Konflikt polsko-litewski w diecezji wileńskiej na początku XX wieku

Abstract

At the beginning of 20th century religion was one of the main spheres of the Polish-Lithuanian conflict. In the Catholic diocese of Vilnius, the clash between believers of two nations was occurring mainly in the language of additional service and religious singing in churches, the catechesis of pupils in schools, assigning Polish or Lithuanian clergy to the church posts, as well as the problem of knowledge of both languages by the priests. The dispute was intensive in parishes with mixed Polish and Lithuanian population and in Vilnius, where at the earliest were established organizations whose goal was to broaden the Lithuanian language in the pastoral ministry. Among the others development of press and involvement of clergy in political activities increased the scale of conflict. The governor of the diocese, Bishop Edward Ropp (1904–1907), and after 1908 Apostolic Administrator Fr. Kazimierz Michalkiewicz, in its regulations, appeals to the worshipers, conferences of clergy, during personal visits were appealing to the both sides to agree. In the parishes with mixed nationalities they recommended order of services, in which the two nations could have the opportunity, in fixed time, to listen to the sermons and to use mother tongue. To solve the disputes they recommended to prepare the census of parishioners of both nationalities and were sending special commissions or were considering the question by themselves. Those policies were not always satisfying the sides of conflict, who were seeking support for their national aspirations by sending petitions to the Vatican and Petersburg. This only intensified mutual distrust and the perception in negative light. Only the outbreak of the First World War temporarily reduced the Polish- -Lithuanian conflict in the diocese of Vilnius.