Eustachy Wołłowicz

Eustachy Wołłowicz ( lt, Eustachijus Valavičius; 1572–1630) was Bishop of Vilnius in 1616–1630. He was one of the more accomplished bishops of Vilnius in the 17th century.

A son of the Protestant father and Eastern Orthodox mother, Wołłowicz became a Catholic and was educated at the Jesuit Academy of Vilnius and the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome and was ordained as a priest. In 1600, Wołłowicz became a member of the Vilnius cathedral chapter and provost (''praepositus'') of Trakai. At the same time, entered the court of the Grand Duke Sigismund III Vasa becoming a referendary (a type of judge; 1600–1615), later royal secretary (1605–1615) and deputy chancellor (1615–1618). He was known as a skilled diplomat and politician. He became bishop of Vilnius after the death of in 1615. As bishop, Wołłowicz organized three diocesan synods (1618, 1623, and 1626). He was supportive of the various religious orders and helped them establish new monasteries. He personally invited Canons Regular of the Lateran to Antakalnis, a suburb of Vilnius. In a 1625 report to the pope, he claimed that during his nine-year tenure as bishop, there were more than 40 new Catholic churches and 27 new monasteries established in the diocese. Despite his reputation of a sincerely religious man, he was known for his tolerant attitude towards the Protestants and support of the Ruthenian Uniate Church.

During his ''ad limina'' visit to Rome in 1620–1621, Wołłowicz obtained papal approval for the feast of Saint Casimir and discussed the proposed new faculties of law and medicine at the Jesuit Academy of Vilnius. He swapped his chapel at Vilnius Cathedral with that of the royal family so that the new Chapel of Saint Casimir could be built. He redecorated the old royal chapel and it is still known as the Wołłowicz Chapel. He was also known for his taste in art and made donations to several Catholic churches and monasteries, including Vilnius Cathedral, Church of the Visitation of the Blessed Virgin Mary in Trakai, Benedictine abbey in Lubiń, Benedictine Monastery in Tytuvėnai.

Early life and education

Wołłowicz was born to a noble from the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. His father Ivan (died 1582), Court Marshal of Lithuania, was a Protestant while his mother was an Eastern Orthodox. His half-brother Hieronim Wołłowicz was Grand Treasurer of Lithuania and Elder of Samogitia. It is unknown when Wołłowicz became a Catholic. Likely it was during his studies at the Jesuit Academy of Vilnius. At the time he was also a member of the court of Bishop and Cardinal Jerzy Radziwiłł. In 1591, having taken the minor orders, Wołłowicz was given a parish in Slonim. A year later, he became parish priest of Odelsk and a canon of the Vilnius cathedral chapter.

Shortly after, he departed to Italy to study at several universities. In Rome, he studied at the Pontifical Gregorian University. He became subdeacon on 24 September 1594 at Trinità dei Monti and deacon on 13 April 1596 at the St. Mary's Chapel of the Pontifical Gregorian University. It is unknown when he was ordained as a priest. As a student, Wołłowicz was associated with Henryk Firlej, the future Archbishop of Gniezno (whereby Ruthenian Orthodox Church dioceses in the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth placed themselves under the papal authority), Wołłowicz as an interpreter read a Ruthenian letter sent by the bishops to Pope Clement VIII. Wołłowicz received the title protonotary apostolic. His contemporaries testified that Wołłowicz also studied at the universities of Siena, Padua, Perugia, and even in Germany and France. But that information is fragmentary and lacks specifics. Only specified that Wołłowicz studied canon law at Perugia. Nevertheless, Wołłowicz earned a reputation as one of the best educated members of the clergy in the Grand Duchy.

Government official

In May 1599, after about six years, Wołłowicz returned to Poland–Lithuania. After became Bishop of Vilnius in 1600, Wołłowicz took over his benefices – custodian of church property (custos) at Vilnius cathedral chapter and provost (''praepositus'') of Trakai. For these new posts, Wołłowicz thanked Mikołaj Krzysztof "the Orphan" Radziwiłł. At the same time, likely via his half-brother Hieronim Wołłowicz, Wołłowicz entered the court of the Grand Duke Sigismund III Vasa. He became a referendary (a judge; 1600–1615) and later royal secretary (1605–1615). He inherited the secretary post from his brother when he became treasurer in 1605. In 1615, he became deputy chancellor, but had to give up the post in February 1618. Lithuanian nobles protested his appointment as Deputy Chancellor as he was a member of the clergy and traditionally clergymen were not elevated to chancellors which were automatically entitled to a seat in the Polish–Lithuanian Senate.

Preoccupied with the duties at the royal court, Wołłowicz rarely visited Vilnius and rarely participated in the affairs of the cathedral chapter, but was delegated by the chapter to the Sejm of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth in 1600 and 1613. In Trakai, he organized reconstruction of the Church of the Visitation of the Blessed Virgin Mary which was becoming a pilgrimage center due to the miraculous icon of Our Lady of Trakai. He also established the Fellowship of the Rosary at the church in 1610–1612.

