Historical stages of the pastoral care of the Minorites in Spišský Štvrtok and Levoča

Abstract

The topic of the study is the activity of the Order of Franciscan Friars Minor – the Minorites in Levoča and Spišský Štvrtok. In the introduction, the author gives a historical overview of the establishment of this religious order and then continues with the characteristics of the period of the Franciscans’ arrival in Spiš and their settlement in Levoča and Spišský Štvrtok. The study recalls the importance of the monasteries built by the Minorites in both localities. A period of promising spiritual and cultural development of the order was violently interrupted by the Night of the Barbarians, the closure of the monasteries and the deportation of the Franciscans. After 1989, the activity of the Franciscan Friars Minor in Slovakia and Spiš was renewed.