The Catholic Communities of the Sisters of Mercy in the Russian Empire

The article is devoted to study the Catholic communities of Sisters of Mercy in the Western region of the Russian Empire. Based on the analysis of sources the author has identified the individual characteristics of Catholic and other local communities appeared on the territory of the Empire in that period. After the accession of the Catholic communities in Poland to the Russian Empire, the state office reached out to Catholic monasteries and Orders, including “Congregation of the Daughters of Charity of Saint Vincent de Paul”. Within the Empire the Catholic communities engaged in public charity and did missionary work. However, after the Polish uprising in 1830–1831, the Russian government began to consider communities as a political threat. In this regard, the problem of the existence of Catholic communities demanded a solution. In 1842, their activities were signifi cantly curtailed. There were a number of projects for the reconstruction of the “Congregation of the Daughters of Charity of Saint Vincent de Paul” by Governors of the Western region V. Nazimov and J. Vasilchikov. Polish uprising in 1863 didn’t let to embody their ideas, and all projects according to the Catholic communities of Sisters of Mercy were cancelled. In 1870 the Russian government opened the legal community of Sisters of Mercy in Warsaw at the Church of St. Casimir. The sisters of this community worked in the hospitals of the Order of public charity. The community was deprived of its right to dispose of the capital, to manage hospitals. The community obeyed the local diocesan authorities in spiritual matters