The article describes the Carmelite church in Berdyczów, founded by Janusz Tyszkiewicz of Łohiysk. The whole history of bringing the Carmelites to Berdyczów is recounted. Also mentioned is the painting of the Mother of God, which changed its place of storage several times due to, among other things, the war with Khmelnytskyi, but eventually returned to the Berdyczov church as a holy image. (Source: Tygodnik Illustrowany, Warsaw 1861, T:4, pp. 217-218., after: Digital Library of the University of Łódź).

A modernised reading of the text

Berdyczów Church of the Carmelites.

The most beautiful decoration of Berdyczów, recently a district town in Kyiv Governorate, on the river Gniłopiat, is the church with the monastery of the Discalced Carmelites, girt by a huge wall. It is famous for its image of the Mother of God, placed in the great altar, before whose face the devout have been worshipping for three centuries. This temple reigns at the very entrance to the lush, beloved Ukraine, as a guardian of the ancient faith, virtues and customs. The beginning of the foundation of the church, depicted here in a woodcut, is miraculous, and it is no wonder that those watched the miracles, who believed in miracles.

Legend has it that Janusz Tyszkiewicz of Łohojsk, Voivode and General of Kyiv lands, Prefect of Zhytomyr and Sniatyn, after being taken prisoner during a battle with the Tatars, vowed to perform a pious act in honour of God after being freed. When he fell asleep amidst this thought, he saw in his dream monks praying to God and Mary for his liberation. Mary for his liberation, and soon the iron bonds from his arms and legs fall off by themselves. So he returns to Berdyczów, at that time the capital of the Tyszkiewicz family estate, and here again in his dream he sees the chapel where his mother's corpse was laid to rest:

"Son Janusz, you are to build a fortress that has been unconquered for centuries".

Well, this Janusz, after returning from Crimean captivity, where he was between 1626 and 1627, under Sigismund III, decides to build a church. In 1630, the voivode travels to Lublin, where, having come upon the Feast of the Scapular of the N. Mary's scapular, he enters the church of the Carmelites, and having met the monks he saw in a dream during his captivity, on 19 July this year he testifies at the local tribunal about the foundation of a monastery and church in Berdyczów for the said monks, and for this purpose he gives them his castle with a fortress located by a pond and the village of Skniłówka as a perpetual fund.

As a result of this bequest in 1631 1631 On 2 March, Andrew Sholdrsky, Bishop of Kyiv, laid the first stone for the foundation of the lower church, under the name of the Immaculate Conception of N. Upon the completion of which, the founder transferred there the image of the Virgin Mary holding on her head the image of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary. After its completion, the founder moved there the painting of the Virgin Mary holding Jesus on her left hand, painted on canvas and nailed on a cypress board, which had long been in the Tyszkiewicz house chapel. During the war with Bohdan Khmelnytskyi in 1647, the Carmelites brought the painting of the Virgin Mary to the Carmelite church when leaving the church. During the war, in 1647, the Carmelite Fathers left the church and took the painting to the Church of the Discalced Carmelites in Lviv.

After the Ukraine had calmed down and finished their own business, they set about restoring the lower church around 1712. 1721, the painting was brought from Lviv. In 1732, when there were new riots in Ukraine, the Carmelites took the painting to Lublin, where it stayed until 1736. In 1739, they started to build the upper church from the altar on the foundations of the lower church, which was consecrated in 1754. 1754 was consecrated on Trinity Day by Kajetan Soltyk, Bishop-Coadjutor of Kyiv and Chernihiv. In 1753, Father St. Benedict XIV (thanks to the efforts of the states of the Republic, King August III, Prince Komorowski, Archbishop of Gniezno, Primate of the State, and Samuel Ożga, Bishop Coadjutor of Kyiv) sent, at his own expense, two crowns made of pure gold, studded with ten emeralds, with a diplomat permitting the coronation of the N. V., which were to be crowned on the day of the Trinity. P. Mary.

Immediately after receiving the crowns, on 30 October, Sołtyk brought them out from Zhytomyr, and on the second day, after they had been brought to Berdyczów, they were first placed in the chapel still standing by the parish church, and then taken to the Carmelite church, where the bishop, seated on the throne, preached a sermon on the honour of the Mother of God; then Duke Antoni Lubomirski, the Voivode of Lublin, gave a short but emphatic speech. From his speech I extract the introduction:

"Today is an extraordinary day of joy by all means, a day full of the most sacred gift of grace, a day bringing public and never unlimited happiness to this province, longing for such a long time for a just reward for this place. And only today the whole Ukrainian country crowns its desires perfectly, today it takes the beginning of abundant prosperity, and moreover, from the first day of tomorrow month, a new year of good life and all freedoms begins. Henceforth, this borderland veil, surrounded by this magnificent circle of God's own governor power, is strengthened by the crowns entrusted and sent to your hands, Your Highness, Your Eminence the Bishop," and so on.

Here it should be added, according to legend, that a few Sundays before the crowns were received from Rome, a laurel appeared in the air above the Carmelite church, around two o'clock in the afternoon, shining with a blue light, surrounding the name of Mary. A large congregation watched the miracle for half an hour. Three years later, that is, in 1756, on 16 July, Father Kajetan Ignacy Soltyk, then Bishop of Kyiv, performed the coronation ceremony of the image of the Mother of God at a gathering of many distinguished dignitaries and various pious classes, in a shed near the church furnished for the purpose, to the blast of trumpets, kettledrums and music, in the presence of some six thousand troops of hussars, armoured flags, and foreign regiments.

On that coronation day, in the afternoon, the then young Rev. Krasicki, canon of Kyiv, gave a sermon. To commemorate the ceremony, gold, silver and copper medals were minted with the image of N. P. M. on one side and the image of N. P. M. on the other. P. M., and on the other side with the coats of arms of the Commonwealth, the Founder King and so on. The crowns donated by Pope Benedict XIV were found in 1820 after the triumph, but were lost again a few years later. On the other hand, the judge of the Lipowiecki district, Jozef Zdzitowiecki, made new ones, and the late Bishop of Luck and Zhytomyr, Michal Piwowicki, consecrated them in 1814.

Finally, seven years ago, on 1854 d. 6 June, having received two golden crowns decorated with precious stones from the Holy Father Pius IX, Rev. Kasper Borowski, Bishop of Zhytomyr, in front of several thousand God-fearing people, performed the coronation act, and Rev. Lucyan Godlewski, the present parish priest of Bialynitza, famous for his eloquence, gave an impassioned sermon. Among the many rich decorations and respectable monuments inside the church is the tomb of the founder located in the lower church. Not so long ago, the Carmelites had their own printing press, founded in 1760, and they still have an extensive library.