Diocese of Sejny

Diocese of Sejny or rather Augustów Dioecesis Sejnensis seu Augustoviensis Polish: Diecezja sejneńska, czyli augustowska
Basilica of the Visitation of the Blessed Virgin Mary in Sejny, former cathedral church of the diocese Basilica of the Visitation of the Blessed Virgin Mary in Sejny, former cathedral church of the diocese
Location
Country	Congress Poland Poland
Territory	Sejny
Ecclesiastical province	Warsaw
Information
Denomination	Catholic
Sui iuris church	Latin Church
Rite	Roman Rite
Established	1818
Dissolved	1925
Cathedral	Cathedral of the Visitation of the Blessed Virgin Mary in Sejny

The Diocese of Sejny, properly the Diocese of Sejny or rather Augustów (Latin: Dioecesis Sejnensis seu Augustoviensis), was a diocese of the Latin Church of the Roman Catholic Church with the seat of its bishops in Sejny, which existed from 1818 to 1925. In 1925 it was suppressed and divided into the Diocese of Łomża and the Diocese of Vilkaviškis.

In 2009, Sejny was established as a titular see. The title of the first titular bishop of Sejny was given to archbishop Jan Pawłowski, Apostolic Nuncio to the Republic of the Congo and Gabon.

History

In 1799, a new Diocese of Wigry was established from territories of the Diocese of Lutsk, Diocese of Vilnius, and Diocese of Samogitia that had been annexed by Kingdom of Prussia as a result of the Third Partition of Poland. After Congress of Vienna most of the Diocese of Wigry territory was incorporated to, subjugated to Russia, Kingdom of Poland. By a papal bull of 30 April 1818, Pope Pius VII suppressed the Diocese of Wigry, creating a new diocese in its place. The diocese was incorporated into the newly-established Metropolis of Warsaw.

Originally, the bishop’s seat was in Augustów. However, already in 1823 the second bishop, Ignacy Stanisław Czyżewski, moved to Sejny, making the former Dominican Church of the Visitation the cathedral. In the following years, bishops resided in one or the other town, or in Warsaw. For this reason, the diocese was known under the double name “Sejny, or rather Augustów,” although the shorter form “Diocese of Sejny” was in common use. Sejny ultimately became the episcopal see on 4 February 1837, when Bishop Paweł Straszyński solemnly entered the restored cathedral, he was also the first bishop to be buried there. In 1826, a seminary had been established in the post-monastic buildings.

In the years 1847–1863, the Russian authorities didn't allow the bishopric to be filled, so the diocese was governed by administrators: Mikołaj Błocki, Bonawentura Butkiewicz, and Jakub Choiński. Only in 1863 was Konstanty Ireneusz Łubieński appointed bishop. On his initiative, construction of the episcopal palace was begun. However, because of his oppositional stance, he was arrested on 31 May 1869 and exiled to Siberia. He died in Nizhny Novgorod on 16 June 1869.

In 1918 the territory of the diocese found itself within Poland and Lithuania. Bishop Antanas Karosas remained in Lithuania; already during World War I he appointed Romuald Jałbrzykowski as vicar general for the Polish territories. Jałbrzykowski received episcopal consecration on 30 November 1918 in Łomża. The Lithuanian part contained 286,000 faithful, while the Polish part had 392,000. In 1925–1926 this situation was formally regularized. The Diocese of Sejny was suppressed. From its Polish section, after adding the deaneries of Czyżew, Ostrów Mazowiecka, and Ostrołęka (without the parish of Goworowo) from the Diocese of Płock, a new Diocese of Łomża was created, with 520,000 faithful and subject to the Metropolitan Archdiocese of Vilnius. From the Lithuanian part of the diocese, a new Diocese of Vilkaviškis was created in 1926, subordinated to the Metropolitan Archdiocese of Kaunas; Antanas Karosas remained its bishop.

