The phenomenon of the Roman Catholic Order of the Most Holy Trinity (the Trinitarians) in Volhynia: origin, centres, social and cultural consequences (late 17th – first third of the 19th century)

Abstract

The aim of scientific research is to study the factors behind the establishment, specific activities and significance of the social and cultural achievements of the centres of the Roman Catholic Order of the Trinitarians in Volhynia during the late 17th – early 19th centuries. Scientific novelty. The article is an attempt to summarise and analyse factual material concerning the missionary work of the Roman Catholic Order of the Most Holy Trinity (the Trinitarians) in Volhynia during the late 17th – first third of the 19th centuries. In particular, it clarifies the historical and cultural factors behind the emergence of this religious order in the region, outlines the network of its centers, and characterizes its most significant social and humanitarian achievements. Methods. The study is based on a conceptual analysis of archival documents and scholarly works produced by researchers from Poland and Ukraine. At the stage of archival research, the study employed methods of scholarly heuristics, analysis, synthesis, comparative descriptive analysis, classification, and source criticism. At the same time, in the process of collecting, systematizing, and examining the research materials, comprehensive, structural, and inductive methods were employed, which proved complementary in the implementation of the author’s research objectives. Conclusions. It has been established that the Roman Catholic Order of the Most Holy Trinity (the Trinitarians) appeared in the territories of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, and consequently in Volhynia, at the end of the seventeenth century, during the height of the Polish–Turkish wars. Since the principal mission of this religious community was the redemption of Christian captives from Muslim captivity, its emergence was entirely natural: it was precisely at that time that there was an acute need to secure the release of Polish nobles from Ottoman captivity. It has been outlined that, on the initiative of Polish magnates, seven centers of the Trinitarian Fathers were established in Volhynia, which accounted for approximately one-fifth of their total monastic centers within the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, namely in Berestechko (1690), Lutsk (1717), Shumbar (1727), Horokhiv (1730), Khotyn, Teofipol (1741), and Kremenets (1762). It has been demonstrated that the socio-humanitarian activity of the monks of the Roman Catholic Order of the Most Holy Trinity was implemented through a broad program of Christian service to others and was based on the best achievements of contemporary European science and culture. It is emphasized that one manifestation of this was in the field of sacred art; in particular, the creative work of the eminent Trinitarian artist Józef Prechtl serves as a vivid example of the integration of Western European Baroque artistic visions into the local artistic context.