THE EXPERIENCE OF FAITH
AS PRESENTED IN SPIRITUAL DIARIES OF ELISABETH GALITZIN. RECONNAISSANCE Cover Image

DOŚWIADCZENIE WIARY W DZIENNIKACH DUCHOWYCH JELIZAWIETY GOLICYNY. REKONESANS
THE EXPERIENCE OF FAITH AS PRESENTED IN SPIRITUAL DIARIES OF ELISABETH GALITZIN. RECONNAISSANCE

Author(s): Urszula Cierniak
Subject(s): Gender Studies, Russian Literature, Sociology of Literature
Published by: Wydawnictwo Uniwersytetu Jagiellońskiego
Keywords: Elisabeth Galitzin; women’s spiritual diaries; conversion; Catholicism; 19th century;

Summary/Abstract: Personal diaries written in French by young women in the first half of the nineteenth century attracted attention of researchers such as Philippe Lejeune, Elena Gretchanaïa, Catherine Viollet and Irina Savkina. They all believed that very few texts which could be classifiedas spiritual diaries had survived in the archives of that time. An example of such a rare, well-preserved collection of diaries are ego-documents of a Russian aristocrat, Elisabeth Galitzin (1795–1843), who, after converting from Orthodoxy to Catholicism, began to re- cord regularly her inner state and experience of the value of faith, which lasted from 1815 until her death. This article focuses on the texts preceding Galitzin’s joining the Society of the Sacred Heart of Jesus. They are the part of nineteenth-century works discussing the conditions and motivations for the conversions of Russian women to Catholicism. They also provide unique material for a further in-depth research into Russian spirituality during the described period.

  • Issue Year: 19/2023
  • Issue No: 1
  • Page Range: 229-244
  • Page Count: 16
  • Language: Polish
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