The Holy Spirit Church (Vilnius) — Wikipedia

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L’ Holy Spirit Church And the former attractive Dominican convent are part of a baroque set of the historic center of the city of Vilnius. The church, whose plan is in Latin cross, has three naves, measures 57 m long for 26 m Large and can contain 1,450 faithful. It belongs to the archdiocese of Vilnius and the daily masses are celebrated there in the Polish language.

The church is on the site of an old Gothic church. When the Dominicans arrived in Vilnius in 1501 at the invitation of King Alexander I ^isJagellon, the latter donates them to the church and bishop Adalbert Thabor of an annexed land to build their convent there. The church is rebuilt several times during the XVII ^{It is}century, due to wars or city fires. Finally a new church was consecrated in 1688. It was damaged by the troops of the King of Sweden in 1702, but above all was ravaged by the fires of the first half of XVIII ^{It is}century (notably that of 1748). The magnificent large organs are destroyed. There were only walls and some ornaments left. Great lords, including Radziwill and Pac ^{[ first ]}, help the Dominicans, so that the Church of the Holy Spirit was finished in 1770 and redecorated in the Rococo style.

Napoleonic troops enter Vilna (official name of the city during the period of the Russian Empire, until 1915) in June 1812 , but as Napoleon himself remarks (he lives in the house of the governor, where the Emperor Alexander) lived just before him) the local Polish population, unlike the Polish of the interior, welcomes him without any enthusiasm ^{[ 2 ]}And for good reason, the troops close the large churches to use it as a barracks or a hay barn. That of the Holy Spirit does not escape it and the liturgical furniture is stolen. It was restored between 1813 and 1815.

Like other Catholic monasteries in the city, the imperial authorities ended up confiscating the convent in 1844, after Polish patriotic riots (the city will remain a predominantly Polish city until 1945) and the church therefore became a simple parish church, While the metering brothers have to leave the city. The former convent served as a temporary prison for the insurgents of 1863.

Pope John Paul II visits the community of Polish origin, in its walls, the September 5, 1993 , accompanied by the primacy of Poland, M ^grGlemp and the Deputy Prime Minister of Poland. Unfortunately the expression used in the official discourse of the Pope of Lithuanians of Polish origin causes a certain emotion on the part of a part of the community, preferring that of Polish Lithuania ^{[ 3 ]}.

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In 2005, the church lost its main icon, the miraculous picture of the Divine mercy , painted in 1934 according to the instructions of sister Faustine that the archbishop of Vilnius, Cardinal Backis, decided to transfer a little further to a church recently returned to worship, the Church of the Trinity. This decision was made not to leave the Polish only to the custody of this icon, and to allow the two communities to pray together. This decision provoked protests from the parishioners and the Poles of Lithuania.