Paweł Holszański

Paweł Holszański (Lithuanian: Povilas Alšėniškis; c. 1485[1] – 4 September 1555, Vilnius[2]) was a notable Catholic church official[3] and one of the last male scions of the once-mighty Lithuanian Olshanski princely family of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania.

Paweł Holszański
Coat of arms	Hipocentaur
Full name Lithuanian: Povilas Alšėniškis
Born	c. 1485
Died	4 September 1555 Vilnius
Noble family	Olshanski
Father	Aleksander Holszański
Mother	Zofia Sudymuntowiczówna

Born to Prince Aleksander Holszański, the Castellan of Vilnius, and Zofia Sudymuntowiczówna,[4] between 1507 and 1536 he served as Bishop of Lutsk and then from 15 March 1536 to his death as Bishop of Vilnius.

Holszański's coat-of-arms

During his term as bishop, Holszański created several dozen new parishes in the Polish-Lithuanian borderlands. He was also responsible for convincing the King of Poland and Grand Duke of Lithuania Sigismund II Augustus to expel [5] Stanislovas Rapalionis and Abraomas Kulvietis, two pioneers of Lutheranism in Lithuania.[6] He died in Vilnius on September 4, 1555.

References

1. The date is uncertain and some sources cite 1486 or even 1436, the latter probably being an error
2. Lietuviškoji tarybinė enciklopedija. T-1 p.171
3. (in French) Dmitry Tolstoy: Le catholicisme romain en Russie, pp.464-465
4. (in Polish) Rita Regina Trimoniene: Polityka jagiellońska a kształtowanie się litewskiego narodu politycznego w końcu XV – I połowie XVI wieku
5. (in Polish) Marceli Kosman: Protestanci i kontrreformacja: z dziejów tolerancji w Rzeczypospolitej XVI-XVIII wieku, p.51
6. A.Bumblauskas. Senosios Lietuvos istorija. 2005 p. 236-237

Further reading

• Krzysztof Rafał Prokop: Sylwetki biskupów łuckich. Biały Dunajec: Ostróg : "Wołanie z Wołynia", 2001. ISBN 83-911918-7-7.
• Wileński słownik biograficzny. Bydgoszcz: 2002, s. 104. ISBN 83-87865-28-1.