Protestant and Catholic Denominations in the Saratov Province of the Russian Empire in the Second Half of the 19th – Early 20th Century
| 30 May 2024
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Davydova M.Y., Volgograd, Russian Federation
Protestant and Catholic Denominations in the Saratov Province of the Russian Empire in the Second Half of the 19th – Early 20th Century
Abstract
The article aims to determine social status and thematic priorities of Protestant and Catholic denominations in the Saratov province (gubernia) in pre-revolutionary period. The story of the Protestants and Catholics arrival in the region is told. Drawing upon a wide range of both published and archival materials from federal and local archives (i.e. materials of the Saratov gubernial statistical committee from the State Archive of Saratov Region) the author succeeds in retracing dynamics of Protestant and Catholic population in the province, in measuring their ratio among other denominations, in measuring the ethnic composition of said denominations, and accounting for local specifics in the settlement. The record-keeping materials of the Department of Religious Affairs of Foreign Faiths Ministry of Internal Affairs (Russian State Historical Archive, fond 821) enable the author to study the structure of the Evangelical Lutheran and Roman Catholic churches in the Russian Empire and to determine their legal status. The study of the denominations’ activities provides data on number of religious buildings and their location in the province, the number of the clergy and some aspects of their work, their educational level and welfare. The author concludes that regardless of certain restrictions on religious activity the Catholic and Protestant population had churches, clergy, schools, press – that is, had ample opportunity for repletion of their religious wants. In the second half of the 19th – early 20th century German Catholics and German Protestants of the Saratov province were a less insular than previously and yet separate ethno-confessional group. Overall, despite some fluctuations connected with migration of the German population, the number of the adepts increased. The proselytization is attributed to the nature of the denominations and to the growth of reformist religious movemensts.
Keywords
The Tiraspol Roman Catholic Diocese, the Kamyshinsky district (uyezd), German colonies, Lutheran pastor, Catholic Father, ethno-confessional group.
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About the authors
Davydova Marina Jur'evna, PhD on History, associate professor of the Chair of History, Volgograd State University of Architecture and Civil Engineering, Volgograd, Russian Federation, 8-960-871-24-73, This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it