Vilna [Vilnius] (Wilno), Archdiocese of

VILNA [VILNIUS] (WILNO), ARCHDIOCESE OF. - City and archdiocese in Poland. It has an area of 56,679 sq km, with a population of 2,325,000 inhabitants, of whom 1,056,000 are Catholics, distributed in 442 parishes, served by 548 diocesan priests and 13 religious; it has two seminaries, 1 male religious community and 14 female (Ann. Pont. 1953, p. 454).

The city is situated at the confluence of the Wilejka with the Wilna, in an amphitheater of hills on which the suburbs have developed. It belonged first to the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, then from 1386 united with Poland; the city was decimated by fires in 1610 and 1706, by the Russian occupation between 1655-60, by the Swedes in 1706, by the plague in 1710; from 1793 to 1915 it passed under the dominion of Russia, despite the uprisings in 1794 and 1863; in that period the Church of W. had to suffer, but conditions improved after the Edict of toleration of 1905. In 1917 it was erected as capital of Lithuania, in 1920 it was occupied by the Poles, in 1939 by the Germans, then by the Russians.

The diocese was founded at the time of Ladislaus II Jagiello, who in 1387 sent Dobrogast, bishop of Posen, to implore from Pope Urban VI the erection of the diocese, which was granted by the said Pope with a bull of 12 March 1388, as a suffragan of Gnesen. The first bishop was the Conventual Franciscan Andrea Vasillo. Bishop Matthias of Trok (1422-53) also founded many churches and sent a representative of his to the Council of Basel; A. Tabor called the Dominicans to W., entrusting them with the church of the Holy Spirit. It was afflicted by Calvinism; Bishop V. Protasewicz Suszkowski (1556-80) called the Jesuits, and among these Father Peter Skarga shone; under King Stephen Báthory, G. Radzwill (1581-91), later cardinal and transferred to Kraków, founded in W. the Academy and the Seminary, under the direction of the Jesuits; B. Woina (1600-15) worked for the canonization of King Casimir of Poland and began the construction of a church in his honor in 1604. E. Wolowicz (1616-30) called the Lateran Canons Regular to W.; A. Woigna the Fatebenefratelli. A. Sapieha (1666-71) founded the church of Sts. Peter and Paul, whose construction was inspired by that of St. Peter's in the Vatican. Pope Pius XI, with the apostolic constitution Vixdum Poloniae unitas of 26 June 1925, with which he established new circumscriptions for the dioceses of Poland, of the Latin rite, placed W. at the head of the third Polish ecclesiastical province, elevating it to a metropolitan see, fixing its territory and giving it as suffragans the dioceses of Łomża and Pińsk (AAS, 17 [1925], pp. 51-28).

The Cathedral is dedicated to Sts. Stanislaus and Ladislaus. It was set on fire in 1399; Duke Vytautas rebuilt it in Gothic style the same year. It suffered extensive damage in 1531 and 1662; its restoration in neoclassical style begun by L. Gucewicz, in 1769, was completed in 1801. Notable are the chapels of the Immaculate Conception and of St. Casimir. The church of the Holy Cross was founded in the 14th cent., there in 1366 14 Franciscans were martyred; the church of St. Martin is from 1380; St. Anne was erected in 1392 by Anna, wife of Vytautas; St. John the Evangelist in 1386 and received privileges from Leo X; the church of the "Corpus

Domini" is from 1573, the church of St. Casimir with the adjoining Jesuit College is from 1604; that of St. Ignatius from 1622 was reduced to an officers' club. The Academy was transformed into a higher school in 1781 and into a University in 1803, becoming through the impetus of Prince Adam Czartoryski a center of high culture; it was suppressed in 1832 and reopened in 1919. Furthermore, a higher school of political sciences was founded. The University's public Library is rich with over 13,000 manuscripts and 500,000 vols.; the State Archive is notable.

Enrico Josi