Liturgical Paraphernalia and Decor Elements of the Parish Churches of the Diocese of Samogitia in the First Half of the Seventeenth Century

Abstract

The article provides an overview (both in terms of types and amount) of liturgical paraphernalia (vessels, vestments, and processional items), musical instruments (organs and bells), and other items of church interior (pews, candlesticks, chandeliers, commemorative plaques, sacristy furniture, boxes for holy oils, offering boxes, wallpapers, sepulchral banners, and stoups) extant in the parish churches of the diocese of Samogitia in the first half of the seventeenth century. The overview is based on the information contained in visitation acts and inventories due to the fact that only a few material pieces of sacral art dating back to the mentioned period have survived until now. Historical sources enabled a description of the whole repertoire of liturgical paraphernalia of the parish churches of the above-mentioned diocese (in the first half of the seventeenth century) for the first time. The overview reveals some transformations of the older practice, occasionally witnessed in local sources of the sixteenth century. More significantly, it enables future research based on a comparison of the described material with the information contained in wider chronological and geographical (first of all, including the diocese of Vilnius) contexts.