Bishops

Diocesan bishops

• Jan Klemens Gołaszewski (30 June 1818 – 8 March 1820) – until 1818 bishop of Wigry
• Ignacy Stanisław Czyżewski (29 May 1820 – 11 December 1823) – coadjutor in 1819–1820
• Mikołaj Jan Manugiewicz (19 December 1825 – 25 June 1834)
• Paweł Straszyński (21 November 1836 – 21 July 1847)
• Konstanty Ireneusz Łubieński (21 May 1862 – 16 June 1869)
• Piotr Paweł Wierzbowski (25 August 1872 – 1 July 1893)
• Antanas Baranauskas (2 August 1897 – 26 November 1902)
• Józef Antonowicz (administrator 1902–1910)
• Antanas Karosas (7 April 1910 – 28 October 1925) – from 1926 bishop of Vilkaviškis

Auxiliary bishops

• Polikarp Augustyn Marciejewski (1819–1827)
• Stanisław Choromański (1829–1836)
• Józef Hollak (1883–1890)
• Romuald Jałbrzykowski (1918–1925)

From the 1913 Catholic Encyclopedia

Diocese of Sejny — (AUGUSTÓWO; SEJNESIS, or AUGUSTOVIENSIS).

A diocese in the northwestern part of Russian Poland near the border of East Prussia, of Russian Poland near the border of East Prussia, German Poland. Its territory formerly belonged to the Diocese of Vilna, but upon the first partition of Poland it fell to Germany. Consequently a separate ecclesiastical jurisdiction was desired, and so Pius VI, on 27 March, 1798, carved out the new diocese and established its see at the Camaldolese monastery of Wigry, a village about ten miles east of the present city of Suwalki. This monastery of Camaldoli was founded under the patronage of King Jagiello in 1418, and the Church of Our Lady, which became the cathedral, is now the parish church of Wigry. The first bishop of the diocese was the celebrated preacher Michael Francis Karpowicz (b. 1744; d. 1805). His successor was John Clement Golaszewski (b. 1748; d. 1820), who enlarged the Wigry cathedral. After the third partition of Poland this territory was ceded to Russia, and in 1818 the Church throughout the Polish kingdom was reorganized. By a Bull of Pius VII Warsaw was made the metropolitan see and the see of Wigry was changed to Augustówo, a city founded in 1561 by King Sigmund Augustus, after who, it was named, which is still the largest place in that section (population 65,690). The new cathedral and chapter there were inaugurated on December 8, 1819. The next bishop, Ignatius Czyzewski, the first to rule the newly named diocese, did not remain at Augustówo, but changed his place of residence in 1823 to Sejny, a town founded in 1522 by King Sigmund I, and which is about twenty miles east of Suwalki, the capital of the district. The succeeding bishop, Nicholas John Manugiewicz, established the diocesan seminary in 1830, and for many years resided sometimes at Augustówo and then at Sejny. His successor was Stanislaus Choromanski, afterwards Archbishop of Warsaw. Then next bishop, Straszynski, made the old Dominican church at Sejny his cathedral and entered it as bishop, 4 February, 1837. He was in frequent collision with the Russian authorities, and on his death in 1847 the see was kept vacant by the Russian Government until 1873. Constantine Lubienski was then made bishop, and on his death in 1869 at Nowgrodzie was succeeded by Bishop Wierbowski. His successor was Anthony Baranowdki, and the present bishop (1911) is Anthony Karas. Sejny has the cathedral church, chapter and consistory, the diocesan seminary and the hospital of St. Simon managed by the Sisters of Charity. The diocese is divided into eleven deaneries and has a Catholic population of 692,250. There are 119 parish churches and 20 subordinate ones, besides 100 chapels and 3 convents. The diocese has 352 secular priests, 4 regulars, 86 seminarians, 24 lay religious, besides 8 nuns and 26 Sisters of Charity. Owing to the Russian regulations against receiving novices and postulants, the regular clergy and monastic institutions are dying out.

BATTANDIER, Annuaire Pontificale (Paris, 1911); Slownik Geograficzny, X (Warsaw, 1900).

Bibliography

• Guzewicz, Wojciech (2016). "Sejneński ośrodek kościelny (wybrane zagadnienia)". Civitas et Lex. 10.
• Kowalewski, Tadeusz; Łupiński, Józef, eds. (2005). Biskupi diecezji łomżyńskiej. Działalność społeczna, polityczna, religijna. Łomża.
• Stępień, Marek (2008). "Biskupi diecezji augustowskiej czyli sejneńskiej (1818-1925) a Stolica Apostolska". Legnickie Studia Teologiczno-Historyczne. 13.