The economic situation of the Pauline monastery in Leśna (compared to the economy of other Pauline institutions operating in the eastern provinces of the Polish-Lithuanian commonwealth)

One of the most important institutions of the Polish Pauline Province in the 18th and 19th centuries was the monastery in Leśna in Podlasie (Podlachia). It was founded in 1726 by the village owner, Władysław Jan Michałowski. After the Third Partition in 1795, Leśna became part of Western Galicia, from 1809 it was part of the Duchy of Warsaw, and from 1815 to 1918 part of the Kingdom of Poland under the rule of Russian Tsars. The monastery was dissolved in 1864. The monastery received a very large endowment. Until 1795 it owned 16 villages, but as a result of the Third Partition, the Pauline Fathers lost most of their property to the Russian treasury. Until the end of its existence, it owned only 4 villages. The acreage of the monastic land in the 18th century amounted to 4907 morgens, and after 1795 it was only 842.50 morgen (82.83% less than before). Such a large endowment meant that the monastery in Leśna was financially the best secured convent in the Polish Pauline Province, second only to Jasna Góra. The Paulines in Leśna sowed the greatest quantities of rye, wheat, barley, oats, and they also grew Tartary buckwheat, peas, millet, buckwheat, and flax. The level of crop production was heavily influenced by military operations that took place in the area of the monastery. At that time, there occurred threats to life and health, as well as numerous lootings carried out by marching armies, e.g., over the years 1812 to 1813 and 1831. Most of the crops were expended on sowing and consumption in the monastery, while in the 19th century part of the harvest was sold on the local market. The 19th century also seems to have witnessed an improvement in the farming culture, resulting in increased productivity. The monastic estates bred oxen and horses as beasts of burden, as well as dairy cattle, sheep, pigs, poultry, and bees. Animal husbandry was primarily intended for satisfying their own needs. Non-agricultural economy, namely milling industry, propination (exercising local alcohol monopoly), and brick production played an important role in the economic operations of the monastery. On the basis of the preserved, incomplete archival materials, it has been established that the biggest income was obtained from lease rents, interest on special contracts for the purchase of profits from lease rents, as well as from bank deposits, and the repayment of mortgage bonds. The most substantial amounts were spent on construction and renovation works, taxes, salaries for servants and on the upkeep of monks. The financial situation of the monastery was unstable, but the monastery in Leśna supported itself without any external help, with a single exception being an assistance of the provincial authorities which happened only once, in the 1930s