Warsztat Marcella Bacciarellego - Portret biskupa Jana Stefana Giedroycia

Jan Stefan Giedroyć (born February 2, 1730, in

Vilnius Vilnius ( , ) is the capital of and List of cities in Lithuania#Cities, largest city in Lithuania and the List of cities in the Baltic states by population, most-populous city in the Baltic states. The city's estimated January 2025 population w ...

, died May 13, 1802, in

Alsėdžiai Alsėdžiai ( Samogitian: ''Alsiedē'', ) is a small town in the Plungė district municipality. It is near the Sruoja River, from Plungė. Alsėdžiai is an administrative center of the Alsėdžiai eldership. Stanisław Narutowicz, one of the s ...

) was the Bishop of Samogitia from March 30, 1778, and the Bishop of Inflanty and Piltyń from 1764.

Biography

His father was Benedykt Giedroyć, the

Stolnik Stolnik (, , , , ) was a court office in Lithuania, Poland, Ukraine and Russia, responsible for serving the royal table, then an honorary court title and a district office. It approximately corresponds to English term wikt:pantler, "pantler". S ...

of Vilnius, and his mother was Zofia née Wołczak. In 1755, he became a member of the Vilnius Chapter. As a protégé of Vilnius Bishop

Ignacy Jakub Massalski Prince Ignacy Massalski () (1726–1794) was a Polish-Lithuanian nobleman. Ignacy became a Catholic priest and was named Bishop of Vilnius by Pope Clement XIII on 29 March 1762.''Hierarchia Catholica medii et recentioris aevi'', v. VI, Patavii ...

, he quickly advanced politically during the reign of King

Stanisław August Poniatowski Stanisław II August (born Stanisław Antoni Poniatowski; 17 January 1732 – 12 February 1798), known also by his regnal Latin name Stanislaus II Augustus, and as Stanisław August Poniatowski (), was King of Poland and Grand Duke of Lithuani ...

. In 1764, he became the Bishop of Inflanty. The following year, he was delegated to the Uniate Synod in Brest. As a King supporter he strongly condemned the

Bar Confederation The Bar Confederation (; 1768–1772) was an association of Polish nobles (''szlachta'') formed at the fortress of Bar, Ukraine, Bar in Podolia (now Ukraine), in 1768 to defend the internal and external independence of the Polish–Lithuanian C ...

. He reported the Vilnius nobility's preparations for insurgency to the Russian army stationed near the city. However, during the Partition Sejm of 1773, he considered publicly defending the integrity of the Commonwealth. He is said to have declared, ''"If a martyr is needed, I shall be one."'' The king barely persuaded him to abandon what was deemed a suicidal act. Soon after, however, Giedroyć became one of Russia’s staunchest supporters. With Russian and royal backing, he was appointed

Bishop of Samogitia A bishop is an ordained member of the clergy who is entrusted with a position of authority and oversight in a religious institution. In Christianity, bishops are normally responsible for the governance and administration of dioceses. The role ...

in 1778. In 1779, he became a member of the Department of Justice of the

Permanent Council The Permanent Council (; ) was the highest administrative authority in the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth between 1775 and 1789 and the first modern executive government in Europe. As is still typically the case in contemporary parliamentary p ...

. His tenure was marked by accusations of greed in accumulating benefices and nepotism, as he promoted his Giedroyć relatives to Church positions. He also served as a councilor of the

in 1778 and 1780, spending four years in its Treasury Department. A member of the

Four-Year Sejm The Great Sejm, also known as the Four-Year Sejm ( Polish: ''Sejm Wielki'' or ''Sejm Czteroletni''; Lithuanian: ''Didysis seimas'' or ''Ketverių metų seimas'') was a Sejm (parliament) of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth that was held in W ...

, he was a judge in the Senate court for the

Grand Duchy of Lithuania The Grand Duchy of Lithuania was a sovereign state in northeastern Europe that existed from the 13th century, succeeding the Kingdom of Lithuania, to the late 18th century, when the territory was suppressed during the 1795 Partitions of Poland, ...

in 1791. He opposed the Constitution of May 3, 1791, and strongly supported the

Targowica Confederation The Targowica Confederation (, , ) was a confederation established by Polish and Lithuanian magnates on 27 April 1792, in Saint Petersburg, with the backing of the Russian Empress Catherine II. The confederation opposed the Constitution of 3 May ...

. His name appeared on Russian envoy Yakov Bulgakov’s 1792 list of senators and deputies whom Russia could rely on to overturn the May 3rd Constitution, as the only bishop alongside Józef Kazimierz Kossakowski. After the suppression of the

Kościuszko Uprising The Kościuszko Uprising, also known as the Polish Uprising of 1794, Second Polish War, Polish Campaign of 1794, and the Polish Revolution of 1794, was an uprising against the Russian and Prussian influence on the Polish–Lithuanian Common ...

, Giedroyć ordered the arrest of a priest in his diocese who had insulted Catherine II, earning him the gratitude of Russian envoy

Nikolai Repnin Prince Nikolai or Nicholas Vasilyevich Repnin (; – ) was a Russian statesman and general from the Repnin princely family who played a key role in the dissolution of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth; the leading figure in the Repnin Sejm, ...

. In 1801, after being struck by paralysis, he transferred authority over the diocese to his coadjutor, Józef Arnolf Giedroyć. He passed away on May 13, 1802, at his residence in

near

Telšiai Telšiai (; Samogitian language, Samogitian: ''Telšē'') is a city in Lithuania with about 21,499 inhabitants. It is the capital of Telšiai County and Samogitia region, and it is located on the shores of Lake Mastis. Telšiai is one of the ol ...

. He was a Knight of the Order of the White Eagle and received the

Order of Saint Stanislaus The Order of Saint Stanislaus (, ), also spelled Stanislas, was a Polish order of knighthood founded in 1765 by King Stanisław August Poniatowski of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth. It remained under the Congress Poland, Kingdom of Pola ...

in 1766.

References

Bibliography

* {{Cite encyclopedia , year=1958 , title=Jan Stefan Giedroyć , encyclopedia=Polski Słownik Biograficzny , location=Wrocław , last=Turkowski , first=Tadeusz , volume=7 , pages=427–428 , language=pl 1730 births 1802 deaths Bishops of Samogitia Giedraitis family