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The Plaza del Ayuntamiento is now empty, but it has not always been this way. If you look at Georg Brown’s famous atlas “Civitates orbis terrarum” (often called the best European city guide in the 16th century), you will see a column of punishment (or shame) in the Vilnius Town Hall Square. They were common in medieval Europe and thousands of people suffered from them.
Everyone is a different story. One of them is worth remembering, completely forgotten. It was a Protestant Italian named Frank whose tongue was ripped out and later dismembered for insulting Catholics and the royal family.
A colorful procession of novenas.
In the Middle Ages, the religious life of the townspeople was closely related to the churches. But in cities like Vilnius, Orthodox churches arose near Catholic shrines, and from the sixteenth century. the other half are also Lutheran and Calvinist houses of prayer. In the long run, that neighborhood often led to painful confrontations.
From the 15th century. In the middle of the 19th century, the celebration of the Body of God became popular in Vilnius and ended with a solemn procession. According to historians, it remained almost unchanged until the 20th century. starting.
Photo from the Lithuanian Museum of Art / Procession of the Body of God on Dominikonų Street. Author Jonas Hermanavičius, 1906.
The festival was probably celebrated at the most beautiful moment in our latitudes: nine weeks after Easter, that is, between May 25 and June 23. The celebration, popularly called the Novena, received a lot of attention.
Some of the city’s artisan workshops had even imposed the obligation on all members to participate in the procession, which was enshrined in the workshop regulations.
And when the Jesuit College in Vilnius was inaugurated, a loud and colorful group of students joined the theatrical procession.
In the middle of the procession, a large gold cross adorned with diamonds that sparkled spectacularly in the sun was displayed. The unusually colorful spectacle was seen by Vilnius residents, including many non-believers, who were fascinated by its splendor and the songs of the participants.
The procession, according to one witness, was accompanied by crowds of people: “Catholics, Jews with women and children, Ruthenians, Tatars, Protestants; whoever was alive, quit his job and occupation, ran to witness the procession. When asked, they said, “We have come to see how Catholics worship their God.”
The route of the procession has not changed since the late Middle Ages. After Holy Mass in the cathedral, the crowd headed towards the Church of St. John: streets decorated with wreaths and garlands of flowers and oaks, waving flags, carrying sacred paintings and necessarily respecting the hierarchy (ecclesiastical and secular, since Vilnius it was the highest city in the country). bishop’s throne, secular official).
At the Church of San Juan, the procession stopped for prayer and sermon, and then stopped at the Plaza del Ayuntamiento.
Burning passions and invisible luxury
16th century In the late 19th century, as opposition between Catholics and Protestants intensified, Protestants were particularly critical of the Catholic Church of St. The cult of the sacrament, which was, among other things, the essence of the feast of the Body of God.
The era of tolerance passed long ago, sparks of religious discord lit the flame, and emotions turned into action.
1610 On the morning of July 1, Vilnius was devastated by a terrible fire that devastated the entire western (Catholic) part of the city, especially the churches. The fire did not touch the eastern part, where at that time the Calvinist prayer house (now A. Volano street) was located.
In the city affected by the fire, it was not long before the conversation about the fire spread, to which the Calvinists allegedly joined hands.
Almost a year later, in 1611. on June 2, the traditional procession of the Body of God was more magnificent than usual.
The guilty of luxury are the members of the royal family who participated in the march: Queen Konstancija Habsburgaitė and King (future ruler of the ATR) Vladislovas Vaza. Even a minor Jonas Kazimieras, who also became the ruler of ATR after his brother, may have joined the procession.
The royal family lived in Vilnius because their chief Zigmantas III Vaza since 1609. personally led the siege of Smolensk.
The entire regiment of courtiers, the Bishop of Vilnius, the senators and deputies of the Supreme Court of Lithuania gathered in Vilnius participated in the procession. The famous preacher Petras Skarga, first rector of Vilnius University, also joined the procession.
There they stopped again to pray, then went to St. Towards the Chapel of Mary Magdalene (near the Church of the Holy Cross) and, turning the circle, found themselves back in the cathedral.
An Italian who insulted Catholics and the royal family
At noon, as the crowd descended on Didžioji Street towards the town hall square, a man with a drawn sword appeared in his hand at the altar next to the punishment pillar.
Painting from the National Museum of Art of Lithuania / Vilnius Town Hall in 1763. Watercolor by Marcelas Januškevičius
In an attempt to draw attention to himself, he loudly called out ignorant Catholics and denied one of his essential dogmas, that the Eucharist was the body of God.
The Catholics involved in the process were very outraged. The outstanding man was captured, dragged to the town hall, and soon recognized. It turned out to be an Italian named Franco, fresh from an estate in the Venetian Republic.
He stayed at the home of the famous Calvinist Samuel Petkevičius, and before the incident he attended Calvinist services in Vilnius, where the preacher criticized the worship of the body of God professed by Catholics on the basis of Scripture.
Vilnius Bishop Benediktas Vaina reacted to Frank’s actions in a very personal way. Apparently, the royal family preacher Petras Skarga also made a significant contribution to this.
They tried to bring the Italian case to secular courts, but to no avail: the judges did not see the crime in the defendants’ actions and no blood was shed. So the conflict just had to go away.
Withdraw your sword – die a quarter
However, Catholics seeking retaliation were not rewarded, especially since Franco had no influential advocates in Vilnius.
At the initiative of Bishop B.Vaina, he was accused of insulting the Royal Highness. Franco drew his gun in front of members of the royal family, and a quarter were threatened with such a crime.
The punishment was avoidable, so the judges suggested that Frank admit the mistake and repent. But the Italian refused because the judges had put another condition on him, absolutely unacceptable for him, to convert to Catholicism.
On the night of June 29-30, Franco was executed in the basement of the Vilnius City Hall.
Photo by Lukas April / 15min / Vilnius Town Hall Cellars
Without great symbolism, the condemned man was first torn from the tongue (for speaking disparaging words) and only then was the body dismembered.
In the morning, some of him from Vilnius saw him hooked to a post of shame. On the night of the same day, someone secretly hung them, burned them and scattered the ashes in the river.
However, the problems did not go away: Catholics saw the Calvinist conspiracy in Frank’s actions, and Calvinists were outraged by the court (from a procedural point of view, the senators’ court that sentenced the Italian quarter was illegal) and they feared that he would. endanger all non-Catholics in Vilnius.
It soon became clear that the worries weren’t wasted. 1611 July 2 Catholic and Calvinist riots broke out in the city. The time of coexistence of denominations is over. Times of religious hatred began.
Find more historical texts on the page ldkistorija.lt
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