The First Years of the Kaunas Dominicans (1641–1655)

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The aim of this article is to analyse the process of the establishment of the Kaunas Dominicans between 1631 and 1641, and to discuss the first years of the Kaunas friary’s existence up to the occupation of Kaunas in 1655, and the subsequent wars and cataclysms. It was in this period that the foundations of the Kaunas friary’s existence were laid and the main devotional practices were formed. Even though the historian Sławomir Brzozecki has revealed the main moments in the existence of the Lithuanian province of the Dominicans, and Jurgis Oksas has conducted research into the development of the plot of land administered by the Kaunas Dominicans and the construction of the church and friary, the structure, activities and importance of the Kaunas Dominican community have yet to be discussed. In this article, the establishment of the Dominicans in Kaunas is shown in the context of the formation of the Lithuanian Dominican Province, the role of the provincial Petroniusz Kamieński in creating the Kaunas friary is shown, the dating of the founding of the Kaunas friary is corrected, the sponsor-patrons and other people of goodwill, and the institution’s material situation, are discussed, the first known Dominican friars and features of their daily life are determined, and their devotional practices, which reflect general trends in the Dominican Order, are described, pointing out local features. This research is important as a case study for revealing the activities of the Dominicans in the Early Modern Period.