Jesuit College in Polotsk
TheJesuit College in Polotsk(Latin:Collegium Polocense) was acollegeestablished by theJesuit OrderinPolotsk,then part of theGrand Duchy of Lithuaniaand later occupied by theRussian Empire,and now inBelarus.It was established in 1580 and continued to function until 1820 when Jesuits were banished from the Russian Empire.
History
[edit]
Polish KingStephen BáthorycapturedPolotsk in 1579during theLivonian Warand invitedJesuitsto the city in hopes to lessen the influence of theEastern Orthodox Church.The Jesuits established a college (equivalent to a secondary school), modeled after theJesuit Academy in Vilnius,in 1580. Its first rector wasPiotr Skarga.[1]A faculty of philosophy was added in 1649 and a faculty oftheologyin 1737.
After thefirst partition of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealthin 1772, Polotsk became part of theRussian Empire.That saved the college from thesuppression of the Jesuitsas Russian EmpressCatherine the Greatdid not follow papal decrees. After lobbying byJoseph de Maistre,the college was elevated to an academy (equivalent to a university) in 1812 by TsarAlexander I of Russiaonly to be closed eight years later when Alexander I banished the Jesuits from the Russian Empire and closed their schools.[2]Academy's library, which held up to 60,000 volumes, was dispersed among various institutions in Eastern Europe.
ThePolotsk State University[3]and thePontifical Faculty of Theology in Warsaw,established in 1998, both claim historical heritage of the Polotsk College.[4]In 2005, former buildings of the college were partially reconstructed and transferred to thePolotsk State University.[5]
Notable faculty
[edit]Notable alumni
[edit]- Stanisław Czerski,priest, graphic artist, translator
- Giovanni Antonio Grassi,academic administrator and president ofGeorgetown College
- Jan Roothaan,Jesuit Superior General
- Maksymilian Stanisław Ryłło,missionary
- Fyodor Petrovich Tolstoy,artist
- Walenty Wańkowicz,painter
See also
[edit]- History of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth (1569–1648)
- History of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth (1648–1764)
- History of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth (1764–1795)
- List of Jesuit sites
References
[edit]- ^Carus, Paul (1918).The Open Court.Open Court Publishing Company.
- ^Armenteros, Carolina; Lebrun, Richard (2011-05-23).Joseph de Maistre and His European Readers: From Friedrich Von Gentz to Isaiah Berlin.BRILL.ISBN9004193944.
- ^Polotsk State University - Official websiteArchived2014-02-03 at theWayback Machine
- ^"Bobolanum".www.bobolanum.edu.pl(in Polish). Archived fromthe originalon 2016-10-22.Retrieved2017-09-27.
- ^Учреждение образования «Полоцкий государственный университет»Archived2014-02-03 at theWayback Machine
- 1580 establishments
- 1580 establishments in Europe
- 1820 disestablishments
- Defunct Jesuit schools
- Jesuit education
- Jesuit schools
- Universities and colleges in the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth
- Polotsk
- Defunct schools in Poland
- Education in Belarus
- Educational organizations based in Belarus
- Former universities and colleges of Jesuits