Józef Kossakowski (bishop)
Encyclopedia
Diocese of Inflanty
The Diocese of Inflanty was a territorial division of the Roman Catholic Church established after 1621 in Latgalia during the Inflanty Voivodeship of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. It was formed after Vidzeme and present-day Estonia were conquered by Swedish king Gustav II Adolf...
from 1781, political activist, writer, and supporter of Russian Empire
Russian Empire
The Russian Empire was a state that existed from 1721 until the Russian Revolution of 1917. It was the successor to the Tsardom of Russia and the predecessor of the Soviet Union...
.
Brother of hetman
Hetman
Hetman was the title of the second-highest military commander in 15th- to 18th-century Poland and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, which together, from 1569 to 1795, comprised the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, or Rzeczpospolita....
Szymon Kossakowski, voivode Michał Kossakowski and castellan
Castellan
A castellan was the governor or captain of a castle. The word stems from the Latin Castellanus, derived from castellum "castle". Also known as a constable.-Duties:...
Antoni Kossakowski, he took Holy Orders
Holy Orders
The term Holy Orders is used by many Christian churches to refer to ordination or to those individuals ordained for a special role or ministry....
on 17 April 1763 after having studied in Vilnius
Vilnius
Vilnius is the capital of Lithuania, and its largest city, with a population of 560,190 as of 2010. It is the seat of the Vilnius city municipality and of the Vilnius district municipality. It is also the capital of Vilnius County...
and Warsaw
Warsaw
Warsaw is the capital and largest city of Poland. It is located on the Vistula River, roughly from the Baltic Sea and from the Carpathian Mountains. Its population in 2010 was estimated at 1,716,855 residents with a greater metropolitan area of 2,631,902 residents, making Warsaw the 10th most...
. His first positions in the Church
Roman Catholic Church
The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the world's largest Christian church, with over a billion members. Led by the Pope, it defines its mission as spreading the gospel of Jesus Christ, administering the sacraments and exercising charity...
were a provost
Provost (religion)
A provost is a senior official in a number of Christian churches.-Historical Development:The word praepositus was originally applied to any ecclesiastical ruler or dignitary...
in Wołpa and canon
Canon (priest)
A canon is a priest or minister who is a member of certain bodies of the Christian clergy subject to an ecclesiastical rule ....
in Vilnius.
On 13 March 1775 he became an aide of the bishop of Vilnius (titular bishop
Titular bishop
A titular bishop in various churches is a bishop who is not in charge of a diocese.By definition a bishop is an "overseer" of a community of the faithful, so when a priest is ordained a bishop the tradition of the Roman Catholic and Orthodox churches is that he be ordained for a specific place...
of Cinna
Cinna
Cinna was a cognomen that distinguished a patrician branch of the gens Cornelia, particularly in the late Roman Republic.Prominent members of this family include:...
), and on 17 September 1781 he became the bishop
Bishop
A bishop is an ordained or consecrated member of the Christian clergy who is generally entrusted with a position of authority and oversight. Within the Catholic Church, Eastern Orthodox, Oriental Orthodox Churches, in the Assyrian Church of the East, in the Independent Catholic Churches, and in the...
of Livonia
Livonia
Livonia is a historic region along the eastern shores of the Baltic Sea. It was once the land of the Finnic Livonians inhabiting the principal ancient Livonian County Metsepole with its center at Turaida...
(Polish: Inflanty). At that time he also became administrator of the Courland
Courland
Courland is one of the historical and cultural regions of Latvia. The regions of Semigallia and Selonia are sometimes considered as part of Courland.- Geography and climate :...
diocese
Diocese
A diocese is the district or see under the supervision of a bishop. It is divided into parishes.An archdiocese is more significant than a diocese. An archdiocese is presided over by an archbishop whose see may have or had importance due to size or historical significance...
