Język litewski w duszpasterstwie w dekanatach Kowno i Kupiszki w drugiej połowie XVIII wieku
LITHUANIAN PASTORAL MINISTRY IN THE DEANERIES OF KAUNAS AND KUPIŠKIS IN THE SECOND HALF OF THE 18TH CENTURY

Summary/Abstract: In order to perform pastoral activities effectively, the Church had to pay attention not only to the content of speeches but also to the language itself when addressing churchgoers. Catholic priests were faced by this challenge in certain Lithuanian regions where people, peasants in particular, knew only Lithuanian, while Polonized gentry did not have any problems when Polish was spoken. Vilnius’ bishops and collators (founders) of parishes demanded parsons to prove their mastery of the language of people in Lithuanian-spoken deaneries. The paper discusses the issue of the use of Lithuanian in liturgy on the example of deaneries of Kupiškis and Kaunas. The analysis of available sources has indicated that in case of sacraments, Lithuanian was in common use, because their essence had to be understood by the believers. Sermons and Catechesis were most often given in two languages, Polish and Lithuanian, or solely in Lithuanian. Only in some parishes of Kaunas deanery, the truths of faith and principles of Christian morality were presented solely in Polish. The competence in Lithuanian was necessary for priests in their pastoral visits to parish families during Christmas (the so-called caroling) and during everyday contacts with the believers. When a parson, usually coming from affluent gentry, did not speak the language of the people fluently enough to communicate with them freely, he was sometimes replaced by a vicar or another member of ancillary clergy, usually coming from indigent gentry or peasantry. Depending on a social structure of a given parish, hence on a degree of competence in Lithuanian, services, except Holy Mass, were conducted in Polish or Lithuanian. However, most often both languages were used. Latvian was also used in parishes which bordered with Livonia. So far, the lack of sufficient knowledge on bilingualism of Lithuanian gentry has rendered a full study on the presented issues impossible and it does not permit to formulate binding conclusions.

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