An Exhibition Dedicated to the 400-Year Anniversary of St. Josaphat’s Martyrdom Will Be Opened at Vilnius University Library

In Lithuania the year 2023 has been declared the year of St. Josaphat. On 12 October at 5 p.m., an exhibition of old documents “Burning for Love of God and Serving God – 400 Years for St. Josaphat's Martyrdom” will be launched at Vilnius University Library to mark the occasion. A unique exhibit– recreated ecclesiastical vestment of St. Josaphat – will be presented to the public during the opening event.

Lithuania’s pantheon of heavenly patrons consists of personalities whose religious activities had a great impact on the society. One of them is Saint Josaphat Kuntsevych (1580–1623). Christian believers attribute the growth and strengthening of the Greek-rite Catholic Church in the 17th and 18th centuries to St. Josaphat. Today the idea of unity takes on additional meaning as unification of all people against the war in Ukraine.

Born in Volodymyr, Saint Josaphat started his religious life in Vilnius. Entirely dedicated to God, by his own example, this young man had revived religious life in Vilnius, Zhyrovichy, Byten (Bycień) and in 1618 he was given the task to lead Polotsk Archdiocese. The key mission of St. Josaphat was the unity of the Catholic and Orthodox Church and he prayed fervently for this with the words of the evangelist: So that they may all be one. To this mission he sacrificed his life, which ended tragically on 12 November 1623 in Vitebsk.

A few decades after the death Josaphat Kuntsevych was declared blessed, a saint – only a few centuries later, in 1867. The blessed martyr was venerated as a personal intercessor in difficult situations – in sickness, poverty, dangers, fires or natural disasters. The protection of the martyr was also significant for the noblemen, religious orders, students and army. The rules had also cherished the Josaphat's memory as they were convinced of the power of the saint to unite the nation in difficult periods of history.

The goal of the exhibition is to show great and holy achievements of St. Josaphat and his impact on the culture of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. Throughout the 17th and 18th centuries, Josaphat's martyrdom was praised in poetry, church hymns in the Church Slavonic language and folk songs in the Ruthenian and Polish languages. The clergy dedicated their sermons to his mission. The word about the blessed Josaphat's miracles was spread through the press. Both the intellectuals of high Latin culture and the common folks proclaimed his name. The exponents of the exhibition serve as a proof that St. Josaphat was one of the most popular Baroque saints in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania.

Recreation of an authentic liturgical vestment of St. Josaphat will be presented during the opening event. Components of his vestment show both his status as an archbishop and Christian symbols. Recreation of the vestment was initiated by the researcher of the Faculty of History dr. Genutė Kirkienė; the recreation was carried out by the student of the Faculty of History Tomas Antropikas. The liturgical vestment was recreated based on iconographic and archaeological sources; all components of the vestment as well as decorative elements are in line with the then technologies and materials.

Exhibition partners: Martynas Mažvydas National Library of Lithuania, The Wroblewski Library of the Lithuanian Academy of Sciences, Vilnius University Faculty of History.

The exhibition will be on view at Vilnius University Library’s Franciszek Smuglewicz Hall (Universiteto str. 3, 1st floor) until March of 2024. The authentic St. Josaphat’s liturgical vestment will be shown until 11 November 2023.