THE ROMAN CATHOLIC MONASTERIES LIBRARIES INVENTORIES’ SOURCE POTENTIAL OF LUTSK-ZHYTOMYR DIOCESE AT THE END OF THE XVIIIth – BEGINNING OF THE XIXth CENTURY

Abstract

 The inventories of the libraries of the Roman Catholic monasteries of Lutsk-Zhytomyr Diocese are important historical sources, which are helpful in the research of monks’ intellectual life, monastic culture, and material base of monastic schools. The inventories of monastic libraries do not constitute a distinct historical source but are the part of the monastic visitation - a universal document that includes a description of the whole monastery.

Persons, who led the visitations, did not have any specific requirements for compiling the library inventories. Therefore, the inventories that we have in our disposal differ in their appearance and structure. Some of them are very detailed. They include the author and book title, place, and date of publishing. Sometimes inventories’ authors recorded only the name of a book and the number of its copies in the library. There were also such booklists which included lists of thematic sections of the library and lists of books that belonged to them.

We dispose of the libraries’ inventories of eleven monasteries of Lutsk-Zhytomyr Roman Catholic Diocese which are stored in the funds of the State Archive of Zhytomyr oblast.

One of the largest libraries belonged to Lutsk Trinitarian monastery. We have in the disposition the visitations of this monastery of 1799, 1816, and 1819. Only the inventory of 1799 is very detailed and placed on 45 sheets of general visitation of the monastery. It recorded the title of a book, year and place of its publishing. The rest of the inventories show how the number of books in the monastic library changed. In 1799 there were 2177 books, in 1816 – 2578, and in 1819 – 2368. The decrease in the number of books in 1819 could be caused by the fact that books were transferred to another monastery of the Order or some educational institution.

The Trinitarian monastery in Shumbar, county of Kremenets, in 1799 had only a small library with 19 books. The reason was that the rest of the books were transferred to the Trinitarian monastery in Berestechko, where a school operated. As of 1816, the monastery in Berestechko already had 1515 books, but the inventory of the library is not detailed, so we have no other information besides the genre repertoire of the library. It is interesting that we know the identity of the librarian. He was Norbert Podvisotsky.

We dispose of the inventory of two Franciscan monasteries. The first one was in Mezhyrich Ostrozky, which had 323 books in 1819. The second one was in Kremenets. His library numbered 330 books. There was a small number of books in the libraries of Franciscan monasteries because the Franciscans were not engaged in active educational activities.

Another small book collection belonged to the Carmelite Monastery in Dorostany of Dubno County – 162 books in Polish and Latin. Two Augustinian monasteries in Zaturtsi and Radzekhiv had 138 and 214 books in their libraries, respectively. More books belonged to Bernardines from the village of Yalovychi – 829. Unfortunately, the inventory of the library is not detailed and contains only a list of thematic sections and information on the number of books.

A large library of 1009 books was in the monastery of the Order of Reformation from the village of Dederkaly near Kremenets. Its inventory is detailed, so in addition to the topics of the books, we also analyzed the places of publication of the literature. Most of the books were published in Venice, Lviv, Warsaw, and Krakow.

The monastery of the Order of Piarists in Dubrovytsia held one of the largest educational institutions in Volyn. The visitation of the monastery contains the inventory of the libraries of its church, monastery, school, and library of the Dubrovytsia Collegium.  The last one arouses considerable interest. We have a detailed inventory. The library numbered 2087 books in 1818. They were published between the 16th and early 19th centuries, most of them – in the 18th century.

Thus, the inventories of monastery libraries are an important historical source. With their help, we can explore the amount of literature, its genres, time, and place of publication of the books. The literature of the monasteries gives an idea of the level of cultural and intellectual life in the monasteries. Also, a study of monastery inventory is important, as most of the old printed books are not preserved to this day.

Key words: inventory, monastery library, visitation, old-fashioned print, Roman Catholic monasteries, Lutsk-Zhytomyr diocese, Volyn province.