Abstract

Vilno Charitable Society founded in 1807, inseparably linked to the university, through the his activities served the poor society of 19th century Vilno. Backed by men educated and rich, he granted shelters, supplied food, carried out various charitable activities. The founders and at the same time benefactors and teachers of the Society were the men who forever enrolled in charity history in Lithuania; bishop Jan Nepomucen Kossakowski, sac. Hieronim Stroynowski, Father Józef Korzeniowski, Dr Józef Frank. Thanks to their efforts, the poor of Vilno found the possibility of work in the founded and maintained at the expense of the Society, the House of Earnings. It was they who took the poor under their own medical protection which consisted in giving free advice; in the distribution of medicines; in founding the Institute of Vaccination; in caring for women before childbirth; in spreading among the wide circles of the society of medical sciences and of the principles of prophylaxis. The efforts of the Vilno Charity Society were directed not only towards the weakest among the poor, that is to children, but also towards mature people, who due to bad luck and historical circumstances, was unable to satisfy the necessities of existence. Nineteenth-century Vilno offered its poor not only the realization of basics vital needs, but following the example of Western Europe, sought to raise awareness the wealthy towards the concerns and needs of the co-inhabitants. Such an attitude would not be possible without the influence of Alma Mater Vilniensis, whose existence gave the city the name Athens of the North, and without the Vilno Charity Society.