Russia)

1801 – 1802 		Succeeded by
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