The Regulations (1740) of Bernardine Nuns of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania

The Regulations of Bernardine Nuns of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania were published in the publishing house of the Basilian Order in 1740 in Supragl. It was a legal document which provided the guidelines for Bernardine nuns' everyday life. The Regulations were intended for the Bernardine convents located in the Grand Duchy. There were seven of them: in Kaunas, in Grodno, in Brest, in Slonim, in Minsk and two more in Vilnius. The article looks into the causes of the creation of this document, also at its content. These Regulations, distinguished by their minuteness, reflect an ideal model of monastic life and help understand the features of Bernardine nuns' everyday life. In the Regulations, a special attention is paid to the closure. Compared to other convents, the Bernardines differed in their approach to private property and had a specific system of punishments for misconduct.