The ideas of St Vincent de Paul (1576–1660), who preached among the poor and founded men’s and women’s religious orders for charity work and a missionary congregation, were spread in the Commonwealth of the Two Nations from the mid-seventeenth century.
In the nineteenth century, the animation of religious life was still visible. The Church’s position in the area of charity activities also became more active, leading to members of secular orders organising charity organisations under the patronage of St Vincent de Paul.
The Vilnius Sorority of St Vincent de Paul, founded at the beginning of the 1860s, was a philanthropic organization. The Sorority was active during the period of political manifestations and the January Uprising. The Russian authorities, after accusing the Sorority’s members of participating in these manifestations and of supporting the Uprising, banned them as a political organisation even though the guilt of the Sorority’s members was never proven. The article discusses the genesis of this Sorority, the history
of its activities, and the reasons for its dissolution.
The idea of founding the Sorority of St Vincent de Paul in Vilnius belongs to Matilda Günther-Buczynska, who had briefly lived in Paris. There she had met people who were active in philanthropic activities. After returning to Vilnius at the end of 1850s, Günther-
-Buczynska conceived the idea of founding a philanthropic organization in Vilnius. She spread this idea among the high society women of Vilnius. The idea of founding such an organisation met with the approval of Adomas Stanislovas Krasinskis, then Bishop of the Diocese of Vilnius, as well as of Governor General Vladimir Nazimov of Vilnius Province.
The first meeting of the Sorority, in which about 100 high society women participated, took place in the first half of 1860.
The material situation of many lower class families in Vilnius was difficult at that time. The Sorority’s members considered helping poor families the main aim of their activities. There are no data to show that they participated in political activities. But the fact that the majority of the Sorority’s members were descendants of the elite of the former Commonwealth of the Two Nations was sufficient for Mikhail Muravyev, who became Governor General of Vilnius Province in May 1863, to ban the Sorority in 1863 as a political organization and to take repressive measures against its leaders.

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2011 - T.57
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2010 - T.56
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2009 - T.55
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2008 - T.54
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2007 - T.53
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