. He is known to have misappropriated vast amounts of the Church's and the public's finances. From 1787 he received a steady pension from the Russian embassy in Poland, becoming a protege of Russian ambassador Otto Magnus von Stackelberg
Otto Magnus von Stackelberg (ambassador)
Reichsgraf Otto Magnus von Stackelberg was a diplomat of the Russian Empire, an envoy in Madrid from 1767 to 1771, ambassador in the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth from 1772 to 1790 and in Sweden from 1791 to 1793....
. He represented the Russian side in Sejms and local Sejmik
Sejmik
A sejmik was a regional assembly in the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, and earlier in the Kingdom of Poland. Sejmiks existed until the end of the Commonwealth in 1795 following the partitions of the Commonwealth...
s, often bribing or threatening other deputies. With Stackleberg's support he was nominated to the Permanent Council
Permanent Council
The Permanent Council was the highest administrative authority in the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth between 1775 and 1789 and the first modern government in Europe...
(1782-1786). On 19 December 1791 he became the coadjutor bishop
Coadjutor bishop
A coadjutor bishop is a bishop in the Roman Catholic or Anglican churches who is designated to assist the diocesan bishop in the administration of the diocese, almost as co-bishop of the diocese...
of Vilnius with bishop Ignacy Massalski. His bishop nominations were a reward for his service to the Russian Empire: they were controlled by Empress Catherine the Great, not consulted with Rome, and served to both reward Russian supporters and increase the Russian state control over the Church in their dominions.
In 1786 he published two novels: Ksiązdz Pleban (Parish Priest), outlining in literary form a perfect parish
Parish
A parish is a territorial unit historically under the pastoral care and clerical jurisdiction of one parish priest, who might be assisted in his pastoral duties by a curate or curates - also priests but not the parish priest - from a more or less central parish church with its associated organization...
of the Age of Enlightenment
Age of Enlightenment
The Age of Enlightenment was an elite cultural movement of intellectuals in 18th century Europe that sought to mobilize the power of reason in order to reform society and advance knowledge. It promoted intellectual interchange and opposed intolerance and abuses in church and state...
http://books.google.com/books?vid=ISBN0521364299&id=ecdye8hk_tgC&pg=PA189&lpg=PA189&dq=bishop+Kossakowski&sig=_Q9PFtSJm0yaUmAG7y-xkfPtTJ8&hl=en and Panicz gospodarz (Mister Ruler). A year later, he wrote another novel, Obywatel (The Citizen)http://books.google.com/books?vid=ISBN9042009330&id=-98Z_F7SWroC&pg=PA41&lpg=PA41&dq=bishop+Kossakowski&sig=PC4_IbItFMC2usE8CuKEgkPmpMo He has also translated some plays from Frenchhttp://books.google.com/books?vid=ISBN0874138124&id=arcNEfyZHGUC&pg=PA62&lpg=PA62&dq=bishop+Kossakowski&sig=7pn9cmbboPyixxQ5IJGpydv5VUI.http://www.polonistyka.edu.pl/pisarze/?&id=465 In 1791 he wrote a novel Czarownica (Witch).http://www.polonistyka.edu.pl/pisarze/?&id=465
As a vocal supporter and zealous follower of orders from Russian Empire and Empress Catherine the Greathttp://books.google.com/books?vid=ISBN0521364299&id=ecdye8hk_tgC&pg=PA187&lpg=PA187&dq=bishop+Kossakowski&sig=vsatYvvNYXduSSLMlzjJE89kgTo he was one of the opponents of the Constitution of May 3. Together with his brother Szymon he commanded the forces of pro-Russian Targowica Confederation
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 Polish Constitution of May 3, 1791, which had been adopted by the Great Sejm,...
http://books.google.com/books?vid=ISBN0295980931&id=LFgB_l4SdHAC&pg=PA321&lpg=PA321&dq=bishop+Kossakowski&sig=muM3niUTi3DcVe1mZsW8PtR6Qo0&hl=en in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania
Grand Duchy of Lithuania
The Grand Duchy of Lithuania was a European state from the 12th /13th century until 1569 and then as a constituent part of Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth until 1791 when Constitution of May 3, 1791 abolished it in favor of unitary state. It was founded by the Lithuanians, one of the polytheistic...