In 1607, Wołłowicz was sent on two diplomatic missions. In spring 1607, he traveled to Jędrzejów to negotiate with the Zebrzydowski rebels. While peace was not achieved, he was sent in fall 1607 to Tyniec where rebellious Benedictines refused to accept new abbot appointed by the king. Accompanied by soldiers, Wołłowicz surrounded the monastery. He feigned a retreat, but returned in the morning when monks were still sleeping after a celebration of their "victory" the night before. Wołłowicz's soldiers broke into the abbey and the monks were forced to accept the king-appointed abbot.

In 1608, Wołłowicz was appointed commendatory abbot of the Benedictine abbey in Lubiń near Krzywiń. It was a rare occurrence for a Lithuanian noble to become an abbot in Poland; only four other Bishops of Vilnius were granted such benefices. Wołłowicz took an active role in administering the monastery and visited it several times. A manuscript produced by a monk records his good deeds: he constructed the dormitory, commissioned the main altar with a tabernacle, gifted expensive church vestments and liturgical objects, transferred abbot's house in Poznań to the abbey, ordered repairs to monastery buildings, improved discipline, paid salary to an official tasked with resolving monastery's lawsuits, appointed visitators to oversee monks and provosts living outside the abbey, etc. One of the key accomplishments was obtaining papal approval to clearly segregate monastery's and abbot's income and property.

Surviving correspondence shows that Wołłowicz corresponded and collaborated with various Lithuanian magnates, including Grand Chancellor Lew Sapieha and Calvinist Krzysztof Radziwiłł. Wołłowicz was particularly close with Mikołaj Krzysztof "the Orphan" Radziwiłł – he lived with Radziwiłł's sons in Augsburg for a few months in 1604. Wołłowicz spent considerable amount of time outside of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania (about 20 years) and was more familiar with Polish dignitaries. Nine out of ten recommendations submitted to the pope when he was considered for bishops were written by Polish nobles. In turn, Wołłowicz supported several lesser nobles, including the Jesuit poet Maciej Kazimierz Sarbiewski (who dedicated several poems to Wołłowicz), his distant relative and the first Lithuanian missionary to China Andrius Rudamina, distant relative and future bishop of Samogitia and Vilnius Jerzy Tyszkiewicz, auxiliary bishop of Vilnius and titular bishop of Methone .

Bishop

Official duties and trip to Rome

After the death of in October 1615, Wołłowicz was nominated for Bishop of Vilnius without much opposition. The papal approval was granted on 18 May 1616 and Wołłowicz was consecrated on 9 October 1616 in Warsaw. After becoming bishop, he gave up only the office of the custodian of church property (custos) at Vilnius cathedral chapter, and continued as provost of Trakai and abbot of Lubiń. He continued as Deputy Chancellor of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania until February 1618 and thus was little visible as bishop. After his resignation in 1618, he organized a diocesan synod, visited churches in Vilnius, created Archdeaconry of White Ruthenia usually governed by the dean of , and initiated construction of a house for retired clergy.

In 1620–1621, he made ''ad limina'' visit to Rome which interrupted his work in the diocese. During the trip, Wołłowicz petitioned the pope to add the feast of Saint Casimir, patron Saint of Lithuania, to the Roman Breviary and Roman Missal. The Sacred Congregation of Rites agreed, but classified the feast at the lowest ''simplex'' level. Wołłowicz resubmitted the petition and this time it was granted higher ''semiduplex'' status on 3 March 1621. It was the same status as of the feast day of Saint Stanislaus of Szczepanów, patron saint of Poland. Wołłowicz also obtained papal approvals to increase the number of confessors who could grant absolution for heresy (this was needed for people converting from Eastern Orthodoxy or Protestantism to Catholicism) as well as the right for seven churches in Vilnius to grant same indulgences as granted by seven churches in Rome. There are hints that Wołłowicz also had diplomatic tasks related to the struggle against the Ottoman Empire, but there is no evidence that anything was achieved. Suffering from gout, Wołłowicz spent some time improving his health in hot springs of Padua where his ill second cousin , former Bishop of Samogitia, resided.

After his return from Rome, Wołłowicz became more sedentary living mostly in Vilnius and Verkiai. He had long complained of poor health and suffered from grout since at least 1604. He traveled to the Sejm of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth in 1623, 1626, 1627, 1628, but was late to the last three and missed several others. Overall, he attended only half of the 14 Sejms during his tenure as bishop; he missed the Sejms due to his trip to Rome in 1620–1621 and likely due to a plague outbreak in 1624–1625. Around 1618, Wołłowicz and Wawrzyniec Gembicki, Primate of Poland

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