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Ordo Praedicatorum / Order of Preachers

St Dominic (1170–1221) called for the gospel to be taught through peaceful preaching and discussions among people rather than armed crusades. The Dominicans, famous for their intellectualism, initially settled in larger university cities and eventually became a strong force of re-evangelisation throughout the Christian world.

In 1501, the Grand Duke of Lithuania, Alexander Jagiellon, granted an endowment to the Church of the Holy Spirit in Vilnius, and gave it to the Dominicans who are thought to have arrived in Vilnius during the 14^th century. The Vilnius Monastery of the Holy Spirit became the central and largest Dominican monastery in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. It was home to 60 monks rising to 116 in 1748. It housed a novitiate, a house of studies and a library containing in excess of 5,000 books. In 1642, the second Dominican monastery in Vilnius was established in the Lukiškės suburb; its endower was Castellan of Smolensk, Jerzy Littawor Chreptowicz. The Monastery of the Apostles, Philip, and James, in Lukiškės soon earned fame for its miraculous painting of the Mother of God, which is still located in the church to this day. The third Dominican monastery in present day Vilnius was founded in Verkiai.  It was from here that in 1664, the then Bishop of Vilnius, Jerzy Biallozor, initiated the founding of the Calvary as a tribute to the country’s liberation after the war with Moscow. It was finished in 1669. It survived until the Soviet order for its desecration was issued in 1963. It was rebuilt after Lithuania regained her independence.  After the partition of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, the Dominicans of Vilnius were subject to repressions by the Tsarist authorities. The Monastery of the Holy Spirit was closed in 1844, and its premises housed various offices. The adjoining church was given over to parish use. The Order of Preachers returned to Lithuania in 1992 and took back into their care the monastery and church of Saints Philip and James.