STRUKTURY ADMINISTRACYJNE KOŚCIOŁA RZYMSKOKATOLICKIEGO W CESARSTWIE ROSYJSKIM (W LATACH 1772-1847)
Administrative Structures of the Roman Catholic Church in the Russian Empire (1772-1847)

Summary/Abstract: As a result of the Polish partitions in the second half of the eighteenth century, the eastern lands of the Republic of Poland became part of the Russian Empire. The Catholic Church did not have its territorial organization in the Russian Empire. In 1773, Catherine II herself created the “Belarusian bishopric”, and in 1782 she established the Mahilyow archbishopric. All of these changes were made without the consent of the Holy See. After the third partition of Poland, in 1795, Catherine II completely destroyed Poland’s former church organization and formed her own church structures. After the death of the empress, her son Paul I in 1798 abolished all bishoprics created by his mother Catherine II. He revived the bishoprics from the times of the Republic, but not all of them. A new territorial organization was created on the basis of the former organizational structure of the Church on Polish territories. Subsequent changes in church administration took place in the Napoleonic era and on the territory of the Polish Kingdom. After the defeat of the November Uprising, the Church experienced repression by the tsarist regime. In the first half of the forties of the nineteenth century, reform of state administration was carried out in Russia. Changes in the boundaries of state administration led to a need for changes in church administration. The new structures of the church were set by a concordat signed in 1847 between Pope Pius IX and Tsar Nicholas. This state of affairs, with minor modifications, lasted until 1918, that is, until new boundaries were made at the end of the First World War.

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