Healthcare and Catholic Enlightenment in the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth

Abstract

In the eighteenth century, the ideal of the priest in society was reformed by Polish and Lithuanian Catholic bishops. Instrumental in these reforms were Ignacy Massalski (1726–94), bishop of Vilnius (1762–94) and Michał Poniatowski (1736–94), bishop of Płock (1773–85), then archbishop of Gniezno (1785–94), and simultaneously administrator of the diocese of Kraków (1782–90). Their programmes included making clergy responsible for medical education and the organization of healthcare, and seeking to reform customs which were viewed as detrimental to health. The article draws on pastoral letters, popular educational books and administrative decrees to ascertain what ideas reformers imposed on the clergy. Episcopal visitation protocols, sermons and parish school textbooks are analysed to verify the effects of reforms and ascertain what was taught about health in the parishes. The examination of the relatively rare egodocuments of priests sheds light on how they experienced their afflictions. The article concludes that healthcare was an important topic for Catholic enlighteners in the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, and that priests played a significant role in promoting it. Reforms were driven by humanitarian and physiocratic principles, and were facilitated by an optimistic belief in the benefits of medicine. Nonetheless, many enlightened programmes failed because priests were unwilling or unable to implement changes that interfered with lived religion.