Paper short abstract:

The paper focus on the question of how clerics in the estates of the Prince of Liechtenstein provided for the spiritual needs of the Prince’s subjects, not only in everyday and routine situations, but also in moments of life crisis (e.g. by providing the sick and dying with the sacraments).

Paper long abstract:

The reform of the Catholic clergy initiated by the Council of Trent emphasized the importance of the practical exercise of the care of souls (cura animarum). The ideal priest should, following the example of Christ - the good shepherd, take responsible care of his "sheep" - the parishioners. Through willingly provided pastoral care, he was supposed to help them not only on the way to eternal salvation, but also in specific life situations - both the everyday and the extraordinary, in which people experienced the uncertainty of their existence. The paper will focus on the question of how the parish clergy actually performed pastoral care, based on the analysis of reports on clerics working in the 1760s in the Moravian and Silesian estates of the Prince of Liechtenstein. These reports prepared by the Prince’s officials mostly contain only a very brief and general assessment of the performance of pastoral care by the given priest; some of them also explicitly mention specific pastoral duties (preaching, catechesis, administering the sacraments). Despite their brevity, the studied records provide an interesting insight into religious services offered by the lower clergy from the perspective of the owner of the estate, who was also the patron of local parishes. They prove that the patron, together with his officials, closely supervised how the clerics provided for the spiritual needs of his subjects, not only in everyday and routine situations, but also in moments of life crisis (e.g. by providing the sick and dying with the sacraments).