Abstract: | 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. |