, for a time becoming a de facto ruler of the Duchy (with the aid of the Russian Army). In the aftermath of the Polish-Russian War of 1792
Polish-Russian War of 1792
The Polish–Russian War of 1792 or War in Defence of the Constitution was fought between the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth on one side, and the Targowica Confederation and the Russian Empire on the other....
, at the Grodno Sejm
Grodno Sejm
Grodno Sejm was the last Sejm of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. The Grodno Sejm, held in fall of 1793 in Grodno, Grand Duchy of Lithuania is infamous because its deputies, bribed or coerced by the Russian Empire, passed the act of Second Partition of Poland...
that legalized the Second Parition of Poland
Partitions of Poland
The Partitions of Poland or Partitions of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth took place in the second half of the 18th century and ended the existence of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, resulting in the elimination of sovereign Poland for 123 years...
, he argued that "If not Russia, if not Prussia, hence what? Would you like to be suspended in vacuum?"
In the aftermath of the Warsaw Uprising
Warsaw Uprising (1794)
The Warsaw Uprising of 1794 was an armed Polish insurrection by the city's populace early in the Kościuszko Uprising. Supported by the Polish Army, it aimed to throw off Russian control of the Polish capital city...
in April, 1794, part of the Kościuszko Uprising
Kosciuszko Uprising
The Kościuszko Uprising was an uprising against Imperial Russia and the Kingdom of Prussia led by Tadeusz Kościuszko in Poland, Belarus and Lithuania in 1794...
, Kossakowski was imprisoned by the revolutionaries. A few days before the start of the uprising, Kossakowski suggested that the Russian troops should surround the churches and arrest all known dissidents. Soon afterwards, Jan Kiliński
Jan Kilinski
Jan Kiliński was one of the commanders of the Kościuszko Uprising. A shoemaker by trade, he commanded the Warsaw Uprising of 1794, an uprising against the Russian garrison in Warsaw. He became a member of Polish provisional government as well.Jan Kiliński was born in Trzemeszno, a minor town in...
, one of the leaders of the uprising, presented documents found in the archives of the Russian embassy about Kossakowski's being on the Russian payroll. Most of the citizens of Warsaw, whose support was crucial to the uprising, demanded that Kossakowski and others found to be acting on Russia's behalf against the Commonwealth should be executed. Their stance influenced the revolutionary Criminal Court, and Kossakowski, together with Józef Ankwicz
Józef Ankwicz
Józef Ankwicz , of Awdaniec coat of arms, also known as Józef z Posławic and Józef Awdaniec, was a politician and noble in the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. He held the office of castellan of Nowy Sącz from 1782. Deputy to the Great Sejm, and most infamously, the Grodno Sejm...
(leader of the Permanent Council) and hetmen
Hetman
Hetman was the title of the second-highest military commander in 15th- to 18th-century Poland and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, which together, from 1569 to 1795, comprised the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, or Rzeczpospolita....
Piotr Ożarowski
Piotr Ozarowski
Piotr Ożarowski was a Polish noble , politic and military commander. Member of the infamous Confederation of Targowica, he reached the offices of Great Crown Hetman and castellan of Wojnice....
and Józef Zabiełło were convicted of treason and sentenced to hanging
Hanging
Hanging is the lethal suspension of a person by a ligature. The Oxford English Dictionary states that hanging in this sense is "specifically to put to death by suspension by the neck", though it formerly also referred to crucifixion and death by impalement in which the body would remain...
on 9 May.
He was succeeded as a bishop of Livonia by his relative, Jan Nepomucen Kossakowski.